Interview: Chris Eldridge (Mighty Poplar; Punch Brothers)
Chris “Critter” Eldridge isn’t a big fan of the “supergroup” label his side project has attracted since releasing its self-titled debut earlier this year.
But the shoe certainly fits for Mighty Poplar, a Traveling Wilburys-esque collective of Millennial bluegrass virtuosos comprised of Eldridge’s fellow Punch Brother, Noam Pikelny on banjo, Andrew Marlin of Chapel Hill-based Watchhouse on mandolin, Greg Garrison of Leftover Salmon on bass, and Billy Strings’ fiddler Alex Hargreaves.
“It makes me a little uncomfortable,” says Eldridge, a Grammy-winning guitarist and singer. “We're just a bunch of guys who love playing this music, and love playing together. We’re simply trying to do our job of making — as Tony Rice used to say — sounds that are pleasing to the ear.”
Eldridge is a bluegrass blueblood with an eclectic musical pedigree and palette. His father, Ben, was a banjo player and founding member of The Seldom Scene, and he studied under Rice at the Oberlin Conservatory as the late legend’s hand-picked protégé. In addition to playing with the Chris Thile-fronted Punch Brothers, whose avant-stringband sound has been described by The New York Times as "American country-classical chamber music," he founded the Infamous Stringdusters and has recorded and performed with everyone from Paul Simon to Justin Timberlake to Fiona Apple.
The isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic had Eldridge yearning to revisit his roots — specifically, playing “real-deal” bluegrass with friends — so he was thrilled to get the call from Marlin to join the Mighty Poplar project.
“It was my own personal Dream Team of a bluegrass band in terms of everybody having a distinct identity and true connection to the music without pretending to be anybody other than exactly who they are,” he says. “Which to me is the most compelling thing of all.”
Marlin, a self-proclaimed song gatherer, served as the project’s lead curator, selecting and singing lead on most of the album’s 10 songs. The LP pairs deep cuts from John Hartford, Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen with grassy readings of more recent vintage like Martha Scanlan’s “Up On the Divide” and a few Appalachian instrumentals.
In October 2020, the quintet huddled knee-to-knee around a pair of condenser microphones in a converted tractor shed outside of Nashville. The musicians, who’d known each other for years but were playing together as a unit for the first time, prioritized feel over form and panache over perfection. Arrangements came together organically during the four-day recording session, which reminded the friends of campfire singalongs and front-porch jams they grew up on. And while the band credits The Bluegrass Album Band’s string of ‘80s-era releases with providing subtle inspiration, the album does far more than pay homage to their forefathers.
“lt was such a joyful experience,” Eldridge recalls. “When it wound up being something we all were really proud of and felt really strongly about, it was almost a surprise.”
Asheville Stages spoke with Eldridge during a rehearsal break in Chicago, the night before Mighty Poplar was set to play its first show since May. Plucked banjo and mandolin notes could be heard in the background as he gushed about welcoming fiddler Shad Cobb into the lineup for the early-fall run that includes a sold-out Tuesday, Sept. 19, stop at The Grey Eagle.
Jay Moye: Can you share an abbreviated version of the Mighty Poplar origin story?
Chris Eldridge: There are a bunch of different connections within the band. Noam and I have played a lot together with Punch Brothers, and Greg was the original bass player in that band back in the day, so the three of us have a deep musical relationship. I got to know Andrew at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival when he was playing with [Watchhouse, fka Mandolin Orange]. We’d have these incredible late-night jams. Over the course of numerous years, I'd meet up with him around 1 a.m., and we’d pick until the sun came up. And I met Alex when he was nine or 10 years old at various bluegrass festivals. We all have this web of connection.
Around the time the pandemic hit, Noam and Andrew were talking about doing something together. And Greg had an idea to put together a band that played bluegrass not so much on the prog side of things — which is where a lot of us have built our careers — but more in the traditional forms we all grew up with and love. Andrew is a wonderful songwriter with a beautiful stash of traditional music and songs by other writers he’d kept paying attention to over the years.
It all added up, and the whole project felt very natural, joyful, and effortless when we all finally got in a room together in Oct. 2020 to record. It now feels like this beautiful gift we’ve stumbled upon. We’ve got this really cool band we all love. It’s never going to replace our other projects, but hopefully can be an ongoing part of our lives.
JM: Did Andrew pick all the songs, or was it more of a collaborative effort?
CE: No, he probably presented maybe six of the 10 songs on the record. I brought two, and Noam contributed one or two. There were a lot more than the 10 tunes that ended up on the record. Collectively, we decided on a diverse set of songs that would make a cohesive album and be fun to listen to.
JM: Was there any sort of conceptual brief you wanted to stick to? Any themes or messages?
CE: Not really. The one thing you could say is there aren't any originals written by us on the album. The closest thing is my wife, Kristin Andreassen, totally rewrote this Uncle Dave Nathan song [“Lovin’ Babe”]. Beyond that, I would say we were all using our intuition.
When we recorded, what you hear if you press “play,” you're hearing minute 30 of all five of us playing “Little Joe.” There was almost no rehearsal. The day before we got in the studio and hit “record,” we got together for a few hours. The next day, we were rolling. What you hear on the record is the five of us discovering each other and the joy of this particular musical amalgamation.
Photo by Jay Blakesberg
JM: Was it intentional to roll tape so quickly?
CE: Yeah, that can be a conscious choice when you're recording because there's something magical that happens when you discover music in front of a microphone. With Punch Brothers, for example, the music is figured out for the most part before recording. But there are some songs that are a little looser, and we’re very careful not to rehearse them all the way through until we sit down in front of the microphones because there's a certain thing that can be captured.
The whole Mighty Poplar record was that way. But there also was the practicality of recording six or seven months into the pandemic. We had to consciously do things in a responsible way, given what we knew at the time. And part of that meant knowing we were only going to have four days, so we’d better get something.
We were all pleasantly surprised at what we managed to capture and didn’t want to touch it at first. That’s one reason it took so long for us to release it [in March 2023]. We all had this sense of, like, “If we mix it or do anything to it, we’ll only make it worse!” It felt like this magical thing we experienced… and there’s almost something about finishing an album and sharing it with people that felt like giving something special away. And on the flip side, there's nothing better than sharing where you've been musically. We all had to come around to that.
JM: What itch does the project scratch outside your main gigs?
CE: For me, Mighty Poplar is a chance to play what I consider to be real bluegrass. There are many roots and branches that have sprung off the Bill Monroe tree over the last 80 or so years, but to me there's a rhythmic heartbeat that’s very unique to bluegrass. I'd be hard-pressed to articulate what that is in words, but there's a very particular time-feel that to me is bluegrass. You hear it in the music of Tony Rice, who learned it from J.D. Crowe. J.D. learned it from playing with Jimmy Martin. I think Jimmy Martin had it inherently, but also got a little bit from Bill Monroe.
There's this real direct lineage of the heartbeat of the music, and I've not had the opportunity to be that kind of rhythmic engine in a long time. Because even when Punch Brothers plays a Bill Monroe song, it’s a different kind of motor. So, as someone who's such a disciple of Tony Rice and who grew up with bluegrass, to play music with this tempestuous, sweet, loose-but-tight rhythmic feel is something I'd been missing for so long.
JM: What value does making music with Mighty Poplar bring to your other projects?
CE: With Punch Brothers, there's a certain sense of abandonment that gets a bit ironed out if it’s all I'm doing for a while. I gear myself a little bit more towards precision — to being a cog in a machine. And it’s a beautiful privilege to play a part in this wild, Rube Goldberg machine of whatever our music is. It’s a joyful thing in this band, to in any given moment be all so engaged in the act of creation.
In Mighty Poplar, there's this real sense of having your spirit unfurl and sailing in the wind the whole time. Nobody's up there playing parts. It's all so interactive, so improvisatory. Even if you're not singing or taking a solo, there's this beautiful back-and-forth conversation going on at all times. Bringing that back to something like Punch is really enlivening.
JM: As you know from playing here with the Punch Brothers many times, Asheville is a bluegrass mecca and primary tour stop for the genre’s biggest names. Why was Asheville a no-brainer addition to Mighty Poplar’s inaugural tour itinerary?
CE: Western North Carolina is one of these truly special parts of America because music is embedded in the culture. Bluegrass, certainly, but also old-time music and string band music in general. It's a place where the music goes much deeper than just being entertainment, and that affects the way people receive it. How attuned they are as an audience, how educated they are about what they're listening to, and how invested they are when they listen. As a musician, there’s nothing you love more than getting to play and share what you're feeling with a group of people that really knows and cares about the music… to create a moment together. And I feel like Asheville is absolutely killing it on that front.
IF YOU GO
Who: Mighty Poplar
When: Tuesday, Sept. 19, 8 p.m.
Where: The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave. thegreyeagle.com
Tickets: Sold Out
(Photo by Brian Carroll)
