bluegrass

Fireside Collective

1 upcoming festival

Asheville five-piece pushing string-band instrumentation toward progressive folk — tight ensemble playing with a taste for the unexpected turn.

Fireside Collective formed in Asheville, North Carolina, and built their sound around traditional string-band instrumentation — mandolin, guitar, dobro, banjo and upright bass — arranged in ways that lean toward progressive bluegrass and folk rather than strict tradition. Original material makes up most of the repertoire, with vocal harmony and instrumental interplay carrying the arrangements, and solos that tend to wander further from the melody than a straight-ahead bluegrass band would allow. They have worked steadily out of the Appalachian scene that surrounds Asheville, a region with a deep string-band history, and their live sets emphasise ensemble playing over showpiece picking.

bluegrass