When long-time friends Joe K. Walsh (mandolin), Greg Garrison (bass), Grant Gordy (guitar), and Alex Hargreaves (fiddle) all attended Sore Fingers music camp in England in 2019 as staff instructors, Alex pulled them together in an impromptu powerhouse band (spontaneously dubbed The Intergalactic Shrimpers, according to Grant) for his featured instructor set. While the four have crossed musical paths many times before, they hadn’t ever played together as a quartet. They loved the musical chemistry of that first convergence and decided to capture some of the magic in a recording.

The result is Bluegrass and the Abstract Truth, a beautiful album of original instrumentals and some of the players’ favorite covers. It also heralds Grant Gordy’s debut as a not-so-verbose lyricist in “Sports,” the tune featured in this video.

The album, which you can order and stream on Bandcamp, features artwork by banjo master (and one-third of the great Barnes, Gordy, and Walsh trio) Danny Barnes, who also provides the visuals in the video for “Sports.” It’s great fun to see Danny’s artwork coming to life in real-time, inspired by his musical pals.

Check out Bluegrass and the Abstract Truth on Bandcamp!

Learn with Joe K. Walsh on Peghead Nation in his courses, The Advancing Mandolinist, Bluegrass Mandolin Jam Favorites, and the newly released Octave Mandolin. 

And learn The Banjo According to Danny Barnes right here on Peghead Nation, too! 

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