The Rutabega

Serving as the creative vehicle for indie singer/songwriter Josh Hensley, the Rutabega fuse aspects of folk, emo, punk, and intimate confessional narratives within their intense lo-fi compositions. The project originated as a solo endeavor via the 2002 release Cobus Green before shifting into duo mode a decade afterward on the Bull Carp EP, which brought drummer Garth Mason into the lineup. An uneven sequence of long-form, brief, and retrospective recordings followed, among them the more fully realized Leading Up To album from 2022.

Rooted in South Bend, Indiana, the Rutabega surfaced in the early 2000s as Hensley’s lone venture, with the debut album Cobus Green issued that year on the Chicago punk imprint Johann's Face. Though Hensley’s partly acoustic material and forceful, occasionally Elliott Smith-like personal narratives represented a departure for the label, his unguarded accounts of romantic endings and self-discovery, paired with the music’s unfiltered, erratic, and frequently tormented tone, aligned broadly with folk-punk. Collaborators appeared on fully arranged tracks from the outset. The Rutabega’s sophomore album These Knotty Lines arrived in January 2004 and was followed later that year by a split EP alongside Owen (Mike Kinsella). Hensley’s concluding pair of solo efforts, the companion EPs Cursed and Blessed, were both composed in 2005 yet surfaced only in 2011, each incorporating vocals from recurring contributor Emily Trimboli-Hensley.

Bearing cover art depicting two figures, the April 2012 Bull Carp EP listed Garth Mason on drums and keys. Now formally a duo, the Rutabega delivered the full-length Brother the Lights Don't Work in mid-2013. Penned by Hensley and executed by Hensley, Mason, and several guests that included string players, the set was recorded and mixed by Mason. Triple Eye Industries put out the limited 7" “Shiny Destination” b/w “Ladder” in early 2015, after which the A-side resurfaced on the June 2016 album Unreliable Narrator, with proceeds directed to a soup kitchen. One year later Hensley issued the “lost solo EP” Mid Aughts Mess (circa 2004), again routing proceeds to TREES, Inc. (Transgender Resource, Education, and Enrichment Services of Indiana). The Rutabega subsequently released Unreliable Sketches, a collection of song sketches for 2016’s Unreliable Narrator that appeared on New Jersey label Comedy Minus One in 2020. Self-described as the third entry in a trilogy alongside Brother the Lights Don't Work and Unreliable Narrator, the more robust Leading Up To arrived on the same label in October 2022. By then the band had accumulated touring credits with a wide array of acts including Owen, Awkwafina, Dick Dale, Deerhoof, Ben Folds, and Low.