Music

Head for the Hills mixes bluegrass with 'a little something for everyone'

In the not too recent past, a band like Head for the Hills might be viewed as a bluegrass pariah, derided by purists for diluting one of America's oldest music forms.

Using traditional string band instrumentation, there's nowhere the group isn't willing to take its music: jazz, pop, soul, even hip-hop.

And as Head for the Hills has continued to expand the potential of acoustic string music with contemporaries like Punch Brothers and Greensky Bluegrass, acceptance — and interest — in the music has grown.

"My personal philosophy is if you're someone who wants the music to survive, embrace someone mixing stuff with that (genre)," said Head for the Hills bassist Matt Loewen. "Then the people that are doing it in a real traditional way, it stands out even more and people become more interested in it. They all have to coexist."

Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, the band formed in 2003 while its members were attending Colorado State University.

The band quickly started touring and developed a sound based on some of the first-generation pioneers of "newgrass" from the 1970s.

"Where our heads were at, it was David Grisman and Tony Rice and some of those folks," Loewen said. "Those were my first-generation bluegrass players that took the music and really expanded it a bunch and made it their own. I think they kind of laid the groundwork for what we do — further abstract the idea of bluegrass and continue to meld whatever seems to be appropriate for the song."

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"Blue Ruin," released in 2014, is the group's greatest deviation from traditional bluegrass. Loewen said the band's upcoming album, "Potions & Poisons," set for release May 10, will continue down that path.

"I think it's basically a further extension of the last record and what Head for the Hills is all about, starting in bluegrass and venturing to other territories," Loewen said. "This record has some great bluegrass songs and a couple of those are instrumentals and some stuff that is a little more forward thinking and accessible and a couple of rocking tunes. There's even some blue-eyed soul. There's a range on this record, a little bit of something for everyone."

It will also be the group's first record since the departure in 2015 of founding member and mandolin player Mike Chappell. Sam Parks has joined the band on mandolin, and plays a major role on the new album.

"It'll include some great songwriting from Sam and the rest of us," Loewen said. "It'll be nice to have his sound on there."

Head for the Hills is returning to Alaska for a four-stop tour after playing Salmonstock, now retitled as Salmonfest, in 2013.

"We've been trying to work something out to get back up there and have been talking to Salmonstock folks a little bit and had a promoter put together that little run and made it possible for us to come up there, so it's pretty cool," Loewen said.

"It's not like Alaska is a different country, but there are some barriers, not just the distance but some other things, to put together a tour. It's a really cool thing and we're excited to get back up there."

Head for the Hills

 

8 p.m. Friday at Williwaw in Anchorage
Tickets: $10 at www.etix.com or at the door

9 p.m. Saturday at Alice's Champagne Palace in Homer
Tickets: $15 in advance or $20 at the door

Chris Bieri

Chris Bieri is the sports and entertainment editor at the Anchorage Daily News.

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