MIPSO performed at the 3 Sisters Festival in Chattanooga this past weekend. This is their story to share ……..when Mipso’s 2013 debut, Dark Holler Pop, rose to #8 on Billboard’s Bluegrass charts, the success surprised a lot of people – Mipso’s four members included. “Well, we didn’t know so many people would buy it,” laughs mandolin player Jacob Sharp, “and we definitely didn’t know we were a bluegrass band.”
Since then, Mipso has performed over 300 shows and welcomed frequent collaborator Libby Rodenbough’s voice and fiddle to the fold – and has continued to grow while drawing continual inspiration from their rich North Carolina roots.
Their new album, Old Time Reverie – produced by Mandolin Orange’s Andrew Marlin – is a reflection of that musical and personal growth: a gripping, mature sophomore release that finds the quartet expanding their sonic resources while doubling down on their experimentation with string band tradition.
While the instrumentation on the acclaimed Dark Holler Pop embraced North Carolina’s bluegrass heritage head-on, Old Time Reverie finds Mipso shifting their focus away from bluegrass, introducing new instruments and textures to create a distinctly different sound. Clawhammer banjo out of 1920s early country music meets atmospheric electric organ (played by Josh Oliver of The Everybodyfields) more native to 1970s pop. Add imaginative songwriting and a group cohesion gained from two years of near-constant touring, and the resulting sound is powerfully rhythmic, lyrically sharp, and woven with beautiful four-part harmonies.
Before forming Mipso, Jacob Sharp (mandolin), Joseph Terrell (guitar), Wood Robinson (bass), and Libby Rodenbough (fiddle) were just classmates at UNC-Chapel Hill, where the experience of singing together in harmony drew them together. The sound of their blended voices remains one of the band’s hallmarks. Since those college jam sessions, the four have entered a new phase of life, one where the work of making music – and the work of living – has become a more complicated affair. Many of the songs on Old Time Reverie grapple with the moral ambiguity that comes with keeping hope in a difficult world and making sense of its contradictions.
“We come from a place where traditional music is a living, changing thing,” fiddle player Libby Rodenbough said. “So we feel like having an ear for all kinds of stuff is not only true to ourselves, it’s a nod to the tradition.” Call it what you will – to listen is to understand: it’s either unlike anything you’ve heard before or effortlessly familiar. By digging deeper and expanding further, Mipso members have created their own dark daydream of Southern Americana: Their Old Time Reverie.
(Source ; MIPSO social media) The concert schedule is available here at http://www.mipsomusic.com/
MIPSO BIO:
Folk/Americana/Fun
Members: Jacob Sharp, Joseph Terrell, Libby Rodenbough, and Wood Robinson
Hometown - Chapel Hill, NC
Record Label - Robust Records
General Manager - Hatchery 17 | mipso@hatchery17.com
Current Location - Chapel Hill, NC
Web Site - www.mipsomusic.com/
Find them on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook too!
3 Sisters Music Festival Started in 2007 by a local businessman, George Bright, the 3 Sisters Festival on the waterfront at Ross’s Landing is becoming one of the banner events of the fall. Local, regional and national bluegrass all-stars perform for two days on a stage framing the river. This free one-of-a-kind event features contemporary and traditional bluegrass. The event is sponsored by Fletcher Bright Company and Chattanooga Presents. http://www.3sistersbluegrass.com/
Chattanooga Live Music, Mark A Herndon, certified professional geologist and professional photographer grew up in Chattanooga area, graduated from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. Connecting People with the Arts of Music and Dance to the Chattanooga Live Music Scene by supporting local singers, songwriters, musicians, dancers, & bands. Media affiliation www.chattanoogan.com Check out more at www.facebook.com/chattanoogalivemusic Email at MAHerndon@ChattanoogaLiveMusic.com