Mile Twelve is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with in the acoustic music world. The Boston-based quintet combines a modern indie aesthetic, bluegrass instrumental skills honed at some of the best music schools in the world, and songwriting that deftly conjures haunting images of the past and twisted versions of the future. With their new 6 song EP of covers, “Roll The Tapes All Night Long”, (release date May 29th) they’re putting emphasis on collaborative storytelling, with the help of guest artists Billy Strings, Bruce Molsky, Chris Eldridge and Brittany Haas.
The first single they’ll be releasing this Spring features bluegrass guitar phenom Billy Strings on “Cold Wind”, a blazing fast bluegrass cut written by Roy McMillan and popularized by Boston bluegrass legend Joe Val. “Billy is one of our favorite young musicians in the scene right now. We love how he combines traditional bluegrass with forays into the jam band and songwriting worlds, and we were stoked he was down to record this song with us,” says fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes. “And without Yankee bluegrass pioneers like Joe Val, there would have been no audience for Mile Twelve when we were starting out, so it was really important to us to record one of his tunes on there.” No Depression calls Mile Twelve “a first-rate representative of an important region where a rich traditional bluegrass community stands side by side with a roiling experimental world of covers and contemporary compositions.”
The “Roll The Tapes All Night Long” EP started out as the desire for a break from the traditional album cycle model. “Mile Twelve has always been a DIY entity. We jokingly refer to ourselves as bluegrass punks, because while many of our peers have signed to labels, we’ve remained independent. This means that when we get inspired, we have the ability to record and release songs quickly,” says Bronwyn. “We had some free time this winter so we thought, why not do something a little different? Let’s record a bunch of deep catalogue cover songs we’ve been digging, and get some of our favorite artists out there to be a part of it. The final product is totally cooking, and we can’t wait for our fans to get a taste.” Mile Twelve is set to release “Roll The Tapes All Night Long” on May 29th.
Mile Twelve formed in their early twenties with a dream to travel the world through their music and in the past five years they’ve toured Japan, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Belgium, Canada as well as much of the United States. Much of their 2020 touring has been cancelled due to COVID-19 but they remain optimistic for the future, and hope that this collection of songs brings some much needed joy into the world right now.
