As the year starts to wind down, the opposite is true for Grammy-Award winning quintet The Infamous Stringdusters, who are dropping their forthcoming album Toward the Fray via Americana Vibes on February 18, 2022. They will be kicking off the year strong with a 3 night New Years Eve run in Richmond, Virginia, all the while celebrating last week’s Grammy nomination for Bluegrass Album of the Year for their 2021 album A Tribute To Bill Monroe. Additionally on the Dusters’ end of the year dance card, the band released Toward the Fray’s second single “Hard Line.”
“This is a song about taking a hard line stance on something, and being so dug in you can’t ever change your mind,” shared Jeremy Garrett. “What a beautiful thing it might be if we could all come to the table, so to speak, once again and have meaningful and truthful discussions about the things going on in our world.” “Hard Line” can be streamed here.
“Hard Line” comes on the heels of the release of the album’s previous single and title track, “Toward the Fray” which was written by guitarist Andy Falco with his dear friend Travis McKeveny who passed away tragically in September 2021.
The Grammy nomination is a huge honor for any band but especially for the Dusters as they harkened back to honor the genre’s architect, Bill Monroe, for the 2021 album A Tribute To Bill Monroe. It’s fitting, really, that Rolling Stone would take notice of the band’s whole ethos and write pre-Grammy nom that they are “a progressive force in the genre, bringing the bluegrass ‘high, lonesome sound’ to new and exciting places.” Their live show rocks with felt deep-in-the-chest energy and they have the chops to honor Monroe. This Grammy nomination is evidence of the band’s ability to simultaneously expand a genre and play to the heart of it. A fine line to walk, no doubt, and the band does it with ease and grace.
For most of 2021, the band toured with a renewed intensity—eager to get back together with their fans. They’ll end the year in the same way with a 3 night New Years Eve run at Richmond, VA’s The National. The band will be joined by special guests Sam Bush on Dec. 30 and Keller Williams on Jan. 1, while the Dec. 31 show is billed as a 3-set “Evening With…”. Tickets are currently on sale through AXS.com. Next week they head to Mexico for Strings & Sol, the annual sunshine soaked gathering of jamgrass bands and fans in Puerto Morelos. Check their website for the 2022 album release tour with Greensky Bluegrass and Dustbowl Revival. And finally, in exciting in-the-future touring news, the band announced details for their triumphant return to Red Rocks on May 26, 2022 alongside the California Honeydrops with support from Karina Rykman. Tickets are on sale now through AXS.com.
Fans can now digitally pre-order or pre-save Toward the Fray now at this link. The Dusters also designed a plethora of new merchandise to celebrate the release of Toward the Fray—including, but not limited to, a Stringdusters North Face jacket, limited edition colored vinyl, and an adorable Toward the Fray teddy bear. Pre-order all of these and more at the Infamous Stringdusters online store.
