Trampled by Turtles at the PlayStation Theater

Based in Duluth, Minnesota, vocalist/guitarist Dave Simonett played in a rock band in 2003 when his equipment was stolen. Left with only an acoustic guitar, Simonett was inspired to begin playing acoustic music. He assembled other local musicians who also were strangers to folk and bluegrass, including fiddler Ryan Young (who played drums in a speed metal act) and jam band bassist Tim Saxhaug.  The ensemble was originally meant to be a side project, but with the addition of mandolin player Erik Berry and banjo player Dave Carroll, the musicians began stamping their identities into the enterprise in such a way that they could not stop. Their former bands dissipated. The musicians became the progressive bluegrass band Trampled by Turtles. The quintet then became a sextet with the addition of cellist Eamonn McLain. The band's eighth and most recent album, Life is Good on the Open Road, was released on May 4, 2018.

Headlining tonight at the PlayStation Theater, Trampled by Turtles performed using loudly amplified acoustic instruments. The six stringed instruments were the mainstays of bluegrass, but the fast and frenetic manner in which they were played was largely untraditional. The musicians' origins as rock musicians sparked a dynamic combustion, flamed by energetic arrangements. The musicians traded frenzied solos that challenged the next player. This was not back-porch bluegrass, this was an enlivened and electrified adaption of a classic genre. Yet, with all cylinders going, the musicians maintained their signature multi-part harmonies, which seemed to ground the songs. Trampled by Turtles no longer relies on borrowed styles that launched the band; the music is now on the cutting edge of a hybrid form of bluegrass rock and roll.

Visit Trampled by Turtles at www.trampledbyturtles.com.

Setlist:

1. Kelly's Bar
2. We All Get Lonely
3. The Middle
4. Thank You, John Steinbeck
5. Annihilate
6. Right Back Where We Started
7. Life is Good on the Open Road
8. Blood in the Water
9. I Went to Hollywood
10. I'm Not There Anymore
11. Good Land
12. I Learn the Hard Way
13. Wait So Long
14. Victory
15. Codeine
16. Midnight on the Interstate
17. Truck
18. Help You
19. Widower's Heart
20. Alone