Critically acclaimed and award winning, The Infamous Stringdusters, featuring Andy Hall (dobro), Andy Falco (guitar), Chris Pandolfi (banjo), Jeremy Garrett (fiddle), and Travis Book (double bass) have gone to painstaking efforts to secure their presence as a major player in the indie blue grass scene. The group will be at the Philadelphia Folk Festival on Aug. 18.
“The Laws of Gravity” (2017) is the band’s latest release. Debuting at number 26 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, the band shines on the thirteen-song recording. Offering some of their best work, the record will only serve to fuel their continued creative ascent.
“We went into the studio and tracked everything live,” says Andy Falco, from his home in Long Island, New York. “Our writing starts as a show and tell kind of thing where we show each other songs that we have. Certain songs emerge as ones that we seem to gravitate towards. We have a couple sessions where we arrange them a little bit more and then we go into the studio and we start playing the songs and capture a performance that we’re happy with. For us, it never works to do 40 takes of a song. You might do 2 or 3 takes, give it a listen, and you might have it.”
“It was an exciting record for us because we had just come off a fun record we did called “Ladies and Gentleman,” adds Falco. “With this record, we were looking to get back to the five of us and getting in the studio and playing Stringdusters music just with us. It was really a blast to make it. With every record, you learn something but even in the process you start to get more refined with what you’re after with each record. It was just a matter of not trying to over-arrange songs and really try to make it feel as natural as possible and let the songs dictate themselves. We just went into the studio and cut it live. The hardest thing for any band is being able to capture the live band energy on the recording. When you get in the studio sometimes it can end up being different. We’re really proud of this one.”
Standout tracks include, “Freedom,” Gravity,” “A Hard Life Makes a Good Song,” “Black Elk,” “1901; A Canyon Odyssey,” “Sirens,” “Back Home” and “Let Me Know.”
The release of their debut studio album, “Fork in the Road” in 2007 earned the band multiple honors at the International Blue Grass Music Association Awards for “Album and Artist of the Year,” as well as song of the year for the album’s title track. Their follow-up albums “The Infamous Stringdusters” (2008) and “Things That Fly” (2010) peaked at Number One and Two respectively on the Billboard Bluegrass chart.
In 2011, more recognition followed. Their “Things That Fly” album earned them an “Entertainer of the Year” nomination by the International Blue Grass Music Association and a Grammy nomination for “Best Country Instrumental” for the song “Magic No. 9.”
Influenced by the music of their parents as well as their own musical tastes, The Stringdusters songwriting crosses over a variety of genres beyond their blue grass foundation.
“What defines us and ultimately makes the Stringdusters the Stringdusters is that we are in the blue grass world,” says Falco. “The band has to allow all of our musical influences to come out. A lot of parts are blue grass, but then we also touch on blues, jazz, heavy metal and jam, all of that stuff is kind of in there somewhere.”
“I have been influenced by a combination of the music of my peers and my parents,” adds Falco. “When records were vinyl, my parents were model record buyers. They heard something they liked on the radio and they would go out and buy the album. My parent’s record collection, which was essentially our record collection growing up, consisted of everything from The Beatles, The Doors, classical music, Doc Watson, Johnny Cash and New Orleans jazz. So, there was this super eclectic record collection that as a kid I had access to. We destroyed them – we played them so much.”
“All this and meeting musicians in high school and playing music everyday, playing in a band and writing music, all those things ultimately shaped me as a musician and it still happens,” says Falco. “You meet new people and you have new collaborations and keep your mind open, which I think is really important as an artist. Try to be aware of the world around you. And you are always influenced and evolving.”
“It’s an interesting thing now in the music business that a lot of the financial burden, more than ever before, falls back on the artist,” says Falco. “People aren’t buying records the way they used to. You learn as a musician that you can’t rely on these records. You’re not going to make a living when you make a record. Still, I think it’s the best way to get your music out there.”
Constant touring has become routine and necessary for survival for Falco and his band mates. Performing as many as 150 shows in a given year, they are committed to whatever it takes to be a success.
“Music is sort of communication,” says Falco. “It’s a really powerful and beautiful thing when people come together at our shows. We need a lot more of that in this world. It’s important for us to remember that’s really what it’s all about as human beings and as Americans coming together. We need these kinds of positive things.”
“We work really, really hard and in all of that sometimes you have to stop for a moment and realize that we’re in a wonderful position,” adds Falco. “We enjoy our lives and making music and making a living doing it and being able to keep evolving as a band. I think that’s really all you can ask for as an artist.”
