Speed the Plough

Speed the Plough took their name from a traditional Scottish folk tune and formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, where they combine pastoral folk-pop, alternative rock, and jangle pop. Emerging in the late 1980s from the remnants of the Trypes, the group absorbed influences from the Beatles, Fairport Convention, Velvet Underground, and Erik Satie. Following their self-titled debut in 1989, they produced a series of albums that resonated with college rock audiences until entering hiatus in 1995. The band reassembled in 2009 with several members’ adult children on board and delivered Swerve in 2010, their first album in 15 years. Later releases Now (2015) and ...And Then (2018) sustained the same approach, presenting heartfelt chamber folk-pop accented by gentle psychedelic touches.

John and Toni Paruda-Baumgartner and Marc Francia founded the project in 1984, though its history reaches back to 1982 under the Trypes banner. The original Trypes lineup of keyboardist John Baumgartner, singer/woodwind player Toni Paruda-Baumgartner, bassist Brenda Sauter, percussionist Stanley Demeski, and guitarist Marc Francia later expanded to include Feelies members Bill Million and Glenn Mercer during that band’s hiatus. After the 1984 EP The Explorers Hold, an introspective collection of rustic pop, Million and Mercer reactivated the Feelies and took Sauter and Demeski with them. The remaining Trypes adopted the name Speed the Plough, added guitarist Frank O’Toole, bassist Pete Pedulla, and drummer/music writer Jim DeRogatis, and issued their 1989 self-titled Coyote debut—produced by Million and featuring shared vocals between chief songwriter John Baumgartner and Paruda. Pedulla and DeRogatis soon departed, allowing Sauter and Demeski to rejoin for the expansive 1991 album Wonder Wheel. Mason’s Box followed in 1993 and Marina in 1995, both preserving the group’s signature blend of dreamy chamber folk melodies and jangly college pop.

After the long break, the Baumgartners’ son Mike joined on guitar in 2009 while Francia’s sons Ian and Dan took up drums and bass. Swerve appeared in 2010, followed later that year by the three-song EP The Summer Sessions. Guitarist Ed Seifert came aboard for the sixth album, Shine, issued in 2011 on Dromedary Records. Acute Records released the Trypes retrospective Music for Neighbors in 2012, and Bar None issued the Speed the Plough compilation The Plough and the Stars in 2013. When Dan and Ian Francia left that same year to pursue other projects, Cindi Merklee joined on bass and vocals and John Demeski—son of Feelies drummer and former Speed the Plough member Stanley Demeski—joined on drums. This configuration made its studio debut with the 2015 Coyote Records album Now. In 2018 the band released its eighth studio album, ...And Then, which welcomed bassist Dan Francia back and introduced drummer Ken Meyer.