Biography
Virginia's Hackensaw Boys channeled bluegrass and roots music through the unrestrained intensity of a rock outfit, choosing their moniker to reflect the vigorous hacking and sawing motion they applied to their instruments. Local acclaim paved the way for broader recognition in 2002 via the Unlimited Sunshine Tour, where they matched the eclectic energy of companions including Modest Mouse and De La Soul before later backing Charlie Louvin. Studio efforts such as 2005's Love What You Do and 2007's Look Out! captured their range on record, whereas concert documents like 2013's Live 'Til the Sweet By and By showcased the explosive live command that defined their identity. Following an extended studio hiatus, the band resurfaced in 2016 with the album Charismo.
Formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, during 1999, the original roster comprised Rob Bullington handling mandolin and guitar, Tom Peloso on fiddle and upright bass, David Sickmen on guitar, and Bobby St. Ours covering banjo and fiddle. These players had intersected within the regional roots scene, prompting Sickmen and Peloso to assemble the new unit and enlist Bullington along with St. Ours. Early days consisted of busking on city streets; mounting word of mouth soon elevated them to club and theater stages. By the close of that year the lineup incorporated guitarist William Gage and percussionist Justin Neuhardt, the latter devising the signature Charismo—an instrument fashioned from tin cans, hubcaps, and scrap metal and worn in the style of a rubboard.
A 1964 GMC Motor Coach became their tour vehicle in 2000, enabling consistent roadwork while they tracked and independently issued their debut, Get Some. Membership proved fluid thereafter, with as many as twelve musicians rotating through at once and at least twenty-one individuals participating across the years. Self-released live album Give It Back appeared in 2002, coinciding with a Valley Entertainment contract that yielded Keep It Simple and a reissue of Get Some. Participation in the Cake-curated Unlimited Sunshine Tour that same year placed them before wider audiences alongside the Flaming Lips, De La Soul, and Modest Mouse, an outing that also connected Tom Peloso with Modest Mouse, leading to his departure in 2004 for work with that group. Charlie Louvin joined the 2003 edition of the tour and enlisted the Hackensaw Boys as his support unit; the band likewise made its Bonnaroo debut while witnessing St. Ours exit.
Nettwerk Records signed them in 2005 for the release of Love What You Do, the same year Sickmen departed without impeding their festival and theater schedule across North America and Europe. Pokey LaFarge spent a brief 2006 stint with the group before launching a solo path. Look Out! followed on Nettwerk in 2007; afterward the label and band parted ways, prompting independent EPs The Old Sound of Music, Vol. 1 in 2010 and Vol. 2 the next year. The roster had meanwhile contracted to a manageable core, with Bullington departing in 2011. A live album, Live 'Til the Sweet By and By, emerged in 2013, followed later that year by the additional concert recording For the Love of a Friend: Live in Kinderdijk. Banjoist Jimmy Stelling rejoined in 2014 after an eight-year absence that ended the same year Sickmen returned; fiddler Ferd Moyse and percussionist Brian Gorby completed a settled configuration. Charismo arrived in 2016 as the first studio album in nine years, its title drawn from the group's emblematic percussion device. A combined reissue of the 2011 EPs appeared in 2018 under the title The Old Sound of Music Sessions.
Formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, during 1999, the original roster comprised Rob Bullington handling mandolin and guitar, Tom Peloso on fiddle and upright bass, David Sickmen on guitar, and Bobby St. Ours covering banjo and fiddle. These players had intersected within the regional roots scene, prompting Sickmen and Peloso to assemble the new unit and enlist Bullington along with St. Ours. Early days consisted of busking on city streets; mounting word of mouth soon elevated them to club and theater stages. By the close of that year the lineup incorporated guitarist William Gage and percussionist Justin Neuhardt, the latter devising the signature Charismo—an instrument fashioned from tin cans, hubcaps, and scrap metal and worn in the style of a rubboard.
A 1964 GMC Motor Coach became their tour vehicle in 2000, enabling consistent roadwork while they tracked and independently issued their debut, Get Some. Membership proved fluid thereafter, with as many as twelve musicians rotating through at once and at least twenty-one individuals participating across the years. Self-released live album Give It Back appeared in 2002, coinciding with a Valley Entertainment contract that yielded Keep It Simple and a reissue of Get Some. Participation in the Cake-curated Unlimited Sunshine Tour that same year placed them before wider audiences alongside the Flaming Lips, De La Soul, and Modest Mouse, an outing that also connected Tom Peloso with Modest Mouse, leading to his departure in 2004 for work with that group. Charlie Louvin joined the 2003 edition of the tour and enlisted the Hackensaw Boys as his support unit; the band likewise made its Bonnaroo debut while witnessing St. Ours exit.
Nettwerk Records signed them in 2005 for the release of Love What You Do, the same year Sickmen departed without impeding their festival and theater schedule across North America and Europe. Pokey LaFarge spent a brief 2006 stint with the group before launching a solo path. Look Out! followed on Nettwerk in 2007; afterward the label and band parted ways, prompting independent EPs The Old Sound of Music, Vol. 1 in 2010 and Vol. 2 the next year. The roster had meanwhile contracted to a manageable core, with Bullington departing in 2011. A live album, Live 'Til the Sweet By and By, emerged in 2013, followed later that year by the additional concert recording For the Love of a Friend: Live in Kinderdijk. Banjoist Jimmy Stelling rejoined in 2014 after an eight-year absence that ended the same year Sickmen returned; fiddler Ferd Moyse and percussionist Brian Gorby completed a settled configuration. Charismo arrived in 2016 as the first studio album in nine years, its title drawn from the group's emblematic percussion device. A combined reissue of the 2011 EPs appeared in 2018 under the title The Old Sound of Music Sessions.
Albums
Hackensaw Boys
2022
The Old Sound of Music Sessions
2018
Look Out!
2007
Who's Looking After Me?
2007
Love What You Do
2005
Singles
