BGS is proud to once again partner with our friends at WinterWonderGrass to bring you exquisite, intimate live sessions captured at WinterWonderGrass Steamboat earlier this year. Filmed by Far From Near Productions at the Steamboat Art Museum in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, we’re calling the series of videos WinterWonderGrass In The Round. Artists and bands from the WWG lineup perform in casual and cozy jam circles – unplugged, acoustic, and unadorned – inside the museum, surrounded on all sides by adoring fans, festival-goers decked out in their toques, scarves, and snow clothes. Our very first WinterWonderGrass In The Round videos featured Clay Street Unit, watch here.

To continue the series, next up is a BGS and WWG favorite, Bronwyn. While she may have recently dropped her last name, the fiery, fast-rising fiddler certainly lacks for nothing during her WinterWonderGrass In The Round performances with her all-star band. They begin with “Johnny Ray,” the most recently released single from her upcoming album, Rattlin’ Bones, set for release in just over week on August 13. Earlier this year, the WWG fans gathered at the Steamboat Art Museum got a lovely preview of the track, which combines textures from bluegrass, jamgrass, indie rock, and alt-country. “Johnny Ray” sounds excellent in this simple, unplugged setting. An intricate melodic hook gives way to a complicated, ear-piquing chord progression. The chorus wrenches even more lonesome from the song’s chords, with goosebump-raising harmonies by banjoist Frank Evans. The Bronwyn original is already a standout on the new album.

The group – which also includes Larry Cook on bass, Grant Dresnok on guitar, Tristan Scroggins on mandolin – continues with “Sticks and Stones,” which was the debut single that announced the new album back in June. Driving and forward-leaning, it’s a perfect soundtrack for a roadtrip, Evans’ banjo pushing and pulling the song along. All of the tracks on Bronwyn’s upcoming album were written by the fiddler-singer-songwriter, her personality becoming even more prominent in her lyrics. “Sticks and Stones” could reference the many highly opinionated online commenters who flock to Bronwyn’s content, or it could be considering the cons of a life on the climb in the public eye. But whatever the impetus was for the track, it’s bluegrass as hell – and a delight to listen to and watch. Without any amplification and with the excellent sound and video capture from Far From Near, you really feel like you’re there in the museum.

For their third selection, Bronwyn and band perform “Gallatin Road,” a brand new single from the new album that just released last week. “I moved to Nashville about eight years ago,” Bronwyn explains introducing the song, “and Nashville’s a quirky town, so I wrote a song about one of the extra-quirky roads in it called ‘Gallatin Road.'” The intro immediately strikes listeners as more folky and Americana with a fun groove and solid backbeat, Bronwyn paints her fans a picture of one of the primary avenues through East Nashville and Madison. “…Payday loans, prescription drugs and all the delta8 you need/ Anything goes out on Gallatin Road,” she sings, immortalizing the iconic personality of East Nasty before “New Nashville” completely obliterates it.

For a special, bonus fourth clip, we’re also sharing the lovely “all-skate” song performed by several of the WWG In The Round artists  together to conclude a shoot at the Steamboat Art Museum. Clay Street Unit and Bronwyn are joined by Billy Failing and Tyler Grant (who will be featured with their own session in the near future) to perform “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” Surrounded by fans, who correctly join in and sing along, it’s a perfect WWG x BGS jam session showcasing the strong sense of community bluegrass has always had. WinterWonderGrass always does an excellent job of centering their and our community in all of their events and activations. The talented musicians swap solos and verses and join together on the choruses in harmony; it’s the perfect way to wrap up our second edition of WWG In The Round.

Stay tuned right here on BGS and on the BGS and WWG social media channels for more content coming soon from artists like Billy Failing, AJ Lee, TopHouse, and Johnny Mullenax in the coming weeks.

Live music is certainly never going away if BGS, WinterWondergrass, Far From Near, and all these artists and bands have anything to do with it. And as long as we have y’all to enjoy it, too!

Video Credits:
Production: Far From Near
Producers: Carly Speno, Sawyer Gieseke
Camera Ops: Sawyer Harris, Sawyer Gieseke, Tobin Voggesser
Audio: Dylan Langille
Mix: Cade Kitzmiller
Shot at the Steamboat Art Museum in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

This content brought to you in partnership with WinterWonderGrass.