Biography
Hailing from Detroit, a city scarcely linked to country traditions, the Deadstring Brothers deliver alternative country-rock marked by pronounced rock & roll bravado and a pronounced blues current that evokes the Rolling Stones of the Exile on Main St. era far more than Uncle Tupelo or its successors. Late in 2001 the group came together after Kurt Marschke, who had previously performed solo acoustic shows, began shaping songs with several compatible musicians. Their reputation for a forceful yet soulful approach grew quickly, leading to the September 9, 2003 release of the self-titled debut on Detroit’s Times Beach Records. Marschke was supported on that album by Peter Ballard on Dobro and pedal steel, Phil Durr on guitar, Eric Hoegemeyer on tambourine, Aric Karpinski on organ and piano, William King on percussion and drums, Philip Skarich on bass, guitar, and percussion, and Ross Westerbur on strings and chamberlin, while background vocals were supplied by Skarich, Robert Burrows, Masha Marjieh, Mimi Marjieh, and Loura Rock. Extensive touring ensued, placing the Deadstring Brothers onstage with Cat Power, the Sadies, the Drive-By Truckers, and My Morning Jacket. In 2005 the band joined Chicago’s leading alt-country imprint, Bloodshot Records. Bloodshot arranged for the second album, Starving Winter Report, to be issued first in England through Evangeline Records on October 3, 2005, with the domestic edition following on February 21, 2006. The recording featured Marschke, Hoegemeyer, Skarich, Westerbur, Masha Marjieh, Rayse Biggs on trumpet, Edward Gooch on trombone, and David Mosher on fiddle. Continued road work accompanied ongoing changes in lineup, especially the addition of several British musicians. By the October 9, 2007 appearance of the third album, Silver Mountain, the Deadstring Brothers had become a sextet comprising Marschke, Masha Marjieh, drummer E. Travis Harrett, and U.K. members Spencer Cullum on guitar, pedal steel, and lap steel, his older brother Jeff Cullum on bass, and Pat Kenneally on keyboards. São Paulo arrived three years afterward in 2010. Following a move from Detroit to Nashville, the band issued the slightly more country-oriented Cannery Row in spring 2013.
Albums
