The Infamous Stringdusters jam at Midtown

Published 3:00 am Thursday, January 16, 2020

The Infamous Stringdusters’ first Grammy Award seemed long overdue not just for the band, but for its chosen genre in general.

Live music fans can’t have missed the meteoric rise of bluegrass-derived music at festivals and clubs across the country over the last decade-plus. Here in Bend, the style is one of the most popular, with groups such as the Stringdusters, Yonder Mountain String Band, Greensky Bluegrass, The Brothers Comatose, Head for the Hills and many more making the city a regular stop over the years.

But, as with many groundswells in popular music from folk to punk to hip-hop, mainstream radio and its ilk seem painfully slow to catch up. Which is in part why Stringdusters’ guitarist Andy Falco sees his band’s 2018 Grammy win for Best Bluegrass Album for its eighth studio set, 2017’s “Laws of Gravity,” as an important landmark not just for his group, but for the genre as a whole.

“It hadn’t been really recognized in that kind of level, in that world, as far as Grammys and stuff like that too much — our sort of jamgrass, whatever you want to call it, that kind of corner,” Falco said recently from his home in Long Island. He and the rest of the Stringdusters were about to start rehearsals for their first 2020 tour, which lands at the Midtown Ballroom on Tuesday.

“I feel like this was representing all of our colleagues in this in a way — just putting us all sort of in a way on the map in that regard,” he continued. “And hopefully, there’ll be more of that for more of the bands in our corner of the art. I think that’s probably, to me, the most important thing. There are so many good bands that we are friends with and we see at festivals and we hang with, and there’s so many great ones there that are making great records.”

To prove the point, he rattled off a list of favorites in the genre, new and old: scene founding fathers Leftover Salmon, younger artists Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings, bands including Trout Steak Revival and Horseshoes and Hand Grenades — all familiar names in Central Oregon.

Of course, the Grammy also represents a personal milestone for Falco and his longtime bandmates, dobro player Andy Hall, banjoist Chris Pandolfi, fiddler Jeremy Garrett and double bassist Travis Book, who have been touring together since Falco joined in 2007. Pandolfi, Hall and original guitarist Chris Eldridge (now of The Punch Brothers) formed the band in the early 2000s in Boston before relocating to Nashville.

“I could speak for myself especially as a musician: This is something I’ve been doing for many, many years, from the days of playing for no money, or for $15, you know,” Falco said with a laugh. “You’re running around and just kind of dreaming. You put your whole life into this thing, and it’s a very gradual sort of build in your life to make it a career. Sometimes, you can take for granted … where you’ve gone because you’re so busy and your head is so much into the work over the years. And it is a nice reminder that you have that there, and it’s a physical thing that you can remind yourself that — wow, the work that you’ve put in all these years, it’s reaching some people; it’s reaching something; it’s doing something.”

The group, also recently announced for this year’s Northwest String Summit in Horning’s Hideout, has found an appreciative audience in Bend and Oregon in general. It has played shows in the city throughout its history, but more recently has hit the area hard — four shows in three years, counting this upcoming gig, and including a slot at the 2017 4 Peaks Music Festival. In a way, the band’s affinity for the city is similar to its love of Denver, a longtime stronghold for the group and also home territory for Colorado natives Hall and Pandolfi.

“Certainly in Denver, the last several years, there’s just been a skyrocketing music scene, and I think a lot of people were moving there (are) like-minded people who are into music and the outdoors and stuff,” Falco said. “And I think Oregon has the same kind of vibe.”

That leads to receptive audiences. For a band known for lengthy improvisations and energetic performances combining bluegrass, country, rock, jazz and more, the live show is paramount.

“When you do a live show, it’s a reciprocated thing,” Falco said. “And maybe nowadays more than ever, I think people come to shows and yeah, you’re exchanging energy between the band, the audience and you’re sharing this experience.”

The group’s most recent release, “Live from Covington, Kentucky,” illustrates this idea. Over the years, the group’s live-album releases have nearly equaled its studio output, and the band has recorded all its performances for many years, Falco said.

“We knew when we walked off the stage (in Covington), we looked at each other and we had such a good time and just the vibes felt great,” Falco said. “We walked off and said, ‘That’s a show we should probably think about releasing.’”

The album includes the group’s full 21-song set performed at Covington’s Paradise Music & Beer Festival in July 2019. It draws from the band’s entire career, with particular attention paid to last year’s “Rise Sun.”

Recorded in the wake of the band’s Grammy win, “Rise Sun,” like “Laws of Gravity,” was co-produced by the band and longtime collaborator, producer/engineer Billy Hume (Big K.R.I.T., Nas, Nelly).

Thematically, the album’s songs tackle the division and anger that has seeped into modern discourse about everything from politics to social issues to the environment, but from a hopeful perspective.

“At the time of writing all these songs in this new era of what’s going on in the world and all that stuff,” Falco said, “we came together and realized that rather than writing about doom-and-gloom or anything like that, we realized that we were all writing songs that had a message, for the most part, of hope and positivity and love. … That was cool to be off writing separately and then to come together and realize that, oh wow, we have a common message here in these songs.”

What: The Infamous Stringdusters

When: 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, doors open at 8 p.m.

Where: Midtown Ballroom, 51 NW Greenwood Ave., Bend

Cost: $25 plus fees in advance

Contact: midtownbend.com, parallel44presents.com or 541-408-4329

GO! listen to The Infamous Stringdusters’ latest album, “Live from Covington, Kentucky”