Front Country is a band on the precipice of a metamorphosis. As multi-instrumentalists, songwriters and composers, the instrumentation and setting have always been secondary to the musical vision that comes through no matter what stage they take. For a band with a genre in their name, genre has always been elusive for Front Country, as they refuse to pick sides or be constrained by any expectations outside their own singular aesthetic. From their beginnings in the SF Bay Area to their new hometown of Nashville, TN, Melody Walker, Adam Roszkiewicz and Jacob Groopman have been on a journey to discover a sound. While making their third album - their first in Music City - they feel closer than ever to what fans have heard in them all along. SLC Weekly called it “Rugged Americana and Purposeful Pop”, and that seems as close as anything to describe the Front Country sound. To them, their namesake is about pushing the envelope, but never losing sight of their roots.

“They somehow strike that perfect blend of soaring vocals, impressive playing and interesting song choices”  - Fretboard Journal

SOUNDS LIKE…

“a hybrid of rugged Americana and purposeful pop. It might not appeal to purists, but it's clearly capable of garnering mainstream appeal.” - SLC Weekly

"A ground-breaking, genre-shaking performance San Francisco-based group screwed up every tradition of the sound America gave to the world and remoulded it again" - Spalding Today UK

“Front Country blend everything from high-lonesome mountain music to new-wave power pop, newgrass picking, oldgrass harmonies, and just plain glorious musicality. This is Americana at its best: music with deep roots and wide-ranging vision” - Popatunes

“The synthesis is dramatic - the gutsy depth and underlying power of the vocals, sharp lead guitar, attacking violin breaks, and a subtle and far-reaching mix of harmonies” - Folkwords

FRONT COUNTRY is...

ADAM ROSZKIEWICZ  mandolin, banjo, vocals

JACOB GROOPMAN  guitar, rezo guitar, mandolin, vocals

JEREMY DARROW  bass

MELODY WALKER  vocals, guitar, percussion

OTHER LOVE SONGS | liner notes

"In today's crowded musical landscape, it's hard enough to develop a unique and recognizable sound that can set you apart. That done, you face an even greater challenge: What IS this music? Although Front Country has a foundation in traditional music, they are creating their own path and sound with grace, poise, confidence and extreme skill. They call it “roots pop" and its easy to agree with them. In fact you can't deny the infusion of these two sounds.

As you dig in, you might also hear moments that feel like the classic rock of Fleetwood Mac or the Police, as well as the modern country sounds of the Dixie Chicks or Chris Stapleton. This new record features skills - both vocally and instrumentally - of a band seasoned well beyond their years. Front Country is anchored by the pure power and touch of Melody Walker's lead vocal. She brings an attack that has a hint of effortless irreverence while revealing brutal honesty and vulnerability in both singing and songwriting. As exciting a band on stage as they are in the studio, Front Country stands strong and tall in today's American roots music scene."

- Woody Platt, Steep Canyon Rangers

Get To Know The 'String-Band Pop' Of Nashville's Front Country [ NPR All Things Considered, April 5, 2017 ]

One day in late February, the five members of Front Country were warming up for their record release show at the renowned bluegrass club the Station Inn, in their new home base of Nashville, Tenn. They'd never played most of these songs live before.

It wasn't a given that these musicians would wind up in anything remotely resembling a bluegrass band. Singer Melody Walker got into world music and belted out roots-rock. Bassist Jeremy Darrow studied jazz. Leif Karlstrom trained as a classical violinist, and still prefers that title to "fiddle player." Mandolinist Adam Roszkiewicz studied classical guitar at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

The actual guitarist in the band, Jacob Groopman, did his share of exploring after college, too.

"I was in an Afrobeat group for about five years, touring around in this 10-piece kind of hippie Afrobeat band," Groopman says.

In the bluegrass world, musicians tend to define themselves by their relationships to tradition — specifically, the tradition of high-and-lonesome singing and a hard-driving sound. There are regional variations from Virginia to Colorado. The West Coast has its own freewheeling tradition, and that's where Front Country started out: at a monthly jam in San Francisco. Then its members heard about a band contest at a bluegrass festival.

"And we ended up winning that band competition," Walker says. "The very next day, I made a website for the band because I thought maybe people will be Googling Front Country at that point, possibly."

From that point on, Front Country was a serious band. The group made a mixtape reimagining songs by Don Henley, King Crimson and the indie-pop band tUnE-yArDs.

Front Country does play traditional tunes on the new album, like the Carter Family's "The Storms Are On The Ocean" — though Roszkiewicz admits their arrangement makes it sort of unrecognizable.

"It's not so much to ruin it on principle with the rock music," he laughs. "We might be doing things differently, but at the heart of it, it's just songs, good songs we like that we can get behind."

Most of the new material, though, is original. Walker is the band's primary songwriter, and for the album, she submitted 20 songs to her bandmates for a vote. One, called "Good Looking Young People," seemed an especially unlikely candidate.

"When I wrote it, I had an iPad drum machine app that I was using," she explains. "So I had this beat that was kind of this super 808-sounding thing... Like, very Phil Collins, 'In the Air Tonight.' "

The group decided to keep the rhythmic ideas and ditch the drum machine. And while Front Country's members are more than capable of using traditional techniques on their instruments, they often choose not to.

"We're always trying to do things we've never done before on our instruments," Roszkiewicz says. "I'll be listening to the song, we'll be working on the song and I'll hear a synth line."

All of the musicians in Front Country also actually listen to, and respect, music made with beats, samples and electronic effects.

"I think sometimes, when people dismiss pop, one of the things they're dismissing is the craft aspect of it. Because obviously bluegrass and string-band music requires an enormous amount of craftsmanship," Darrow says. "I think one of the things that we put on display is [that] rather than an element to be dismissed, the craft of pop music is just as intricate as it is in any other style. And maybe that's a little clearer to see when we're playing it on wooden instruments."

At this point, they realize it's probably a stretch to call what they're doing bluegrass at all. String-band pop is more like it. [ from NPR All Things Considered, by Jewly Hight ]