Trout Steak Revival Comes to the Old Stone

So much modern bluegrass is made up of twists on the genre. With bands like Larry and His Flask adding punk to the mix or Trampled By Turtles throwing in a healthy dose of folk, Trout Steak Revival almost seems like a throwback. They play songs that feel like they could have been written 50 years ago or yesterday and that's an adventurous line to walk.
Walking that line is something that isn't something fiddle player and singer Bevin Foley is very focused on. “I think that we just focus on writing good songs that are genuine and spread positive vibes,” says Foley. “We all love bluegrass and play instruments that fit in with traditional string band line up, but we all listen to so many types of music that are not bluegrass. For us I think that just focusing on writing good songs has helped us walk that line effectively. If we focused only on writing 'bluegrass' songs I don't think that the music would be as genuine or moving.”
Hailed as Colorado's most popular bluegrass band, Trout Steak Revival came together one piece at a time. Foley talks a little about Trout Steak's origins. “I think Colorado and the strength of the folk and bluegrass community brought us all together,” she says. “The guys moved one by one out to Colorado from the midwest and started playing music together. I met them at a Bluegrass show in Denver, but became friends with them and later joined the band after a lot of festivals, late night picks, backyard BBQs and campground jams.”
Their newest record, “Brighter Every Day,” is their most focused yet and contains what initially seems like a strong thread of songs about traveling across the country and exploring the wide world. While those threads might not have been intentional, they did have a specific way of getting on the same page before recording. “Before writing the songs for 'Brighter Every Day' we had a lot of conversations about writing positive bluegrass songs,” says Foley. “We started calling them 'Glory Grass' songs. Songs that focus on positivity and working hard and coming out on top of struggle. A lot of the songs on 'Brighter Every Day' have those 'vibes' because it is something we were thinking about a lot at the time.”
As much as the band tours and as popular as they are becoming, they definitely have their priorities in order. “We make our friendship a number one focus on tour,” says Foley “Taking care of everyone while we are traveling. We try to add in a couple of new songs to freshen up the set on each tour, but mostly we just try to remember how lucky we all are to be traveling the country with people we truly enjoy and spending time with all types of people, playing music and trying to spread joy. Not everyone is that lucky.”

Trout Steak Revival w/ The Railsplitters
Friday, November 18. 7:30pm
The Old Stone, 157 NW Franklin Ave.
$15