The Infamous Stringdusters are back with a new album, Toward the Fray on February 18^th. We are so excited to hear from these guys again as we anxiously await their return to DC. I had a chance to listen to the new album and a bonus of talking with songwriter and guitarist Andy Falco again, who took some time to reflect and share on what it took to put this all together. 

Ironically enough, it was actually just this past weekend, sitting at brunch with a group of likeminded, live-music loving folks, planning what shows and on whose winter tour we plan on seeing, that we touched on how excited we all are for the return of Stringdusters at my personal favorite venue in the DC area. 

“Was it 2018 or 2019 that we saw them at 9:30 Club?”

“It was definitely 2019 – the Rising Sun release show - that was epic!”

“Two nights at The Anthem with Greensky?! Man, what a way to come back – this is gonna be amazing!”

My how times have changed. It’s been far too long, in my opinion, but we all know the reasoning of why. Now with the new album release and two nights at The Anthem on the horizon, we have something to get excited about again from the grammy award winning band. 

Writing and recording a full-length album during the past two years with all the obstacles that everyone has had to overcome and hiccups in the normalcy we all miss, is no small feat. Being spread out miles and miles apart is different. Using Zoom meetings to brainstorm, share lyrics and give each other feedback is new to everyone. Luckily these guys had a few warm ups prior to the forthcoming release including a Bill Monroe tribute and a Christmas album. Coming together (in whatever form they were able to) and produce music that is so expressive and heartfelt however, is not something that a lot of bands, or even individual musicians were able to accomplish over the past twenty-four months, so cheers to you fellas.

Says Falco, “Yeah, that's it, it was a challenging thing. And you know, we started off with it, because we live we do live in different parts of the country. The process was a little bit different. We didn't do really any pre-production that we would normally do over the course of many months.”

“It was a different way of making a record, but It was actually kind of cool and it had its own merit to sort of come in together in Denver in September of 2020 - that was first time since March that we'd been together. With that goal in mind, we did one or two days where now we had the songs of the demos that we had shared, so everybody had heard them and we just immediately started playing through them.

In a way, it was kind of nice to not overthink arrangements and just kind of find that initial spark of the songs.  And then we went right in and cut the songs and there was something to that, I think, that was really unique to this project. So that's how we had to do it, but we did it together and then we tracked everything in a week's time. Then we all went home and that was that.”

The newest album reminds me why I love this band so much and why I’m so excited to see them live onstage again. Just like when we see a live Dusters performance, the album follows suit and jumps right into it on Toward the Fray, firing everyone up on the first track.

After that, a bit of a change comes. The Stringdusters seem to embody a bit of a different sound than what they normally are known for and dive deep into a plethora of storytelling, remembering and sharing emotional journeys that we, as listeners, also share more than on prior albums. Connection to what we have collectively experienced over this last bit of time is one of the biggest strengths of the album and what I believe most listeners will come to recognize and love about it. 

A great example of what I just mentioned is “I Didn't Know”, which personally took a bit of stamina to listen to – with the civil unrest, global pandemic and inability to connect with people the way we were so used to doing – this song hits a chord that somewhat made me fight back tears. “Is history holding us in place? ” “I didn’t know that we were headed for our darkest days” arguably this song could be about many a different topics – heartbreak, the Black Lives Matter Movement or pandemic and quarantine, but no matter what the context – the feeling that it invokes is undeniable. 

Not all bad things came out of the slow down that was forced upon us back in March of 2020 and that is one thing Andy and I agree on almost to a fault. 

Being a band that has talent enough to brag all members are indeed strong enough to contribute their own writing to the album allows the voices from within to be expressed, varied and most importantly heard by an audience that can’t deny relating to some lyrics or another. 

“In this case, everybody was writing a lot, which was good. There was a lot of songs because everybody had time and a lot to write about, frankly, in 2020 and so we all kind of made our demos, you know, at home and everybody sort of contributed what they thought would be good for the band.”

Being separated from people that you share very little space with for extended periods of time is different. The ability to and high of performing together in front of crowds in different cities night after night is therapeutic and a creative outlet for musicians. When that is taken away, there is a huge void to fill. Falco used the time to write – daily - and was able to sometimes write multiple songs a day.

“For me personally, I’ve never really done that, and it was great because it allowed me, as a writer, the opportunity to really just look inside and figure out why you're writing the song and what you're really trying to say and if it’s important and worthy of the message? A lot of people did that, whether they're songwriters or not – they, sort of, reevaluated what they were doing and why they were doing it.” 

“It was a creative outlet because a big part of our normal creative outlet is being out on the road and doing shows. When that was removed, I think that that creative energy had to go somewhere and it ended up going into the songwriting and into the studio. We all did a lot of solo projects too. I pretty much wrote and recorded my whole solo album during that time as well.”

The album cover itself expresses so much without a single voice heard or word said. Selecting what the album wants to represent and being able to convey it visually seemed like it should have been a very difficult task, however the band and album cover artist Mike Tallman of Add Noise Studios, seem to have hit the mark with a big fat bullseye. 

“I felt like, at first, when I saw the artwork, it was just a little, it was a little much for me, honestly, but now, it's really grown on me and there were a couple iterations, a couple of adjustments that we made -but it's pretty close to what the original art was.”

Many of us who don’t have children, may have neglected to imagine the crazy times and world that young people are growing up in right now from their point of view. The innocence of the girl on the cover holding a teddy bear compared to the scary reality of also wearing a gas mask and standing in front of a charred backdrop of a small city scape, is unexpectedly jarring and makes one reflect on the past two years of crazy life on this planet and all that we’ve gone through.

Let's give the girl a back story - the teddy bear, the scene - is she the one that burned down the town? "You know, it's funny - that little girl (on the cover) to me is just such a badass," says Falco.  "She reminds me of my daughter, who is nine and had to do all of second grade remotely, not being able to play with friends or any of that, but she's just been so tough and resilient through it all.  She's had such a great attitude and I really admire her strength.  When I think of that girl on the album cover, I think of her.  There's a video that's coming out for that song and it's gonna have that character in it, which is cool."

The ability of music to be a voice for people and a sign of the times has always been a necessity. I think that throughout Toward the Fray, we hear the voices that bring a lot of the issues that shouldn’t fade away with mask mandates and Covid talk, become lyrics that we will continue to repeat and hold near because we remember what we have collectively gone through and what we need to do to not have them continue to be this way. 

Listening to this newest album from this award winning group is one that needs to be done to from beginning to end several times over. The first time, I listened for the vibe of the album as a whole, the second time through, I tuned in for the lyrics and the third time I heard the songs, is when I was able to figure out what the album made me feel myself. When you can do all three and each time it becomes a whole new story, that is truly something that should be recognized as nothing other than pure talent and extraordinary musicianship. 

“Toward the Fray” the title track to the album is the shortest song of length on the album, but certainly packs the most punch in my opinion. To say "Toward the Fray" is a powerful thought in and of itself, but adding in the sentiment behind it, and it takes to a whole nother level. Closing out the song with “there is no other way to love except to turn our tinted souls Toward the Fray” as the music in the back fades, is enough to give you chills. 

Another song of note is “Revolution” which happens to be one of the favorites of mine from the new album.  A strong banjo intro makes me pine for the days when I’ll be dancing live to this feel good band and sharing smiles that so familiar, have been missed so so dearly.  When we can all gather again and celebrate what we have in common - our love and appreciation for live music, new music and bands like this one.

I'd like to thank Andy for taking the time to talk to me about the project before setting off to be back on the road again and hope we all get to share space again very soon!

We are all looking forward to an exceptional weekend of music with Andy and The Infamous Stringdusters as they rock The Anthem with some exceptional music on February 4th and 5th! Ticket Information can be found below.

Venue Review: Learn more about The Anthem, parking, food recommendation and more.

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