Twisted Pine’s new album Love Your Mind is due out this October 2024. Hailing from the Boston bluegrass scene, Twisted Pine has a packed festival schedule all summer long until Twisted Pine rolls into Raliegh, NC on September 24 & 25th for IMBA’s Bluegrass Ramble.
Grateful Web had the chance to chat with the whole band about life on the road making music with their friends. Like a band of gypsies going down the highway, Twisted Pine is Kathleen on vox/fiddle, Dan on mandolin, Chris on bass, and Ahn on flute.
GW: You have a packed festival schedule all summer long, concluding at the end of the summer at IBMA in Raleigh.
Kathleen: Yes, IBMA is going to be so much fun. It's a good bluegrass time.
GW: Have you guys done that before?
Kathleen: Yeah, we've done it for several years. We've been showcased a couple of times. We were supposed to do the Red Hat Amphitheater, but it got rained out. We moved to another beautiful theater, and it was absolutely stunning. They treat the artists well and put us in a good place down there.
GW: That's awesome. I see some dates with Railroad Earth and come winter, you'll be with Damn Tall Buildings.
Kathleen: Yes, Damn Tall Buildings are good buddies of ours. We've known them for about ten years, maybe more. I went to school with Sasha, Max, and Avery – the whole band, actually.
GW: Was that at Berklee College of Music?
Kathleen: Yes, for me it was at Berklee.
Chris: Yeah, totally. We're super excited about the shows with Railroad Earth. We've crossed paths at a few festivals but have yet to share a stage with them. So that's going to be super exciting.
GW: That is exciting. Tell me a bucket list festival you guys have your eyes on for the future.
Kathleen: We've always wanted to do the GroundUP Music Festival in Florida.
GW: Cool.
Chris: The Newport Folk Festival is another one. We were lucky to do the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, which was on our bucket list. Another would be Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco.
GW: Yes! Both are great aspiration festivals. I’d also like to make it to Hardly Strictly. I have a few questions for you about bluegrass festivals. You guys have been at it for a while now, about ten years?
Chris: Not quite ten. Kathleen and I have been playing together for about eight or nine years. I joined the band five years ago, which is when things really started to click and our sound developed.
GW: Bringing in Ahn and her flute broke the boundaries of the traditional bluegrass genre. Was it important for you to stay true to the roots and bluegrass style when recording this new album, Love Your Mind?
Ahn: I was a fan of the band before I joined. I think it was more about the musical chemistry than sticking to a specific genre. The music we make is based on how we evolve as people playing together. On this record, that was the most important thing. Whether or not that includes certain genres, it just comes out naturally in our playing. Sometimes you get Americana, or bluegrass, or roots music because that is our musicianship. We lead with how we play music together, and that’s how it always manifests.
GW: Very good. You have the track "Green Flash" with Jerry Douglas. He has his hands in all sorts of boundary-breaking bluegrass.
Chris: Yeah, the funny thing about Jerry and his music is that he continues that legacy from back in his day to now. He has been a pioneer in stretching the limits of bluegrass, making it into his own genre, stretching the limits of what can be. He is such a fusion-type guy and our music is kindred in that way, pushing boundaries, though not exactly sonically the same.
GW: Excellent. Tunes like "Knockout Roses" and "Lone Star" are true to you but also in the roots and bluegrass style. Tell us more about the recording process at Dimension Sound.
Chris: We recorded at Dimension Sound in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood, where we did our first record, and now our most recent one, Love Your Mind. We worked with producer Dan Cardinal, who is great at experimenting in the studio and augmenting our core instruments. He helped us magnify and enhance the sounds we were going for. He keeps the essence of the instruments sounding as good and true as possible and adds extra little bits and experiments that help us so much while recording. We love working in that studio.
GW: Very cool. You just released "Goosebumps Feeling." It’s great, with poetic sound and lyrical emotions. Kathleen, as the vocalist, what do you think makes the female vocal so undeniable?
Kathleen: I've always believed the voice can take on many roles. On this album, I tried to step into different vocal styles. On "Goosebumps Feeling," I was inspired by Tom Petty's sound. Oftentimes, I have these inspirations in my head that come through in the writing. I keep them in mind during the vocal takes as something I want the listeners to hear. I realize I don’t sound like Tom Petty, but his spirit was with me while performing that song. I keep these inspirations in mind for my vocal takes, aiming to connect with listeners across different genres. Both male and female vocals have their unique strengths. They can do whatever they want and that’s awesome.
GW: It's a fabulous song. Another track, "Nothing Good Happens After Midnight," has been in your repertoire for a while, right?
Dan: Yes, we’ve been playing it for a couple of years. Every summer we play a lot of festivals. The late-night picking and camping, jamming, debaucherous scene is part of every single summer for us. It's inspired by the late-night festival scene, capturing that spirit in our song.
GW: Can you tell us about the first song, “Start/Stop,” on the album? It sets the tone for Love Your Mind. Was there a theme or message you were trying to convey?
Dan: We didn’t set out with a specific theme, but it emerged during the writing and recording process. The first song, "Start/Stop," felt like a good beginning for the album, reflecting those themes.
GW: And the last track is "Funky People"?
Ahn: Yes, "Funky People" came together in the studio. It has a feel-good vibe and wraps up the album nicely. We like to end our shows with it because it’s fun and gets people dancing. People love to dance to it because it has that fun feel to it.
GW: It's a party vibe, for sure! You have some road-tested tunes and some brand-new concoctions. My last question is about "Peaches en Regalia." Can you each speak to Frank Zappa a bit? Why did you pick "Peaches," and what spoke to you about it?
Chris: We’re all big Zappa fans, we listen to him in the van, and we are all inspired by his approach to art. "Peaches en Regalia" was suggested by Ahn. We loved the tune, and it surprisingly works well with our instrumentation. It took a while to perfect, it took us a while to get it under our fingers, but now it’s a staple in our shows. People’s heads explode when they hear that tune.
GW: Thanks for the music. It inspired my week. Thank you very much.
Kathleen: Thanks, June.
TWISTED PINE ON TOUR:
* with Railroad Earth
% with Damn Tall Buildings
AUG 12 Chautauqua Amphitheater - Chautauqua, NY
AUG 17 Green Mountain Bluegrass & Roots 2024 - Manchester, VT
AUG 31 Earl Scruggs Music Festival 2024 - Mill Spring, NC
SEP 1 Eddie's Attic w/ The Faux Paws - Decatur, GA
SEP 6 Wheatland Music Festival 2024 - Remus, MI
SEP 7 Wheatland Music Festival 2024 - Remus, MI
Sep 20 AmericanaFest - Nashville, TN
Sep 24 IBMA World of Bluegrass - Raleigh, NC
Sep 25 IBMA World of Bluegrass - Raleigh, NC
Sep 28 Boats & Bluegrass Festival - Winona, MN
Oct 18 Iron Horse Music Hall - Northampton, MA
Oct 19 Zenbarn - Waterbury Center, VT
Oct 24 Oxbow Brewery w/ Cilla Bonnie - Portland, ME
Oct 25 Oct 25 Stage One - Fairfield, CT - w/ Goodnight Blue Moon
Nov 13 XL Live- Harrisburg, PA *
Nov 14 Tarrytown Music Hall - Tarrytown NY *
Nov 15 Bearsville Theatre - Woodstock NY *
Nov 16 The Strand - Providence RI *
Nov 30 The Sinclair - Cambridge, MA %
Dec 4 World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, PA %
Dec 5 Drom - New York, NY %
Dec 6 Club Cafe - Pittsburgh, PA
Dec 7 The Purple Fiddle - Thomas, WV
Dec 8 The 8x10 - Baltimore, MD - w/ Charm City Junction
Jan 16 Goodwood Gardens & Museum / Florida State University - Tallahassee, FL
Feb 2-9 Fort Lauderdale, FL - Scythian’s String Break Cruise
May 2 Caramoor Center for Music and The Arts - Katonah, NY (in collaboration w/ City Winery)
