Mighty Poplar

This bluegrass supergroup that sees members of the Punch Brothers (Noam Pikelny and Chris Eldridge) join bassist Greg Garrison (Leftover Salmon), Andrew Marlin (Watchhouse) and fiddler Alex Hargreaves (Billy Strings) seems an inevitable coming together of talented, similarly-interested musicians. Recorded over a few days, each track is beautifully balanced and imbibed with energy – listeners can just about picture the musicians smiling as they sit knee-to-knee in the studio outside Nashville where the project developed

The album consists of largely well-chosen covers. Marlin leads vocals on most tracks, cutting to the fore as he does in his Watchhouse work. In the opener, ‘A Distant Land to Roam’, beautiful harmonies support him, while mandolin dances in the background and Hargreaves’ fiddle echoes vocals between chorus and verse. ‘The Grey Eagle’ is a rollicking instrumental led by Hargreaves, with an intricacy that bears much relistening and a delightful playfulness. ‘North Country Blues’ is arranged with complex simplicity (a relief when musicians of this calibre are often tempted to showiness) – soft mandolin, fiddle and guitar riffs weave through the track, none of them overwhelming the powerful vocals and lyrics.

It is this restrained arrangement that allows each track to sound different; Mighty Poplar certainly cannot be accused of contributing to the samey-ness of bluegrass. The album feels as close to a spirited fireside jam as is possible through recorded sound. While a group may be destined to get together, the results are not always destined to be this good.