The Kalamazoo-bred progressive bluegrass band soared straight to the top of the WYCE chart with its eighth studio album. Listen to tracks from all of the charted albums.
Playing Michigan in February: Greensky Bluegrass. (Photo/Anna Sink)
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Assembling Greensky Bluegrass’ latest studio album, “Stress Dreams,” was “quite the process,” guitarist Dave Bruzza told Local Spins in a recent interview.
Between pandemic restrictions and the distance separating band members these days, the album by the Kalamazoo-based, progressive bluegrass powerhouse took two years to write, rehearse, refine, record and release.
But it also gave the band the time and the opportunity to enhance its latest creation with some unusual touches – Bruzza’s drumming on “Streetlight” and the striking piano and organ work by guest Holly Bowling on the title track.
‘Stress Dreams’ entered the chart at No. 1.
As a result, the album has been widely praised as “triumphant, infectious, insightful and profound” (Glide Magazine), “uniformly excellent” (No Depression) and “a cerebral, melodic masterpiece” (Live for Live Music). Check out the Local Spins review here.
Greensky Bluegrass – which plays Fillmore Detroit with The Infamous Stringdusters on Feb. 18 and hosts its Camp Greensky Music Festival in Michigan in early June – didn’t even have a theme in mind for its eighth studio album, though Bruzza called it “a real good collection of songs that work together.”
While it might not topple fellow Michigander Billy Strings’ latest, “Renewal,” from lofty spots on national bluegrass charts, “Stress Dreams” already has seen a steady rise, jumping to No. 37 on the latest Roots Music Report chart.
And in its first month, “Stress Dreams” also soared straight to No. 1 on the Local Spins Hot Top 5 Chart, representing the regional release that earned the most radio airplay in January at Grand Rapids’ WYCE (88.1 FM).
Right behind were three albums that also made the Hot Top 5 in December: Kalamazoo’s Kanola Band at No. 2 with “Kanola,” Grand Rapids’ Normal Mode with its first album, “New Beginnings,” at No. 3 and Grand Rapids’ The Hacky Turtles with “Dichotomy” at No. 4.
Entering the chart for the first time: Grand Rapids singer-songwriter Rin Tarsy at No. 5 with her solo debut album, “Paradox.”
Listen to tracks from all of the Hot Top 5 releases in the playlist below and check out previous Hot Top Charts here.
THE LOCAL SPINS HOT TOP 5 ON SPOTIFY: January 2022
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