Damn Tall Buildings. That doesn’t sound like a bluegrass band name. It’s ever-so-mildly risqué, a potential no-no in our more guarded, traditional community.
This NY-based quartet doesn’t necessarily look much like a bluegrass band either, whatever that means these days. But that is the music they have chosen, a style they honed busking on the streets of Boston while students at the city’s Berklee College of Music.
And like so many young groups, they bring influences from outside the Appalachian mountains to their sound, like rootsy rock and American musical theater, but express their original songs with banjo, fiddle, guitar, and bass.
They have shared a first single with us for our readers to sample, from their upcoming album, Don’t Look Down, set for a June release. Along with a few words about the track…
“…Tear up all my money, find out what I’m worth… Green Grass and Wine is an all-out barnburner. The character of the song is hot on the heels of discovering that there’s more to life than societal practices/pressures. It’s a playful, forward-leaning, and sometimes chaotic depiction of what that discovery means for the ever-present movements the character’s life.”
The song carries the frenzied energy of an old time string band, but with bluegrass style banjo.
Green Grass and Wine will be available on Friday (3/29) wherever you stream or download music online.
