TWISTED PINE,

Twisted Pine moving beyond its bluegrass roots

Not everyone likes, or even knows, bluegrass.

But the Beatles?

The Fab Four are pretty universal.

This is part of the reason Boston bluegrass/Americana act Twisted Pine included a lullaby-like take on “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” on its upcoming covers EP, “Dreams,” out June 8.

“We had a couple covers we started doing for fun and found them a good way to reach out to non-bluegrass audiences,” bassist Chris Sartori said. “But they also help us get some different grooves under our fingers and are helping us stretch our sound.”

Sartori, fiddler Kathleen Parks, guitarist Rachel Sumner and mandolinist Dan Bui have graduated to Boston’s big rooms — the quartet plays at City Winery on Wednesday. But Twisted Pine started as a more traditional string band in the trenches of Massachusetts’ Americana scene. They cut their teeth at the Cantab’s bluegrass night, and the International Bluegrass Music Association nominated them for its 2015 Momentum Award.

Since then, especially with the release of their 2017 debut LP, the band has assertively moved toward pop songcraft and arrangements that flirt with folk, jazz and rock. Twisted Pine actively blurs genre lines on “Dreams,” with strange, appealing takes on bluegrass icon Bill Monroe, alt rockers the Cranberries, new wave pioneers Blondie and modern disco heroes the Scissor Sisters.

“For the whole first part of the recording session, we weren’t even sure what would happen. It was all in an experimental phase. We were thinking, ‘Are we even going to pull this off?’” Sartori said. “But after a week in the studio, the groove settled it. A song like (the Scissor Sisters’) ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’,’ it was really hard to incorporate all the musical elements, but as we worked with the material, everything started to work.” Twisted Pine’s finished product doesn’t quite feel like a Top 40 smash or a boot stompin’ barn-burner. It feels like a tasteful blend and wholly original.

For those headed to City Winery, or any of the band’s spring dates, you can expect older originals and plenty of covers.

“The show will be a big hodgepodge,” Sartori said. “What we really want is to have a nice mix that keeps things fresh every night. Every night needs to be its own thing, have its own personality.”

But the group has already begun to stockpile new material. They hope to debut a tune or two during their May gigs.

“We are itching to get some new songs ready for the show,” he said. “Kathleen and Rachel are such prolific songwriters, we always have so much material. I don’t know when we’ll get back in the studio for an album. But we do have a plan to go into the studio this summer and then release some singles.”