The Road to Something New: Colebrook Road

Colebrook Road, a bluegrass band from the Central PA region, isn’t stuck in one place. “All the real standard songs that everyone’s heard about five-thousand times, we don’t really play those anymore,” says Jesse Eisenbise, guitarist and singer for the band. “We kinda have more of our own voice these days which is a lot more fun.”

The band formed in 2009 and has been playing in the surrounding states, some of the same Appalachian states in which bluegrass was born. And while bluegrass for years retained a very strict sound, lately a younger generation of musicians is bringing new melodies, chord progressions and rhythms to the genre.

“You have to keep the qualities of the growth going because you can’t stay the same way,” says violinist and vocalist Joe McAnulty. “That’s a tricky thin line I think; you have to find that idea that is gonna keep people going.”

The band’s most recent, 2012 self-titled album (iTunes link) consisted of largely traditional-sounding songs, but when they visited the WITF performance studio last month to play a few tunes for an upcoming appearance on WITF’s Center Stage (see photos below), their forays into bending the genre could most definitely be heard.

To follow their progress and keep up to date with upcoming performances and news, visit their website or find them on Facebook and Twitter.

Listen to the feature:

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