In case you were living under a rock late last week and missed it, Twisted Pine’s mash-up of “El Chepe” by Vulfpeck and “The One I Love Is Gone” by Bill Monroe skyrocketed to nearly 100,000 views after the funk group picked up the video and shared it on their page claiming “so grooving” about Pine’s take on their track. The local community did the same and this thing has been shared all around the New England scene and beyond with over 850 times.
The quartet, made up of Dan Bui on mandolin, Chris Sartori on bass, Rachel Sumner on guitar/vocals and Kathleen Parks sharing vocal duties and fiddle (as well as some fancy handy work on the granola-percussion) effortlessly blend a contemporary American funk band’s music with the grandfather of bluegrass music in this single take session. The movement of bluegrass music to be something more and interwoven with classical or indie pop isn’t necessarily something new, and happens to be something that this particular band does incredibly well, but this combination working so damn well when it seemingly seems to be so polar makes it especially intriguing. The harmonies, the intricate but authoritative solo work…its just fucking explosive.
Stream and download the track here: