Jim & Jennie and the Pinetops

Jim & Jennie and the Pine Barons, a contemporary-minded traditional bluegrass four-piece from Philadelphia, PA, have gained an audience ranging from purist to passerby with their rollicking blend of originals and covers amid good-natured stage banter. In the 1980s vocalist and guitarist Jim Krewson played in a teenage hardcore band called Quasimoto & the Eunuchs -- the self-proclaimed kings of Newtown, PA -- before migrating to bluegrass via a project called the Slobber Mountain Boys. Vocalist and mandolinist Jennie Bedford, meanwhile, learned to sing harmony at age five from her banjo-playing father. Bedford and Krewson met New York City in 1998, bonded over their love for bluegrass, and soon joined forces. After tapping bassist Brendan Skwire and banjoist Brad Hutchison they began performing, approaching the bluegrass aesthetic of masters like Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs with an indie rock mindset. (In other words, Jim & Jennie and the Pine Barons could be found playing bluegrass in grimy rock clubs just as easily as country fairs or the vaunted Newport Folk Festival.) In 1999 they released Jim & Jennie and the Pine Barons, essentially a live recording complete with rowdy friends and their children. Their second album, Little Birdie, established the Pinetops name, and gave the band's striking originals their proper representation in a studio. One More in the Cabin followed in 2002, and Jim & Jennie jumped to Bloodshot for 2005's Rivers Roll on By. Live, the band is known for playing multiple, lengthy, joke-fueled sets that have crowds shouting for every bluegrass song they know and, usually, quite a few others. And, to be sure, Led Zeppelin is never out of the question. ~ Daphne Carr, All Music Guide