“I feel like our previous music was fall and winter music. I wanted [our album VA] to sound more like summer,” says Ben Hardesty, guitarist and frontman for ethereal folk sextet The Last Bison. The multigenerational family band from Virginia — currently touring in support of its 2014 full-length album (pronounced just like the members’ home state) and newly liberated EP Dorado — employs a diverse lineup of instruments as a point of pride. Bells, reed organ, even percussive Bolivian goat toenails accessorize the band’s more predictable folk inputs. Perhaps that combination, in conjunction with the musicians’ reverence toward all things nature, could explain The Last Bison’s transcendence of earthbound roots sounds toward a markedly more dreamlike quality. The indie troupe plays New Mountain Asheville on Thursday, March 12, at 9 p.m. $10/$12. newmountainavl.com. Photo by Leigh Burnette
Smart bets: The Last Bison
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