With affection for traditional American music, paired with a pronounced slant towards innovation, The Blackberry Bushes Stringband is a modern acoustic group that continues to evolve, arriving at a space that recalls the best of their influences yet they can call their own.
Merging musicianship with on stage ease the band combines what they call “playful twang” with tight harmonies and adventurous arrangements. The resultant sound is original songs that are certain to appeal to fans of bluegrass, Americana, folk and related genres.
In the past half decade The Blackberry Bushes have played nearly every notable festival, including the Northwest String Summit, Yonder Mountain Stringband’s Harvest Festival, Wintergrass, and Telluride. In 2009 they placed 2nd in the Telluride Bluegrass Festival band competition, a distinction that helped jumpstart the band’s speedy rise. That ascent was furthered by a 2015 third place award in the highly competitive Rockygrass Band Competition, nonstop touring, and a growing reputation for giving their audience their monies worth and then some. The Blackberry Bushes Stringband is lead by Vermont born singer and flat-pick guitarist Jes Raymond.
Raymond, who originally studied voice at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before moving to Olympia, Washington, went on to Evergreen College where she concentrated on Music & Mythology. That creative arts foundation served her well as she embarked on a songwriting career before forming The Blackberry Bushes.
In addition to Raymond, the band features Midwesterner Jakob Breitbach (fiddle), who has been in the band since it began touring in 2009. They are joined by Daniel Ullom (mandolin), Forrest Marowitz (upright bass), and Alex Genova (banjo).
The various members share Raymond’s thirst for music and knowledge of it. Breitbach holds a degree in Jazz Violin (Cornish College of The Arts), while Ullom has learned from a lifelong immersion in bluegrass. Marowitz has a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Colorado College, and Genova, the newest member, joined this summer, fresh from banjo studies at Berklee College of Music. It would be difficult to name a better educated band!
Since its infancy – and through a few changes along the way – the group’s goals have remained steadfast. “We want to move people in their hearts like Gillian Welch, and in their bodies like The Infamous Stringdusters,” explains Raymond, who has watched the group mature over time. “Like our thorny namesake, the blackberry bush, we have taken root, and we are growing, growing, growing.”
Riding on a strong, second wind, The Blackberry Bushes Stringband has released a new album, Three Red Feathers, a collection of original songs that explore “a theme of impermanence and imperfection” (see review in this issue of Rapid River). The band’s intent may best be summed up by the mantra “After you aim, you gotta let it go.” That’s precisely what The Blackberry Bushes Stringband has done and to this point it’s a philosophy that has served them remarkably well.
If You Go: The Blackberry Bushes Stringband on Tuesday, September 29, 2015 at 5 p.m. Isis Music Hall, 743 Haywood Rd. in west Asheville. For more details, call (828) 575-2737 or visit www.isisasheville.com.