On the Road with Greensky Bluegrass

ON THE RoAD

with Greensky BlueGrass

By lynn AnD cElE sElDon

hether you spend life on the road for pleasure or work, it’s nice to have the comforts of home as you travel the highways and byways. Trailblazer checks in with folks who spend a fair amount of time on the road to see just what makes their home away from home.

This month, we chatted with American progressive bluegrass/rock band, Greensky Bluegrass.

Playing together for almost 20 years, the five members of Greensky Bluegrass are more like brothers than colleagues. They finish each other’s sentences, laugh at inside jokes, and have a respect and love for one another that is palpable. And, after a year apart due to the pandemic, they are beside themselves with joy to be back on the road performing their high energy concerts at legendary venues and festivals across the country.

Hailing from Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, getting their start in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and now living across the country, we caught up with members Anders Beck (dobro), Paul Hoffman (mandolin), Mike Devol (upright bass), Dave Bruzza (guitar), and Michael Bont (banjo), via Zoom from the dugout at Coolray Field in Gwinnett County, Georgia, before a performance that evening.

how woUlD yoU DEscRiBE yoUR soUnD?

Hoffman - Acoustic rock ‘n roll band. We love bluegrass. We play bluegrass instruments. We play some bluegrass, but we really play a psychedelic, heavy-handed rock and roll version of it.

Beck - It’s like bluegrass, except cooler.

yoU GUys UsED To ToUR 180 DAys A yEAR. now yoU ARE MoRE sElEcTivE, plAyinG MUlTiplE niGhTs in lARGER vEnUEs. why ThE swiTch?

Devol – You want to reach that level as a band where you don’t have to go make music every night. Even though we love making music—it’s what we do—we’re fortunate enough and have stuck with it long enough that we reached a point where we could be more selective.

Hoffman – It’s like we made a pact with our fans. As a young band, you come around to everyone’s town and play their favorite bar. They like you and it’s like you make an unspoken pact that’s like, “Hey, do we have a deal now? You do some of the traveling next time and we’ll come to a town close to you and play for all of you.” yoUR shows ARE hiGhEnERGy. TEll Us ABoUT A TypicAl pERFoRMAncE.

Beck – It’s a transfer of energy between us and our fans. It’s improvisational music. We try to create something every night that’s unique and interesting and we think our fans really appreciate that.

whAT kinD oF BUs Do yoU TRAvEl in? TEll Us ABoUT iT.

Beck - Prevost is usually what we travel in. But we graduated to that. We used to travel in this thing called the Bandwagon. Blanche Devereaux was her name.

DoEs ThE BAnD slEEp on ThE BUs?

Beck – We usually travel overnight so we wake up somewhere that we’re going to play. We sleep while we are rolling. I love sleeping in there. It’s

whAT wAs 2020 likE FoR yoU?

Devol – We played music alone, we wrote music, we practiced music. We missed each other, but we wrote and recorded an album during that time over a few sessions. It opened up some time for the creative process to get away from our touring schedule. Parenting. Being outside. Sleeping.

Bruzza – It was nice to have that kind of break and get some things in order.

Beck – At first it was daunting. We got everything—our artistic careers, our livelihood—ripped out from underneath us.

Hoffman – At first, we were cancelling shows one at a time. It would have been nice if we had known up front and had made peace with it. We missed performing music, we missed our fans. But we really missed each other and our crew. This thing we do out on the road, we live together, we’re like a family living in this small vehicle traveling down the highway together. We just missed that.

like this little cocoon. There are these bunks, you pull the curtain back and the air is blowing on you.

Bont - It’s like we’re vampires.

Beck – It’s like a little womb.

whAT’s yoUR FAvoRiTE ThinG ABoUT sTAyinG on yoUR BUs vERsUs A hoTEl RooM?

Devol – Nintendo and microwaveable soup dumplings from Trader Joe’s.

Beck – It’s sort of like being at summer camp. We get to be with each other on this cool bus. It’s a pretty fun existence.

Devol – Being on the bus, it’s like it’s okay that we’ve been transported back to being freshman in college.

Hoffman – Hanging out with all our buddies. Sometimes when the bus leaves right after the gig, we’re all awake, snacking, making jokes, whipping up pizza.

whAT ElsE (oThER ThAn lisTEninG To MUsic) Do yoU Do whEn yoU ARE on RoAD?

Devol – Generally, the bus is our sanctuary for quiet, rest, or other human need pursuits.

Beck – Over the years, we’ve all figured out our own schedules where you can have alone time over the course of the day. There is a front lounge and a back lounge. [The] back lounge is usually for video games and other things. The front lounge has two TVs on either side.

Hoffman - Sometimes we have movie nights. Have you ever heard of “Tales from the Tour Bus?” [Editor’s Note: Hoffman is referencing the animated documentary television series, “Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus.”]

Devol – The way the bus is designed, you can usually have all these things going on at the same time. Family movie night can be going on in the front, one dude can go to bed early or sleep in, and Nintendo in the back. Everyone can co-exist, and everyone can do their own thing.

Do yoU cook onBoARD?

Devol – We don’t have the means for a lot of involved onboard food preparation. We have a refrigerator and a microwave. We usually bring a toaster oven and blender for smoothies. You’d be surprised how creative you can get with limited tools when you are in the mood.

hiGhwAys oR scEnic RoUTEs?

Hoffman - Occasionally, if we have enough time between travel dates, we’ll plot out somewhere fun to stop instead of just plowing through. It’s a perk of our job and it’s important that we all love to travel. We would probably all be RVers if we were normal guys.

DiD AnyonE EvER cAMp As A kiD oR As A FAMily vAcATion?

Beck - Yes. My family had a little pop-up trailer that they towed around when I was a kid. I have fond memories of touring the western half of the United States in this little camper.

Hoffman – I’ve been camping all my life. ■