Dustin Kensrue

Dustin Kensrue first gained recognition as lead singer, lyricist, and guitarist of the Irvine, California experimental post-hardcore quartet Thrice, yet he has also carved out a parallel career as a roots-oriented solo artist whose work draws from faith-based country-rock, folk, and Americana. Following Thrice’s early releases—Identity Crisis, The Illusion of Safety, and The Artist in the Ambulance—he began developing solo acoustic songs and issued his debut album, Please Come Home, in 2007. Balancing continued commitments to his primary band, he later delivered the Billboard-charting contemporary worship project The Water & the Blood in 2013 and the country-and-western-leaning Death Valley Honeymoon in 2024.

He initially composed material under the name Ursus Veritas before abandoning the alias in favor of his own. Early tracks surfaced online while he paused work on Thrice’s fourth album, Vheissu, to finish recording his solo debut alongside co-producer and bandmate Teppei Teranishi. That summer he embarked on a ten-day tour of select U.S. dates, mixing original songs, covers, and occasional Thrice numbers; Lucero’s Ben Nichols accompanied him on East Coast shows, while former Hot Water Music singer Chuck Ragan joined for West Coast performances. In 2006 Kensrue signed with Equal Vision, which released the folk- and country-inflected Please Come Home the following January; five percent of proceeds went to charity. Later in 2007 he issued the holiday EP This Good Night Is Still Everywhere—again produced by Teranishi—through Vagrant Records, Thrice’s label at the time.

When Thrice entered hiatus in 2012, Kensrue served as worship pastor at Mars Hill Church Bellevue. He recorded the well-received worship album The Water & the Blood for BEC Recordings in 2013, yet resigned from the church amid controversy surrounding founder Mark Driscoll, in which Kensrue played no part. His fourth solo outing, Carry the Fire, arrived in 2015 and explored both spiritual and secular themes; that year Thrice also revealed plans to reunite for concerts, festival slots, and fresh material. Opening 2016, Kensrue released the live covers collection Thoughts That Float on a Different Blood, followed in May by Thrice’s reunion album To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere. He closed the year with the two-song 7-inch “More Thoughts That Float on a Different Blood.”

Thereafter he concentrated on Thrice, which made its Epitaph Records debut with Palms in 2018 and delivered its eleventh studio album, Horizons/East, in 2021. A re-recorded edition of The Artist in the Ambulance appeared in 2023. The next year brought Death Valley Honeymoon, a solo album shaped by the American Southwest.