The Deadly Gentlemen

Boston's the Deadly Gentlemen approach acoustic music with a thoroughly contemporary mix of 21st-century pop, punk, and rock sensibilities. Fronted by songwriter and banjoist Greg Liszt and completed by mandolin player Dominick Leslie, fiddler Michael Barnett, guitarist Stash Wyslouch, and upright bassist Samson Grisman, the ensemble projects the outward image of a traditional bluegrass group while meeting that description in only the most limited way. Spoken-word passages, rap elements, and a wide range of additional styles are folded into the material. Their first release, The Bastard Masterpiece, appeared in 2008. The follow-up, Carry Me to Home, surfaced in 2011 and revealed a clearer turn toward standard pop frameworks and arrangements. With the arrival of their third album and Rounder Records debut, Roll Me, Tumble Me, in 2013, the Deadly Gentlemen had shed most of their earlier everything-under-the-sun aesthetic and settled into the guise of an acoustic pop band marked by crisp melodies, intelligent lyrics, and a restrained, song-focused sonic palette.