Five

Balsam Range’s Five shows one of the best bands in Bluegrass at the top of their game.

The band’s 2010 release Trains I Missed brought in a #1 hit and Bluegrass Song of the Year award for its title track. Papertown (2012) built on that momentum with five consecutive months as the #1 album on Bluegrass radio, and won Bluegrass Album of the Year in 2013.

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“Papertown was received so well that we were apprehensive about what we could do next,” said Tim Surrett, vocalist and bass player for the band. “How do we follow an Album of the Year? We just went out and made the best record we could make.”

If the goal of the band was to elevate the level of songs, performance, production value, and excitement, then Balsam Range Five hits every mark.

The band has a consistent knack for conveying emotion with power. The result is a heartfelt delivery of tributes to working class heroes, an original Gospel a cappella song, a pulsing instrumental, and even a John Denver classic. The group pulls from diverse influences and original sources while giving each track the Balsam Range treatment. Five is an album full of songs that have both drive and nuance.

With the band’s level of success and their delivery of great albums, expectations are high. Balsam Range Five will not disappoint but continues to raise the bar for the best bluegrass of today.