The energy is palpable as Greensky Bluegrass bassist Mike Devol answers the phone from the road. He’s backstage at the historic National Theater in Richmond, Va. The sound of shuffling equipment echoes through the background while ongoing jokes play out amongst the road crew. Devol shouts something inexplicable toward the back of the room and laughs before jumping back on the line to talk about the band’s new album “Written Down, Shouted & Quoted.”
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“We were able to spend a lot more time on this one,” Devol says. “This resulted in new explorations of our sound and presentation.”
The initial tracks for the band’s sixth studio release began last October at Echo Mountain Recording Studios in Asheville, N.C.
“It was a great place to do it – a beautiful, old, renovated church,” says Devol.
Then in February, the boys holed up in the Front Range mountain town of Nederland, Colo., to lay down the addition of vocal harmonies and reworked solos.
“It was fun having to take a four-wheel-drive vehicle to get to the studio,” he says. “It had just snowed before we arrived, so it was beautifully snowy, but also sunny and warm. We’d take little afternoon breaks to get out of what was a pretty small studio. This resulted in some really nice Colorado walks.”
The resulting music on the album is a hard-driving and emotional mix of confessional lyrics and perfectly balanced, acoustic instrumentals that clearly demonstrate Greensky’s evolution as a band. Formed in 2000 out of Kalamazoo, Mich., Greensky built its fan base slowly and steadily through their thoughtful songwriting and engaging live performance. Devol became a member of the band in 2004 around the time they started to tour professionally across the country. When Anders Beck (pronounced awn-ders) joined on dobro guitar in 2008, Greensky began in earnest their rise to the top of the bluegrass circuit.
“The resulting music on the album is a hard driving and emotionalmix of confessional lyrics and perfectly balanced, acoustic instrumentals that clearly demonstrate Greensky’s evolution as a band.”
“It was immediately evident that he sort of completed our band,” says Devol. “We were a fully fledged five piece. Also, don’t mispronounce his name or he will kill you.”
Nowadays, Greensky follows an almost nonstop touring schedule of theaters, music halls and festival headliners across the country. They have gained renown as one of the best improvisational string bands around while continuing to push their songwriting and production in the studio.
“We view studio albums as a different Greensky than the live Greensky,” says Devol. “Live, there are the big epic jams that we have and finding new ways to create spaces. With albums, that live mentality is hard to capture. But I think the songs and the way we write and texturize them is getting better. We’ve learned to fill space and leave space empty. Because we are a jam band, we don’t want our songs to be second to our extended jams, but we really do believe in our songs. I think we see it as we are developing both ends of the spectrum. We are music makers in the moment and in the choices that we make in the studio.”
Although there was a never a particular moment when they recognized that they’d made it, Devol admits that over time Greensky has reached a level of sustained success within the bluegrass scene. And based on the new album and excitement around the current tour, it feels like that momentum is continuing to grow.
“There’s a moment of realization when it really becomes something bigger than yourself,” says Devol. “We tour a lot because this is what we do and this is what we love. It’s our job that supports our life and our family. We built this band in a really sustainable, slow, independent way. It’s something that occurred gradually over time with a lot of work. Nothing we achieved was ever given to us. Hopefully, the way we built it is how it lasts. It’s never been a quest to do the next thing or be at the next level, but we are seeing upward growth. There was always something more, something getting better, something getting easier. We’re always creating new music. And we have a great amazing fan base that has come together as a powerful community.”
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