Photo credit: John Hartman
Horseshoes & Hand Grenades
2019 has been an especially eventful year for Stevens Point-based Horseshoes & Hand Grenades. The band frequently crisscrossed the country in support of their latest album, The Ode, checking off items on their bucket lists in the process, including performing at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Ryman Auditorium. As one decade ends and another begins, the band is eager to ring in a new year and a new chapter.
The band’s new album, set for release sometime early next year, offers a bit of a recalibration of the Horseshoes sound. “It’s far from a bluegrass record,” says guitarist Adam Greuel. The record probably is the most different Horseshoes record that we’ve ever made.”
“It’s almost a more singer-songwriter based, almost more influenced by The Band, Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson,” he continues. “Which was exciting for me, because that’s kind of the world that I’ve always come from and enjoy the most.”
While it’s a bit of a departure from previous releases, the band still lives by the mantra of “serve the song.”
“We all kind of come at songwriting from a different angle, and we want to just kind of have fun with that and give the song what it needs,” Greuel says. “We’ve always been open to just allowing the music to go where it wants to and not to just say we’re an old-time string band and that’s that. So, it was a cool experience to go in there and have everybody kind of share in that musical flexibility.”
The band recorded the album at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minn., with the help of Wisconsin native Chad Staehly, best known as the keyboard player for Hard Working Americans and Great American Taxi. “Chad is super positive, super down to earth, has a great ear,” Greuel says.
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The band found plenty of inspiration in and out of the studio, including witnessing an eclipse the final day of recording.
“There was a lunar eclipse on a full moon, which was pretty cool,” Greuel says. “We recorded in the days leading up to the eclipse, and the record had just kind of finished. We did our last listen and we walked outside and watched this lunar eclipse happen. Particularly interesting because Russell had written a banjo instrumental that’s going to be on this record that’s called ‘Eclipse.’ So that’s kind of cool, the sort of planetary cosmic aspect of the record.
“The session was super-relaxed because everybody’s kind of gotten used to what it’s like to go in the studio and people are a little more seasoned,” he continues. “And so, it was a really comfortable studio session. And then to end it with the eclipse stuff, a little magical.”
While the band has had to accommodate for life changes for some of its members—“Russell just had the first Horseshoes baby and Collin, our fiddle player, just got married”—the band plans to stay busy in 2020. “There’s no sign of stopping,” Greuel says. “Just kind of riding life’s ebbs and flows.”
Greensky Connection
Horseshoes & Hand Grenades has had a long history with Greensky Bluegrass. Gruel has had a special connection in particular.
“They’re a band that I have looked up to for many years,” he says. “In fact, I remember sending an email to Paul Hoffman, their lead singer and mandolin player, inquiring about getting an album. And him personally responding to my email when I was in middle school, about 11, 12 years old. And so, I kind of grew up listening to Greensky’s music. And I’ve always been a big fan.”
“I think they’ve certainly influenced the way that I write songs and the way that I play music in general. And over time with the bluegrass community being as close knit as it is, we have become friends with them. And we get to spend a lot of time with them out at festivals and on the road,” Gruel says.
“They were gracious enough to have us on our first long kind-of national tour. We were out for about a month with them, and it was a great opportunity to learn from them in the ways of life as a musician and musically. And they’re a good group of guys.”
Hoffman will be featured on Greuel’s upcoming solo album.
“I just have a lot of music that I want to get released in one way, shape or form,” he says. “Basically, when there’s five songwriters in a band, you only get so many of your songs on a Horseshoes album. And I want to make sure those other songs that I’ve written and enjoy get to see the light of day and that people get to hear them.”
Horseshoes & Hand Grenades opens for Greensky Bluegrass at the Riverside Theater on Sunday, Dec. 29, and Monday, Dec. 30, at 8 p.m.
