Video Premiere: Harvester from The Geraldine Band

We first discovered Geraldine, a contemporary old time/bluegrass string band from Maryland, late in 2019 following the release of their debut album, Harvester. The record highlights the distinctive appeal that has made them a popular live act in the Ellicott City and Baltimore region, partly coming from them featuring a flatfoot dancer on stage whose footwork is amplified to provide percussion at their shows.

Today Geraldine is premiering a new music video for the title track of the record, animated by a local artist, CK Koleski. It is a highly creative presentation that imagines the farmer discussed in the song performing his task on the top of a fiddle.

John Bolten, guitarist and lead singer with Geraldine, tells us how they came to coordinate this production for Harvester.

“When the pandemic started, we decided that we wanted to try to support a young artist who may need support due the world falling apart and all. We ended up browsing final projects from the Animation Department of the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) looking for ideas. We were blown away by an animated project by CK Koleski and reached out. We couldn’t be more happy with the result. CK captured the sentiment and mood of Harvester perfectly!”

Bolten is joined on the track by Josh Anderson on fiddle, Noah Bowman on bass, Jonathan Vocke on banjo, with Jocelyn Haversat providing foot percussion.

With tomorrow being a Bandcamp Friday – with all proceeds from the sale of music going directly to the artists, absent normal fees – Geraldine invites everyone who enjoys their music to consider purchasing Harvester on March 5. Bandcamp launched the idea in February as an assist to artists and content creators who have had such a hard year in the wake of COVID restriction curtailing their performing opportunities.

Bandcamp Fridays will continue on the first Friday of each month through May.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.