What do you get when you cross three Aussies with one Texas expat? An increasingly popular Melbourne-based roots band called Mustered Courage, of course. The musicians say they focus on “original songwriting, big harmonies, great pickin’ and rocking the crowd,” on their facebook bio, but they’ve also spent significant time building up credibility on the road, racking up shows in 43 states last year alone.
The group’s current “Can’t Hide from the Moonshine Tour” pops into the One Stop Deli & Bar on Wednesday, June 10, at 10 p.m., with the Maggie Valley Band opening. Tickets are $5 at the door.
For a quick hearing test, see if your ears can keep up with the blitzkrieg picking in this 2014 performance of “Go to Hell.”
More from the band’s website:
Based in Melbourne, Australia, Mustered Courage bridge the gap between traditional bluegrass and modern roots music. The quartet – consisting of three Aussies and a Texas expat – has risen to the top of Australia’s folk and roots scene on the strength of their energetic live shows and an eponymous debut album that won them a string of glowing reviews, loads of national radio support, an endorsement from Seal, and a trophy at the 2012 MusicOz Awards. Their latest album, Powerlines, has also garnered the band two “Golden Guitar” nominations at the 2014 CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia for Alternative Country Album of the Year and Instrumental of the Year for the track “Allegheny”.
After a heavy touring schedule of headlining club dates and festival appearances in support of their debut, Mustered Courage went back into the studio to record their sophomore long-player, Powerlines, with ARIA Award winning producer Jimi Maroudas (The Living End, Eskimo Joe, Kimbra). The album finds them fine-tuning a diverse sound that Music Australia Guide describes as “the link between Bill Monroe and Mumford & Sons, with just the right mix of mirth and mournful.” Rhythms Magazine raves, “The four-part harmonies are right on the money. And the string picking, whether lightning fast or mellow and relaxed, is incendiary.”
Mustered Courage’s quick ascent has not gone unnoticed in music industry circles, both in Australia and abroad. These down-home pickers have played many of the major Australian festivals, performed an official showcase at September’s Americana Music Association Conference and Festival in Nashville, and are currently booking U.S. festival and club dates for the summer of 2014.
Like the Avett Brothers and Infamous Stringdusters, Mustered Courage breathe new life into the bluegrass scene with a style that appeals to both traditionalists and newcomers alike. They are a band on the rise that, as Rhythms contends, is “guaranteed to soon be on to bigger things.”
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