Greensky Bluegrass

There are many cultural experiences to be had in the city of Kalamazoo. It's home to a fine university and some even finer beer. It's a town with an impressive per capita theatre allotment, an underrated symphony and a respectable rock scene.

Modern bluegrass? Yeah, not so much.

But it seems no one ever told that to the trio that formed Greensky Bluegrass 10 years ago. Michael Bont, Dave Bruzza and Paul Hoffman formed after an open mic night at Papa Pete's in Kalamazoo. The current lineup also includes Anders Beck on dobro and bassist Mike Devol. While many bands slowed down during the latest recession, GSBG shifted gears to become arguably the most successful band currently touring out of Kalamazoo.

Hoffman talked to Recoil about the band's new album, All Access Volume 1, and their March 6 show at the Wealthy Theatre in Grand Rapids. The venue is one the band has never played, and the 26-song live album is the first of what will be a series of albums chronicling their adventures.

"Sometimes some people will say, 'Come check our studio out,' and we'll do two songs just for fun and we never really do anything with that stuff so, maybe there will be some studio outtake All Access some day," Hoffman said.

Greensky Bluegrass is aiming to digitally release four projects a year with a few hard copies available at shows. They've always encouraged fan recording and distribution, and they see the album series as a way of participating in and fine-tuning that process.

Recoil has followed GSBG closely over the decade, from their beginnings as a Kalamazoo band beginning to explore national touring, to their ascent to a band expected to play events like Telluride, Rothbury (when it existed) and 10,000 Lakes Festival (before its hiatus). Longtime fans of the band know that each show is unique aside from a few expected songs. Hoffman recalled recently playing close to 100 different songs over a three-day set. The guitarist has stepped forward as the band's most reliable songwriter.

"I put a lot of time into just trying to write songs, where in the past, years ago, I just waited for the song to come to me," he said. "It means right now I have, like, nine songs that are all in various stages of development or reality, that maybe no one's even heard. Some of them are ridiculous."

"I get a lot of ideas from things that are totally different. A lot of times they're abstract non-musical ideas."

He shared the chorus of a new song called "I'll Probably Kill You." Imagine a swinging, ragtime riff.
"I wanna be just like you but I can't say it.
You're something I'd thought of first, it just didn't make it.
You ended up just like me, but so much better."

In addition to originals and covers, GSBG has begun covering songs written by friends of theirs like Steppin' In It or Rachel Davis.

"I sort of look at playing a Josh Davis song differently than playing a Prince song because I know him, and I know when he wrote that song and he told me about it. And he's honored we're playing it."

Hoffman said the band didn't notice the recession at first because they were countering by stepping up their collective workload. "We're lucky to be stilling seeing a growth in our numbers in a lot of cities," he said, while admitting it hurts business when major festivals go belly up or "take a hiatus."

In 2009 the band played over 170 shows including 12 in the greater Denver area. There are pockets of the country like Denver that could better support a band like Hoffman's, and he admits they've often thought of splitting town. In the end there's too much personal connection to Kalamazoo, but he hinted that the conversation is far from finished.

The band's goals for 2010 include building up their fan base a la Denver in other areas of the country. They're also endlessly searching for new ways to take their sound and new ways to surprise the audiences. Hoffman listens to much more than Bluegrass during his down time, and recommended indie rock band Margo and the Nuclear So and So's as one he's high on currently. It's this sort of creativity that makes their 10th year together still feel fresh for the fans and the band.