ShadowGrass Goes On And On At Pearl Street Warehouse

Last year, ShadowGrass burst onto the music scene to take the bluegrass world by storm. Nearly a year ago, ShadowGrass had their DMV debut when they performed at Pearl Street Warehouse on May 7th, 2023. They may have been an unknown band in 2023, but on April 26th, 2024, Pearl Street Warehouse was overflowing with fans, anticipation, and excitement when they again took to this familiar stage.

It didn't take long for festivals and more established bands to recognize the talent in this new band. With their fast picking, fresh arrangements, ferocious energy, and diverse catalog of songs and covers, they caught the attention of some of the biggest names in bluegrass, including Jeremy Garrett of The Infamous Stringdusters, Billy Strings, and performed one of their first festival appearances at Ramble Festival in Darlington, MD. Strings was so impressed with the band that he invited them to his debut festival, Renewal Festival, in October 2023 and would join them onstage. Late last year, DMV bluegrass stalwarts Dirty Grass Players toured with them. The rocket ship ride of ShadowGrass's career has only begun, and based on their performance at Pearl Street Warehouse, this journey will be a long and successful journey to the top.

Magnolia Boulevard, out of Lexington, Kentucky, was the first to take the stage. Earlier this month, Maggie Noelle and Ryan Allen of Magnolia Boulevard sat down on Matt Wickstrom's "Wick's Picks"  on Hound FM to discuss their 2024 plans. They talked with excitement about doing a series of stripped-down solo acoustic shows. Lucky for those at Pearl Street Warehouse, their performance was one of those special performances. Magnolia Boulevard's, usually an electric six-piece configuration, would instead treat the audience to a delightful acoustic set harkening back to their 2023 EP Reverie.  Noelle and Ryan transfixed the audience with their incredible music and stage presence. From Maggie Noelle's slender frame came a booming voice filling the venue with her sultry voice that many have compared to Susan Tedeschi of Tedeschi Trucks Band. The duo captivated the audience with acoustic reworkings of their catalog, including their debut single, "Sister," as Noelle's voice reverberated throughout the venue. This beautiful set would conclude with another special treat - a "brand-spankin' new song." The still unreleased "On My Own" is upbeat and incredibly catchy, featuring brilliant guitar noodling from Allen. Given only a taste of Magnolia Boulevard at Pearl Street Warehouse, we look forward to seeing the full might of the entire band when they perform in the DMV soon.

When ShadowGrass walked on stage, they were greeted by thunderous applause from a capacity audience. Last year, they were still a relatively unknown band outside their home region, but this year, the secret was out, and hundreds of their fans were ready for a ferocious night of music.  

The band would start with "How Mountain Girls Can Love" by the Stanley Brothers and the ever-classic "The Ghost of Eli Renfro." These two songs allowed the band to limber up and put their personalized mark on these classics. Soon after Luke Morris asked the audience, "You like songs about ghosts and murder?" Morris would then introduce the band's extraordinary fiddler and his wife, Madison Morris, as they introduced the audience to the first "Nothing Matters." Later, the band members would further allude to an upcoming album or 'project' by talking about a new song, "How about a brand new project? Be patient. This is a brand new song we recorded. The banjo guy wrote it." before elaborating that they were working on the right tempo for the song - would this song be too fast or too slow for a live performance. In time, we know that ShadowGrass will determine the final cadence of the song.  In the meantime, the tempo and pitch of these new songs were simply spectacular and superb, without a single dissenting voice to be found in the audience.  

The band finished their performance close to 11 PM but returned to the stage for their encore to thunderous applause of approval and appreciation. The band decided to introduce the audience to yet another unreleased song, which featured the instruments of Kyster George and Clay Russell and drew the audience towards a euphoric jam grass climatic conclusion.

We caught up with Kyser George afterward and asked how many new songs were performed. He smiled and casually said, "Oh, probably five or six." With so many new songs, one can wonder when a new album, or in their words, a "new project," will make its way to vinyl daylight. Mark our words when we say that we look forward to any new releases by this quintet in the future. Shadowgrass's exponential growth bodes well for their future, and we look forward to their eventual return to the DMV.  

The next few months are full of youthful ambition and musical glory as they have an ambitious tour schedule ahead of them  featuring appearances at venues and music festivals across the country.  

If there is only one takeaway from this ShadowGrass performance, we can sum it up like this: "TL;DR - Full stop! See this band as soon as you can! This band is not only of the future of bluegrass but of the here and now!"