KGNU’s Greg Schultz welcomed Smorgasgrass, a Colorado-based bluegrass group known for blending traditional sounds with fresh, original material. The multi-generational ensemble features John Pierce on bass, Sean McFarland on banjo, and Rowan Geddes on mandolin—each bringing their unique background and youthful energy to the band. During the live in-studio session, they shared insights on their upcoming debut album, highlighting songs that focus on themes like connection, mental health, and resilience. They also discussed their shift away from typical bluegrass topics toward more meaningful storytelling, previewed upcoming shows including one at Evergreen’s Little Bear, and closed with Rowan’s original fiddle tune “Snail’s Ascent,” performed in authentic bluegrass style. (Studio Session: 8/825)
Greg Schultz: Alright, folks, thanks for joining in. We have in the studio the Alpine SMS Grass Meltdown. I think that’s a long version of SMS Grass, correct, Brian?
Smorgasgrass: Yeah. And if you’re into the whole brevity thing, you can just call us Smorgasgrass, which is a little easier for everybody to remember.
Greg Schultz: Thanks for joining us this morning. We do appreciate you guys coming in, playing some tunes, talking about your new record. And before we get started, Brian, why don’t you introduce the ensemble this morning?
Smorgasgrass: Borrowed from the Colorado Bluegrass Music Association, the president of that organization, Mr. John Pierce, on the bass.
Hi. Greetings, everybody. We are huge supporters of KGNU Radio. You guys have been around forever and do so much for the community, and I can’t tell you how many times CBMS and KGNU have been side by side together working in this community. Thank God for public radio.
Greg Schultz: Oh boy. Hallelujah. Thanks for coming in, and some pretty good bass picking there from a fellow Front Range guy.
I don’t look, I find it—that makes it harder.
Smorgasgrass: Yeah, we tolerate him too. And over here on the left, on banjo, also attending Berklee College School of Music, Mr. Sean McFarland.
Greg Schultz: Wow. Sean, welcome.
Smorgasgrass: Glad to be here.
Greg Schultz: Oh, it’s fantastic, man. I gotta ask real quick—you’re a young guy, the banjo—can you just give me 20 seconds of why and how?
Sean McFarland: I first went to RockyGrass when I was two weeks old, and I saw Béla and all them really amazing bluegrass cats playing on stage. I just wanted to play, you know, and my parents have pictures of banjos and guitars on the walls.
Greg Schultz: Indoctrinated.
Sean McFarland: I was born into it.
Greg Schultz: Nice. Well, man, that’s some fabulous playing and congratulations. You’re going to a top-notch school and we’re proud of you.
Sean McFarland: Yeah, it’s fantastic. I’m really grateful. It’s an amazing opportunity.
Greg Schultz: Absolutely.
Smorgasgrass: And then over here on my right is Rowan Geddes, who’s recently transplanting to California, but he’s a multi-instrumental savant. You wanna say anything about—
Greg Schultz: Come on up.
Rowan Geddes: Howdy. Sad to be leaving. This is my last hurrah before I hop in the car tomorrow.
Greg Schultz: Where are you headed?
Rowan Geddes: We’re gonna be in Santa Barbara, California.
Greg Schultz: That’s a hell of a nice place. I lived in Santa Cruz, and I grew up in L.A., so I know that part of the coastline very well.
Rowan Geddes: It’s calling me back.
Greg Schultz: You gonna come back and play music with these guys?
Rowan Geddes: I hope so—as often as I can.
Greg Schultz: Nice. We appreciate you coming in—love your mando playing. It’s fantastic.
Alright, Brian, let’s talk a little bit about—you got a new record, you’re working on it right now. Maybe you can enlighten the folks on where you are with the record, when we can expect it, and what’s it gonna sound like.
Smorgasgrass: Yeah, we’re working with this great engineer named Chris Wright. I believe his last name is Chris Wright—I just met him yesterday. We had a great time in the studio, seven hours or so, and then we went out. He’s an engineer that also does sound all over the place.
He does a great job of all aspects—engineering, mixing. I’m really excited with how it’s coming together. We’ve got a couple more dates with him, but it should be probably December before we get a nice launch.
Greg Schultz: What’s the title of the record gonna be? Do we know?
Smorgasgrass: Good question. We haven’t even thought about it. Volume One—actually, that’s a great name. Haven’t even thought about it. That’s what I say—our freshman release.
Greg Schultz: I remember reading about that. That’s what I say every morning.
That’s fantastic. So, you guys play some covers, you’ve got originals of course. Can you tell us what you played—the two tunes you played—and where those came from?
Smorgasgrass: Absolutely. That first one was called Try Humanity. We played that in Telluride and dedicated it to Tom, who passed away recently. He represented, at least for me, the most humanistic, smiling guy. He was rolling around in the Rascal with the coolest bling you ever saw, and he was just the neatest guy. We dedicated that song to him. The words were written before there was more than one kind of glowing rectangle, so we were talking about TV.
But now the addictions are even more severe—with the phones and the tablets—and they’ve got one in the car causing accidents every day. It’s about that. It’s about just putting that thing down, living life, trying to connect with your fellow humans, absorbing nature.
Smorgasgrass: Absorb nature—just to clue in to what’s going on around you.
Greg Schultz: Wow, that’s fantastic. Well, it’s not hard to absorb nature living in Colorado, which goes without saying, but it’s a nice sentiment. That’s beautiful.
Smorgasgrass: Thanks. And then that second one was called Indigo Blues, also written back when most of these guys were in diapers—except me. Except for John. Oh, John—no, no, no, no diapers please. Well, maybe now. Indigo Blues was like—before you had a lift, you were always kinda stranded at the bars. That was kind of my life back then.
But it was kind of that dream, like—I can contribute something. And it kind of bleeds into this next song we’re gonna do. It’s like the indomitable spirit of the human being to try to contribute rather than be stuck in depression, addiction, or anxiety.
This next one’s about health—mental health. I see a lot of people struggling with it, and I wrote this song to encapsulate that. I went to a song school with the amazing Darrell Scott, and he gave me some advice. Actually, I talked to another student, but it felt like he was talking to me. He said, “Why don’t you take that song and put it in the first person? Not only is it less didactic, but it’s more relatable.”
So we’re not saying, “You need to deal with your addiction,” or, “You need to deal with your health issues—your mental health issues,” but how about we start with me, wherever that starts.
Smorgasgrass: Then from there it can go out. And that was kind of like the other thing with Indigo Blues, so it’s kind of a theme. You see a lot of the women bands—you got the Crones, you got Five Foot Betty, you got Big Richard—they’re all tuned into this. Like, what are we doing? Are we still singing murder ballads? Are we still singing about, you know, “Oh, pinein’ for you—why you’ve been gone so long?” No, we’ve gotta come out with a little bit stronger message than that.
Greg Schultz: Well, the ladies are always a step ahead. Absolutely. For sure.
Smorgasgrass: Yeah. No more songs about trains. I love trains, but come on—what are we, like, 12?
Greg Schultz: I dunno, John—that’s an unpopular opinion about no train songs. I know I love trains. I live right next to the train tracks. Actually, I dislike the “killing your woman because she didn’t stay with your stuff” thing—yeah, she didn’t jump on the train with you. Let’s stop that.
Greg Schultz: Absolutely. Are those what we can expect—a couple on the new record, I would assume?
Smorgasgrass: Yeah.
Greg Schultz: Nice.
Smorgasgrass: Yeah. The record’s all original, except for one Béla Fleck cover.
Greg Schultz: Alright, why don’t you give the folks another tune, and we will come back, talk a little bit more, and then we will send everybody out with one more song. What do you got for us?
Smorgasgrass: This one’s called What Gives Me the Fight, previously known as What Gives You the Fight.
Greg Schultz: Alright, folks, Smorgasgrass right here on KGNU.
Smorgasgrass: Banjo jokes.
I would tune, but I don’t need to.
Smorgasgrass: Got anything?
Yeah, we tune because we care. We care. We want KGNU to sound good—live streaming.
Smorgasgrass: Oh, there it is. Wow.
And don’t forget to tip your bartenders. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.
If we played all of our songs in the same key and all of them major, we’d never have to tune—but it would sound really boring.
Greg Schultz: We will get there.
And that’s it—What Gives Me the Fight.
Smorgasgrass: Fight tuning my banjo.
I love the sound. I would listen to that in my sleep if I could.
Gratitude abounds. I find self-esteem improves whenever my gratitude abounds. Confident, these smiles tell I’m free going on. Pride, you’ve got a funny way of letting me down. I need to find me better once in a while. I look at it—it gives me a little fight. Ain’t nothing going right.
In the end, it takes a self-righteousness that I jealously defend that gives me any fight. Appreciation for all the lessons and the will to press on. Ain’t nothing going right—will am I man confident in smiles. I know I’m self and free. I’m free. I’m gonna take it off. I’ll just take it all from me.
Greg Schultz: Alright. Another cool tune—another original, of course. Yep, yep, yep. That’s really nice. I like that you guys can mix it up. It’s bluegrassy, but it’s got some other elements in there that make it kinda unique, and that’s what you’re looking for.
Smorgasgrass: It’s our most bluegrassy original.
Greg Schultz: Okay. I just want to say—the Colorado bands in general play bluegrass, but we play different bluegrass from any place else in the United States, and we fly that flag proudly. We have so many that are so good, and we’re different.
Greg Schultz: Absolutely. There’s no doubt about it. I mean, this is like a haven for bluegrass. We know that’s one of the most popular radio programs, certainly around here on Saturday mornings—right after Honky Tonk Heroes—and bluegrass is just, you know, it’s pretty incredible, the listenership that we have for that type of music and the all-Saturday program, of course. Well, this is fantastic.
So you’ve got this guy on bass, and you got these two young guys, and I think that gives it a really cool kind of multi-generational thing. I mean, it’s just—their approach is a little different. Not necessarily musically, just from their mentality. They bring a freshness, and they’re incredible players, both of them.
Absolutely, man. It’s really fun to see the age difference—it makes it warm, fresh, new, and unique. We’re just happy to have you guys in here.
One other thing—before we take you out with another song—you got a show coming up?
Smorgasgrass: Yeah. Tomorrow at one o’clock in Evergreen at the iconic Little Bear.
Greg Schultz: Ooh, that place rocks. Sweet.
Smorgasgrass: You can stay all day. We’re one of three bands playing that day, so get there early for us. It’ll be this lineup—probably one of the last times you’ll see this lineup, at least for a while, when these guys go coast to coast. John’s got 12 other projects.
Yeah.
Smorgasgrass: We have a load of shows coming up with the original lineup. This was the Telluride lineup that started about three years ago. Right. So they’re gonna be playing Velvet Banjo on the 23rd, starting at 8:00 PM, and then a handful of shows in Broomfield and Boulder after that. So, that’s fantastic.
Greg Schultz: And what time tomorrow?
Smorgasgrass: One o’clock.
Greg Schultz: Yeah. So, come for brunch and stay for the show.
Greg Schultz: Beautiful place. Go up the canyon, have some food, just hang out, go for a hike afterwards, run the lake. Summer in Colorado—man, you can’t beat it, right?
Smorgasgrass: Absolutely.
Greg Schultz: Yep. Well, listen—social media, where can people find you and your music?
Smorgasgrass: The most unique name, so I think if you just go to Smorgasgrass on Instagram, you’ll find us really easily. Or Facebook. I don’t think we have any of the other fancy TikToks—we just didn’t set up any TikToks or anything. I don’t know, maybe at one point, but we don’t have a YouTube channel—Banjo Giraffe.
Greg Schultz: So what’s that YouTube channel?
That’s just my blue Banjo Giraffe.
Greg Schultz: Okay.
Yeah, I just post stuff that we do and that I do.
Smorgasgrass: And there’s also a Smorgasgrass YouTube channel. You can find that in our EPK, which is linked off the Facebook page.
Greg Schultz: Love it. Smorgasgrass right here, live on KGNU. We appreciate you guys. When are you heading back to school?
Sean McFarland: I’m leaving on Monday—gonna go to North Carolina. I’m gonna go to the Blue Ridge Banjo Camp.
Greg Schultz: Geez.
Sean McFarland: And then I’m gonna go back to Boston about August 20th.
Greg Schultz: Yeah—leave these old guys behind. Congratulations again, have a great time in school. Santa Barbara—go enjoy it and live your life. We’d love to see you back here again, hopefully with these guys.
We’ll get you back on air again—don’t worry.
Smorgasgrass: I won’t forget you.
Greg Schultz: Alrighty. I’ll come back. Alright, folks, Smorgasgrass is gonna take us out with one more, and I wanna thank you guys for coming in. Big shout-out to George for engineering the show this morning—it’s sounding great.
Fantastic mix, by the way. These guys are all hovered around one microphone. They have their instruments mic’d up, but there are no amplifiers in here, so what you’re hearing is the real deal—right-up bluegrass style. Sounds fantastic. Alright, folks—
I’m gonna test—
Smorgasgrass: Mike to Rowan really quick because he is gonna introduce his next tune, which is his original tune.
It’s a fiddle tune called Snail’s Ascent. I thought of it while I was watching a snail climb up a log, and maybe you’ll think of that too. Buckle up.
