Coinciding with release of its ‘XXV’ album, the bluegrass powerhouse plays two nights at Wings Event Center starting on Halloween. Part 1 of our conversation with bassist Mike Devol.
A 25-Year Legacy: Dave Bruzza, Paul Hoffman, Mike Devol, Anders Beck and Michael Arlen Bont. (Photo/Dylan Langille)
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part 1 of a two-part spotlight on groundbreaking Michigan-bred bluegrass band Greensky Bluegrass, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in Kalamazoo this weekend. Our conversation with band bassist Mike Devol covered lots of territory. Return to Local Spins on Friday for Part II, focusing on Greensky’s new album and its long relationship with beloved bluegrass hero Billy Strings. Scroll down for videos.
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
Greensky Bluegrass will always be a Michigan band – or more specifically, a Kalamazoo band.
Indeed, the internationally acclaimed, progressive bluegrass pioneer will celebrate its 25th birthday not only with release of a special anniversary album, but with two “hometown” concerts this weekend at Kalamazoo’s Wings Event Center.
“That’s home for us,” standup bassist Mike Devol told Local Spins. “We’re excited. We still very much consider ourselves a Kalamazoo band, a Michigan band. That’s where three of the guys were born. We started together, we learned to play bluegrass together, we learned to write music together and that all happened in Kalamazoo.”
While all five band members now reside elsewhere across the county – banjoist Michael Bont was the last to finally relocate from Michigan a couple of years ago – they often rehearse in Kalamazoo and regularly start or end tours in the Great Lakes State.
And the first Greensky performance came on Halloween 25 years ago, so “it kind of times out perfectly that we can come and do these shows, and make it a big deal, and then it’s actually the 25th anniversary. … Kalamazoo is a big part of us and who we are, so it’s cool, it’s awesome,” said Devol, who’s made his home in Santa Cruz, Calif., for more than a decade.
Mike Devol: A classical cellist turned bluegrass bassist. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
The group that once served as the “house band” at Bell’s Brewery Eccentric Café now aims to pack several thousands fans into an arena two nights in a row for what Devol describes as a “big show” with special guests.
Celebrated singer Lindsay Lou and keyboardist Holly Bowling – both Michigan natives – will join Devol, Bont, mandolinist Paul Hoffman, guitarist Dave Bruzza and Dobroist Anders Beck on stage for the band’s 25th anniversary homecoming stand.
To add to the star power, legendary Grammy Award-winning mandolinist and longtime Greensky pal Sam Bush will also pump up the lineup.
“Lindsay Lou’s going to be there both nights – just another great Michigan treasure. She’s such a close friend of ours, such a great piece of that Michigan fabric and has done so much, too,” Devol said of the singer and songwriter who also appears on the band’s upcoming album, “XXV,” and the re-working of a Greensky classic, “In Control,” recently released as a single.
“We’re having Holly (Bowling) in and, of course, the illustrious Sam Bush, who for a lot of us is a hero. He’s a big innovator in this newgrass, jamgrass world where we exist and he’s our friend.”
Tickets for each concert — $48.75 to $118.50 – are still available. Tickets for Friday (featuring Sam Bush and Lindsay Lou) can be found online here; Saturday tickets (Holly Bowling and Lindsay Lou) here.
Fashion advice for concertgoers? “It’s Halloween, so we’re hoping everybody is dressed up,” Devol said, dropping this hint: “We are celebrating 25 years, our silver anniversary, so there may be some of that from us. But we’re hoping people come dressed to celebrate. It is going to be a party. It’s going to be really fun.”
VIDEO: Greensky Bluegrass, “Reverend” (featuring Billy Strings)
A CHANGE OF INSTRUMENTS AND AN UNPLANNED CAREER IN BLUEGRASS
For Devol, toasting a lengthy legacy with Greensky certainly wasn’t in the cards as a young, classically trained cellist from Ohio who moved to Kalamazoo to study classical cello at Western Michigan University.
“It wasn’t really until the end of studying classical cello I was kind of looking for something else,” he recalled. “Envisioning myself in that classical life was starting to not feel like it fit so well for me. My listening tastes were varied.”
Enter Greensky Bluegrass, a fledgling outfit he met and befriended while working at Bell’s.
“I wasn’t a bass player, I was a cellist, but I saw these guys and I’m like, ‘Man, this band is cool.’ I think somehow I likened it a little bit to what I was doing in string quartet chamber music. These guys are playing strings.”
So, he literally borrowed an upright bass from a friend, started learning bluegrass songs and the rest is history. “My story is unique in that I started playing bass and joined Greensky at the same time,” he said.
An Illustrious Career that Began in Kalamazoo: Greensky at State Theatre in 2015. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
In those early years, the band didn’t envision a long-term career: “It was more incremental sort of steps when you’re 23. We all had other jobs and we didn’t need much to keep Greensky going. We didn’t need to be making very much money or (getting) very much notoriety. We wanted to play music, have fun, meet people, free beer.”
Fast forward to 2025 and suffice to say, it’s been a long – and sometimes challenging – journey for the Greensky boys, who credit supportive fans, enduring friendships and balancing the demands of the band with home life for their longevity.
“It is complicated. It’s a lot of interpersonal relationship stuff. Greensky is not without its dynamics, but I’m grateful all the time that we are friends, we care about each other, we’re there for each other to do what we do, to travel as much as we have for as long as we have to create art together for this long,” Devol said, comparing bandmate ties to being in a marriage.
“It’s a delicate balance of mutual respect for each other and patience beyond the music and beyond the business that we’re running. … We have been in some ways the right band at the right time. As Greensky has grown, our music has continued to be inspiring for us and we’re inspired to make our music … and lucky enough to have enough success that the business has been able to support us continuing to do the thing.”
That “thing” has spawned a dozen albums and cultivated an ultra-devoted fan base across the globe, the product of long hours on the road and in the studio.
“When the thing you love, when your art project, when your big dream, is also your job, it’s complicated. … The answer I guess to how to keep doing it is to try and find the balance,” Devol suggested as to the secret of a long career.
“It’s a hard business. I think now, especially, the climate of the music industry is pretty challenging. So yeah, keep going. Be kind to each other and try and always keep things in balance if you can.”
ON FRIDAY AT LOCAL SPINS: Part 2 of our conversation with Mike Devol, focused on the new album and the band’s longstanding relationship with bluegrass superstar Billy Strings. Plus, the Local Spins Michigan Music Showcase podcast featuring new tracks from Greensky Bluegrass and other Michiga artists.
VIDEO: Greensky Bluegrass, “Windshield” (featuring Holly Bowling)
Copyright 2025, Spins on Music LLC
