Onwards

Formed in 2014, Mile Twelve are largely the product of the interest in bluegrass and other acoustic folk idioms within American academic circles. The band's members hail not from the bosom of traditional flatpickers and fiddlers in Appalachia, but from the lecture halls and practice rooms at the Berklee School of Music and the New England Conservatory. Their skills were honed not on the sagging porches of dilapidated shotgun shacks in the Shenandoah Valley, but through special workshop programmes, such as the invitation-only Acoustic Music Seminar at the Savannah Music Festival. There, the likes of Mike Marshall and Julian Lage provide invaluable assistance in developing the skills and talent of new generations of roots/Americana artists. The members of Mile Twelve – Evan Murphy (vocals, guitar), Catherine Bowness (banjo), Nate Sabat (vocals, bass), Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (violin) and David Benedict (mandolin) – exemplify this modern-day phenomenon to a 64th note. The dozen tracks on the band's debut album, Onwards, fulfil all the promise of their practice and training. Superb musicianship, superior mentoring and lots of practice, fuelled by youthful exuberance and ambition, prove to be a predictably successful formula.