The Infamous Stringdusters

The Infamous Stringdusters, an acoustic ensemble rooted in Nashville, fuse command of traditional bluegrass forms with indie jamgrass leanings, foregrounding instrumental prowess while maintaining an earthy yet rhythmically inviting texture. Out of the gate the group built an enviable standing with bluegrass listeners, collecting three International Bluegrass Music Association honors following the 2007 arrival of Fork in the Road; their subsequent push toward broader horizons surfaced on 2010’s Things That Fly, which earned approval from the acoustic-jam audience. That boundary-crossing impulse received further exercise on Ladies & Gentlemen in 2016, a project that paired the band with eleven distinct female collaborators. After the 2021 EP A Tribute to Bill Monroe earned a Grammy nomination, the Stringdusters addressed social and political realities head-on with 2022’s Toward the Fray before turning again to a key source of inspiration on 2023’s A Tribute to Flatt & Scruggs.

Although the ensemble was established in Nashville during 2005, three charter members—Dobro player Andy Hall, guitarist Chris Eldridge, and banjoist Chris Pandolfi—had already crossed paths while studying at Boston’s Berklee School of Music. Hall’s move to Nashville to work with Ronnie Bowman and the Committee drew Eldridge and Pandolfi southward as well. The trio kept writing and performing together, soon incorporating two additional Bowman sidemen—mandolinist Jesse Cobb and fiddler Jeremy Garrett—before bassist Travis Book completed the lineup. Performing under the name the Infamous Stringdusters, the musicians quickly drew interest from Sugar Hill Records.

Fork in the Road appeared in early 2007; at that year’s IBMA ceremony the group was named Emerging Artist of the Year, the album itself took Album of the Year, and its title track claimed Song of the Year. A self-titled follow-up arrived in 2008, by which point Eldridge had departed and Andy Falco had assumed the guitar chair. Creative expansion marked the 2010 release Things That Fly, which included guest appearances by Dierks Bentley and Sarah Siskind; the track “Magic #9” later received a Grammy nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance.

Cobb exited in 2011, leaving the Stringdusters to continue as a quintet. One of his last recorded performances surfaced on the concert set We’ll Do It Live, issued on the band’s own High Country imprint. Two further High Country studio albums followed—Silver Sky in 2012 and Let It Go in 2014—with the former also released in an expanded edition containing an additional live disc. The 2015 EP Undercover presented the group’s interpretations of material by Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd, and others.

A 2016 agreement with Compass Records yielded Ladies & Gentlemen, an expansive collection featuring eleven prominent female artists including Joan Osborne, Lee Ann Womack, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Joss Stone, and Claire Lynch. The band returned promptly to the studio for Laws of Gravity, released in January 2017; that album captured the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. Also in 2017 the Stringdusters issued the live companion Laws of Gravity: Live and the covers EP Undercover, Vol. 2. Live from Telluride appeared in November 2018, followed in 2019 by the studio album Rise Sun.

In late 2019 the group launched its own Americana Vibes label to oversee future output. The imprint’s first offering was the digital-only Live from Covington, Kentucky, documenting a July 2019 set at the Paradise Music and Beer Festival. The label’s initial physical release arrived in 2020 with Dust the Halls: An Acoustic Christmas Holiday!, a collection of ten seasonal standards reimagined by the band. May 2021 brought the seven-track EP A Tribute to Bill Monroe, which earned another Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album.

The COVID-19 pandemic curtailed touring and kept the members apart for much of 2020 and 2021. Working individually, they exchanged rough song demos until sufficient material accumulated for a new studio project. Released in February 2022, Toward the Fray confronted the social and political unease that had marked the recording period. A further covers EP, A Tribute to Flatt & Scruggs, followed in April 2023.