Artist:You, Me, Everybody Hometown: Ngaruawahia, Waikato, New Zealand Latest Album:Southern Sky (January 2021) Latest Single: “Heart of Stone” (June 3, 2025) Rejected Band Names: Captain banjo & the Bluegrassketeers
What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?
I remember playing a gig on Valentine’s Day way back in 2013 at Matterhorn in Wellington. There was a huge crowd there and at some point, towards the back of the room, there was a major kerfuffle. Medical staff were on the scene, but the band just kept on playing, having no idea what was actually going on. At the end of the show it was revealed to us that somebody had actually gone into labour, giving birth just outside the venue. I believe that my music had a hand in creating life and am disappointed that the baby was not named in my honour. – Rob, bass
Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do they impact your work?
I have been ocean swimming for about six years now, after decades of not being a swimmer at all. My wife and I each have a swim buddy and we go year-round. The blast of cold water has been a welcome grounding for us both as we lost our son a few years ago. I made it through with water and music: the cold Pacific ocean for clarity and sanity, the band for the transcendent moments of joy that only music can bring. – Nat, banjo
What’s the most difficult creative transformation you’ve ever undertaken?
Playing music from such a young age has meant I have gone through many musical changes. The hardest change in my music career has been going from spending all my time playing music through my teen years to working a full-time job. Transforming my mindset to find balance has been tricky and still is, but music will always be a very big part of my life. – Sam, mandolin
What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song that you adore that would surprise people?
I am a big-time house music appreciator, so as a bluegrass musician and fan, I think people are surprised to find this out. The two genres don’t really share any instruments in common, but if you strip them back they do have similarities, which is why I think it really resonates with me. Who knows, maybe I will try adding some Roland drum machines to the next YME next bluegrass hit! – Laurence, guitar, vocals
If you didn’t work in music, what would you do instead?
I’m a teacher, Rob’s a teacher. We all have jobs outside of music. For a long time I thought that meant that I couldn’t call myself a musician, but I’ve long ago stopped making excuses about this. So many musicians need other jobs to pay their bills. I taught drama and I’ve found more and more that the creative processes I’ve undertaken with my students now really plays into my writing process and the collaboration we do as a band. We work really hard to try everyone’s suggestions before saying no to something – you don’t know it won’t work until it actually doesn’t. All of my skills tend to come out in everything I undertake. – Kim, guitar, vocals
Artist:Amistat Hometown: Rosenheim, Bavaria, Germany Latest Album:What We Are EP (releasing March 21)
Which artist has influenced you the most – and how?
The godfather of indie-folk, Ben Howard! When we first started out as Amistat playing and writing music back in 2012, his album Every Kingdom had just come out. It was the first time ever that we had heard a sound like his. His lyrics, melodies, especially the style of guitar tuning, and the way he used his guitar as a percussive element, captured us and had us mesmerized. It’s to this date the most inspiring piece of music we’ve ever come across and we listen to it on repeat, still.
What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?
The last hour before going on stage is holy to us and very important for us to get in the zone. We meditate for about half an hour (individually), then Josef runs through his vocal warm up routine (15 minutes). We brush our teeth (most important!) and just before going on stage we have this ritual that the entire team meets backstage for a toast – it’s actually reciting an old Irish poem. Every day someone else gets to take the lead on it:
“There are good ships and wood ships, ships that sail the sea, but the best ships are friendships and may they always be.”
What’s the most difficult creative transformation you’ve ever undertaken?
We started out as buskers on the streets of Melbourne. We did that full time for about 7 years. After that time we felt like nothing is really changing and that in order to grow we needed to change something again. We moved to Brighton, England, and wanted to try busking there. After about three weeks and 24/7 of rain we decided to move to Berlin. There we had to kind of rethink the whole busking thing and came up with the idea of putting on small house shows in people’s living rooms. That’s what we did and lived of for about two years. Then COVID hit and everything kind of stopped. During that time we honed down on the social media content and it all grew from there.
What’s one question you wish interviewers would stop asking you?
“What’s it like being twins?”
If you didn’t work in music, what would you do instead?
Jan would be a golf professional, Josef would be soccer professional.
Barbaro, who take their name from the famous Kentucky racehorse whose life was tragically short, have recently released About the Winter, their second full-length album.
The band was founded as a duo by Kyle Shelstad and Isaac Sammis in 2017, later welcoming Rachel Calvert and Jason Wells into the fold. They released Dressed in Roses in 2020, and while Sammis departed the band after the birth of his second child, he contributed heavily to the new album and left a great deal of inspiration with the rest of his bandmates.
About the Winter, which was co-produced by Shelstad and Brian Joseph (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens), features nine original tracks that seamlessly weave in and out of one another, gently guiding the listener through vulnerable lyrics, intimate soundscapes, and technical prowess.
BGS caught up with Barbaro following their month-long album release tour to chat about the new record, their musical process, and recent world travels.
The textures on this album – while ranging from synths and samples to pizzicato bass and fiddle – maintain a familiar sonic foundation for each of these songs to sink into. How did you go about selecting and arranging the material for this record?
Kyle Shelstad: As a group, I think we tend to gravitate towards tunes that we can connect with on some sort of deeper level, tunes that we can internalize in some way that provokes an emotional reaction in ourselves and hopefully those listening. This is the basis for all our song choices in this group, finding tunes that allow our whole selves to buy into the intimate, distant, delicate, and coarse moments that help create the dynamic range found in many of these tunes.
Regarding the arrangements, some of this was pre-planned going into the recording, but many of these songs were somewhat unfinished going in. Our goal was to explore in the studio and Brian allowed us a space to be creative and experimental with these songs. For example, there is a moment in “Subpoena Colada” where Jason is crunching a plastic water bottle full of leaves into the microphone… it’s a sick solo, check it out. Brian took all these experiments and helped us make them musical.
There’s a line in the album’s press release that caught me: “Barbaro’s compositions prioritize texture and expression over technical virtuosity.” I really like that, considering that two of you – Calvert (fiddle) and Wells (bass) – come from the classical world, whereas Shelstad has a stringband background. That said, this music is thoughtfully orchestrated, which I know must require a fair amount of calculation and precision. When putting this music together, where do you find the balance between those two worlds?
Jason Wells: I’d say the balance comes more from each of our instincts than from traditional orchestration. Since Kyle writes the material and brings the songs to the rest of us, I’d say the base of the music is in the string band tradition, but the way Kyle writes and how he uses space and texture is really unique and lends itself to a more classical approach to filling out the other parts.
What makes the songs work is each member’s commitment to really listening for what each song needs and not adding any more than that. As we workshop new material, each of us will try different things and only keep what seems essential to the song, and through that process the form of the song takes shape. It’s a really natural process.
I love the Bruegel piece, “The Hunters in the Snow,” that you chose for the album cover, and the way that it pairs with this music. Can you tell me more about how you came to feature the famous painting alongside this music?
Rachel Calvert: I was researching how winter shows up across art history when I came across the Bruegel painting. I was surprised that it was a 16th century painting, it looked more modern to me. I was seeking something that evoked emotional ambiguity, nostalgia, and the collision of the natural and manmade – and it hit all the marks! I also noticed that the colors matched up with the Barbaro “uniform.” We typically show up to gigs wearing denim, black, and earth tones. “Hunters in the Snow” was already one of us!
The farewell track, “Ike’s Farewell,” is obviously much more than a lone instrumental to close out the album – it’s clear that Isaac Sammis had a big impact on this music, both through his co-founding of the band, and expressive banjo playing. While I know that someone leaving the band can be difficult to navigate musically, I like that Sammis’ contributions are celebrated on this album. I was curious if you could attest to the influence, musically or otherwise, that he’s left with you.
JW: Man, Isaac’s influence on the band’s sound can’t be overstated. He has this unique ability to really push the boundaries of sound and tonality, and I attribute his instinct for tension and release to be one of the primary reasons our songs flow compositionally the way that they do. In addition to his stellar banjo playing, Isaac’s also a hell of a guitar player and you can hear him adding electric guitar effects and note bends on several of the tracks. Those lines and sounds he laid down ended up being foundational to the new sound direction for the album, so his influence is everywhere!
This is unrelated to the record, but I wanted to ask about your 2023 American Music Abroad tour. That seems like a pretty special thing to do – to get to journey to Qatar, Turkey, and Bulgaria to share this music. I know it was after the recording of this album, but how do you think that tour influenced the band?
RC: Our travels abroad reaffirmed our overall mission – to form pathways for all sorts of folks to connect to both their interior emotional world, and to the people and place that form communities around them. Bringing audiences to tears, even through cultural and language barriers, was a powerful reminder that music and art are indeed universal languages that allow us to see the sparks of life and love within ourselves and others.
With your album release tour wrapped up, what’s on Barbaro’s horizon for 2024?
KS: Barb is excited to keep working on and recording new music. We really enjoy the process of writing together and look forward to working on a fresh batch of tunes. I think we found a voice on this record that is uniquely ours, and we intend to keep exploring that.
With an old-school look and feel, Raleigh, North Carolina’s Chatham County Line started at the dawn of the new millennium in a surge of passion for bluegrass music. Now at 20 years old, they’ve made only one very recent personnel change and refreshed their concept as a post-modern string band with drums.
Their new album, Strange Fascination, displays far-reaching vision and a warm, cohesive sound, riding on the unique songwriting voice of Dave Wilson. Wilson and co-founding multi-instrumentalist John Teer join host Craig Havighurst for a retrospective conversation, featuring music from their past and present.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.