Colorado has always been a bastion for Bluegrass music; with bands like Hot Rize and Yonder Mountain String Band and major festivals like Planet Bluegrass’s Telluride Bluegrass and RockyGrass putting Colorado on the map as a hotspot for the grass of blue. Maybe it’s the mountain environment that harkens back to Appalachia that is so conducive to the twang of guitars and banjos, the chop of mandolins. But now a fresh, new band has been making their mark on the Colorado scene and is set to take the country by storm. They emerged from Colorado’s mountain environment with a nod to progressive Bluegrass but deep roots in tradition. I’m talking of course about the phenomenon that is Trout Steak Revival. Listen Up Denver! was fortunate enough to talk with fiddle player Bevin Foley about the band’s recent successes, their headlining gig at The Fox Theatre this coming Saturday, and what the future holds for Trout Steak Revival.
It has been a whirlwind couple of years for Trout Steak. In 2013 they won an Emmy for a song they contributed to Rocky Mountain PBS, 2014 saw them win the prestigious Telluride Bluegrass band competition, and 2015 included extensive touring to support their new album Brighter Everyday produced by Infamous Stringduster’s banjo player Chris Pandolfi. Here at Listen Up Denver! we wondered how this success has affected the band. “It’s easier to get in the door at places. Having these things as a resume point people are like ‘oh, we’ll listen to their CD or check out their website.’ It’s a good entrance point and it’s been really helpful for us,” Foley said. While winning the Telluride Bluegrass band competition was certainly helpful in propeling the band, it didn’t happen overnight.
Another storied Colorado Bluegrass institution put on by Planet Bluegrass is the annual RockyGrass Festival held at the Planet Bluegrass ranch in Lyons, Colorado. It was here that Trout Steak developed their chops but also developed relationships with other artists that would prove fortuitous. “We have been attending the RockyGrass Academy for the past few years and I think it was a turning point for us as a band. We met the Infamous Stringdusters there, they were the in-house band for Academy, and we also met The Punch Brothers. We ended up working with Chris Pandolfi on our album because of the friendship that was started at RockyGrass Academy. It also helped us look at our music differently, kind-of in a more mature light. Everyone got a lot better in the band as far as their instruments go. It also improved how we pick the songs that we play and how we write music together,” Foley said. How Trout Steak writes music has certainly changed.
When Trout Steak started out their approach to songwriting was more singular. “On our last album most of the songs were written by one person and then brought to the group and arranged. Someone might say ‘oh, you should put this bridge in there but the singer was usually the person who brought the idea to the table,” Foley remembers. But the past year has seen a change in the way the band writes songs. “This year we’ve been really trying to bring smaller ideas to the group like ‘I have this and I don’t know what to do with it.’ There might be a cool chorus or instrumental melody that someone might have and then we integrate it into a song with a verse, chorus, and bridge format. We’ve just been testing the waters of full band collaboration.” This move from singular song writing to collaboration seems to be quite common with bands, but it would take the ear of a seasoned pro to whip the songs that would become Brighter Everyday into something really special.
That meeting with The Infamous Stringdusters at RockyGrass Academy proved to be serendipitous indeed. When Trout Steak went into Colin Bricker’s Mighty Fine Studios to begin recording Brighter Everyday they turned to their old friend Panda for some guidance. “Because Chris lives in Denver he came over three or four times to help us arrange and really polish the songs. He would be like ‘I don’t know if this is as strong as you want it to be.’ He would give us ideas and we would rerecord the sections and when we listened back we would totally understand what he was saying. It was really special because it’s nice to have a trained third party saying this is really great but it could probably be stronger. He was super hands-on and not afraid to come hang out with us and let us know what his thoughts were.” Trout Steak’s affinity for Pandolfi’s methods makes sense because hanging out and sharing thoughts is what the band is all about.
One of the things that endear Trout Steak to their fans is the fact that they are a pretty tight knit bunch. This closeness has allowed them to win over fans wherever they go, but it all starts with the band itself. Although the band is pretty spread out around the Front Range, it is important for them to get together at Foley’s not only to practice but also to connect with each other. “We practice from ten to two and we always take a lunch break and just talk to catch up with everybody. It’s really important. Two hours into practice you need a break anyway, and our group, like most groups, suffer from hanger,” Foley said amidst laughs. There is also the road, that great unifier that helps Trout Steak bond. “We’ve been traveling a lot and we try to make getting along our number one goal. But it’s pretty easy with our group as far as friendship and work environment. It’s really special and we’re really lucky.” With camaraderie like that Trout Steak is set to be around for many years to come and the future looks bright for these five young musicians.
This Saturday—after tours through the mid and northwest including a play at Northwest String Summit—Trout Steak returns to the Front Range for a headlining gig at The Fox Theater in Boulder with Longest Day of the Year and Austin group Wood & Wire. But there won’t be much time for rest. The band embarks on yet another tour of the northwest with fellow Colorado Blugrassers Head For The Hills in the fall. Armed with a new tour bus, Trout Steak is set to become a national touring machine, although they had to grudgingly say goodbye to their champagne gold van known as “Brookie” (as in a Brook Trout), which Foley lovingly referred to as “her.” But they are hoping to name the new bus soon and convert it to run on vegetable oil. When I asked Foley if there was anymore she wanted to add, she told me to feel free to make some stuff up. Sorry Bevin, I’m a journalist and I can’t do that. Besides, the success story of Trout Steak Revival is something you can’t make up.
TROUT STEAK REVIVAL
Saturday, September 12th
The Fox Theatre
Tickets: $15 ADV, $18 DoS
PURCHASE TICKETS
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