Brushfire Stankgrass
Brushfire Stankgrass
Asheville, NC
Rock / Acoustic / Bluegrass
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Brushfire Stankgrass, based in Asheville, North Carolina, is a talented fixture in today's mountain music scene. Known for their high energy live performances showcasing heady bluegrass, jazz, and rock-influenced chops mixed with innovative songwriting and genre-bending soundscapes, this band make a strong statement for being one of the best acts around.
This “Stankgrass” sound has landed the group two sessions in WNCW's Studio B over the past year and regular WNCW airplay, as well as an appearance at the 2007 Mountain Sports Festival. Brushfire Stankgrass has been heard on Asheville's 96.5 FM and was recently featured on News 13 WLOS during coverage of a benefit show. Their live concerts, recorded in stunning multi-track clarity, are downloaded from archive.org at a rate of over two hundred downloads per week.
The remarkable chemistry and live experimentation in the music of Brushfire Stankgrass begins with its founding members, Ben & Will Saylor. The brothers began playing music at the age of three and picked up the banjo and guitar at 10 & 12, respectively. They still maintain their bluegrass chops today, but have added some Moog analog effects and “trance-mountain dub” rhythms to create a style which has moved beyond the traditional into truly uncharted territory—they call it Stankgrass.
Along the way the brothers Saylor have found two outstanding musicians to round out the group. Bassist Bryan White hails from the land of Merlefest (Wilkesboro, NC), and is a veteran composer and performer on upright and electric basses. Drumming virtuoso Ian Cunningham slides into the newgrass-style seamlessly, due probably to the fact that he comes from a bluegrass-picking family (his father was a founding member of Whitewater Bluegrass Co). Both Bryan and Ian are accomplished musicians in their own right, and they maintain a busy schedule playing music full-time with multiple groups.
Brushfire Stankgrass believes it is their own task to bring southern Appalachian music one step further. John Hartford said that “Bluegrass music is a thing of the past and the same for rock ‘n' roll”. As banjo player Ben Saylor stated in a WNCW interview, “We like to think that we picked up where Hartford left off.”
Be sure to catch Brushfire Stankgrass on youtube, (search: Brushfire Stankgrass), on the web (google: Brushfire Stankgrass), and at these upcoming live shows:
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