A dynamic team of award-winning multi-instrumentalists, MilkDrive has asserted a strong place in Austin’s growing bluegrass music scene.
Founding members of Austin’s self-dubbed progressive acoustic quartet, Noah Jeffries, Brian Beken, and Dennis Ludiker, met as competitors in an Idaho fiddle contest, and late-night jam sessions ultimately turned into MilkDrive. They migrated to Austin and added bassist Jesse Dalton to the mix, rounding out the band’s sophisticated sound.
MilkDrive launches their third studio album at the end of this month, Places You’ve Not Been. The first track on this record, “Take Too Long,” promises powerful vocal and instrumental harmonies with homegrown rock undertones. The organic talent woven throughout this self-produced album demonstrates the band’s widening influences and maturing talent. Though the addition of vocal layers to their sound has been a successful venture, led by main writer Brian Beken, songs like “Delephine” and “Orion’s Waltz” reminisce of the days when the band played solely non-vocal music, with a heavy emphasis on the strings that brought them together in the first place. However, their fans insisted upon the addition of lyrics, so the band introduced vocals to their sound and fell in love with songwriting. Lead vocalist and fiddler Brian Beken says, “It’s still weird talking about songwriting, it’s something so new and foreign to me, but probably what I get more enjoyment out of than anything.”
Be a part of this captivating acoustic experience, coming to Grand Stafford Theater in historic downtown Bryan, Texas, on Thursday, March 5.
Click here to purchase tickets.
Read more about MilkDrive here:
http://www.thebluegrasssituation.com/read/milkdrive-how-texas-string-band-found-its-groove