Hot and Heavily Buttered Rum
Hot Buttered Rum with Bryan Horne (double bass & vocals), Nat Keefe (guitar & vocals), Zachary Matthews (mandolin, fiddle, & vocals), Aaron Redner (fiddle, acoustic and electric mandolins & vocals), and Erik Yates (banjo, guitar, dobro, ukulele, flute, whistle, clarinet, saxophone, accordion, piano, harmonica, & vocals) is a bluegrass based jamband from the San Francisco Bay Area. Coming from a number of diverse backgrounds, this string quintet challenges how we view traditional bluegrass.
Their influences range from Indian classical to jamband music which is reflected in their ability to intertwine traditional bluegrass with rock, folk, reggae, and jazz resulting in a unique blend of styles that is all their own. The band has no percussion which seems to not be a problem with Horne’s double bass holding a solid groove. Although they occasionally have drummers, keyboardists, and other instruments sit-in in live performances the core five members create such a robust musical blanket that there is no need to fill out their sound.
The strongest aspect of this talented bunch is that they are all multi-instrumentalists. In one given show you will see multiple instruments being played by each of the members. Since all the members have different influences, the rotation of instruments between players offers new interpretations and styles to be heard in one live show. On top of their virtuoso instrumentalism these guys are not shy to belt out the five part vocal harmonies leaving other bands in the dust when it comes one-singer groups.
I have seen HBR live 3 times and have gotten a very different show every time. They usually throw out a couple crowd pleasing covers but most of all rock-out all their songs with heavily improvised sections adding spontaneity to their music. If you live in the Bay Area there is no excuse not to go to an HBR show!
Their influences range from Indian classical to jamband music which is reflected in their ability to intertwine traditional bluegrass with rock, folk, reggae, and jazz resulting in a unique blend of styles that is all their own. The band has no percussion which seems to not be a problem with Horne’s double bass holding a solid groove. Although they occasionally have drummers, keyboardists, and other instruments sit-in in live performances the core five members create such a robust musical blanket that there is no need to fill out their sound.
The strongest aspect of this talented bunch is that they are all multi-instrumentalists. In one given show you will see multiple instruments being played by each of the members. Since all the members have different influences, the rotation of instruments between players offers new interpretations and styles to be heard in one live show. On top of their virtuoso instrumentalism these guys are not shy to belt out the five part vocal harmonies leaving other bands in the dust when it comes one-singer groups.
I have seen HBR live 3 times and have gotten a very different show every time. They usually throw out a couple crowd pleasing covers but most of all rock-out all their songs with heavily improvised sections adding spontaneity to their music. If you live in the Bay Area there is no excuse not to go to an HBR show!
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