Front Country

Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline October 19

Pitching themselves as “an acoustic band born in the land of tech innovation”, Front Country are a proper bluegrass group, despite the fact that their roots are in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Since their formation in 2011, the quintet have won awards at various country festivals in the US, and earlier this year their second album Other Love Songs was a big hit on the US Billboard bluegrass chart.

It’s not their sound that’s vibrant, but rather the attitude of singer Melody Walker, who was named earlier this year as one of the “women who are smashing the bluegrass glass ceiling” by Paste magazine.

She’s a vocal advocate for anti-sexist, anti-racist and anti-discrimination action in a sometimes conservative scene, and the band are known for unusual covers of artists like King Crimson.

Ensuring that “even more political and musical viewpoints are welcome… is really exciting,” she told Paste, “and it makes me proud of my scene and hopeful for the future.”