Taking bluegrass down new path
It’s not the sort of thing you would expect to hear from Ryan Young, the bearded fiddler of folky, bluegrass revivalists Trampled By Turtles.
But bluegrass was not a part of his musical DNA.
“Honestly, I thought it was dumb when I was a kid,” says Young, on the line from a tour stop in Washington, D.C. “I thought it was hokey and something that rednecks listened to. It just wasn’t my scene at all. I grew up on punk rock music and rock and roll and, a little bit later on, jazz music. With bluegrass, I hadn’t heard anything that piqued my interest. But I hadn’t been exposed to anything good, that’s why.”
For Young, there is a major distinction between good and bad bluegrass music. One gets the impression that he probably doesn’t like the “bluegrass revivalist” tag at all. He will grudgingly admit that Trampled by Turtles may be part of a revival movement and may act as a gateway of sorts for younger fans eager to discover the old-timey music that Young now admires.
“Trampled by Turtles have been around for 11 years and we just happened to be lucky to be in this thing that is happening, or be included in this sub-genre of music that is having a resurgence right now,” he says. “We just kind of lucked out that way.”
The Duluth, Minn., quintet will be play early Friday evening at the Interstellar Rodeo.
Perhaps it was that early affinity for punk, but despite using acoustic instruments, Trampled by Turtles have earned a reputation for explosive live performances. So some reviewers appraising the band’s seventh studio album, Wild Animals, have raised alarm that the record seems to feature an abundance of slower material.
Young dismisses the concerns, suggesting the ballad-to-barn-burner ratio on Wild Animals is similar to past efforts. It only seems mellow because it is front-loaded with slower material, he says. What did change this time around was the presence of an outside producer. That would be Alan Sparhawk, a fellow Minnesotan and leader of the ethereal trio, Low. It was the first time the act didn’t produce their own material and the first time Sparhawk has produced a band other than his own.
“He did an amazing job. … He made us perform much better than we would have without him,” Young says.
The resulting album leans more heavily toward atmospheric, creeping folk than fleet-fingered bluegrass. But the band’s hallmarks — understated virtuosity, impeccable harmonies and emotive songwriting — are intact, particularly on brooding numbers such as the title track, and Ghosts.