FAULTLINE NORTH
BOZEMAN – Pert Near Sandstone swings into Bozeman with their raw-energy bluegrass for a Nov. 3 show at Faultline North. Take old-time music off the back porch, put it in the hands of a group that works hard and plays harder, and you’ve got this new-school bluegrass band.
Pert Near Sandstone rejuvenates American string-band music with tightly crafted original material that lends itself to the modern audience, while being good stewards of the old-time and bluegrass traditions. The band is just as at home playing fully acoustic in the traditional style as they are plugged in at an indie rock venue.
From saloons to theaters, hollering into a single microphone and laying thick rhythm on driving fiddle melodies, their sweat-inducing, foot-stomping live performances keep crowds begging for more.
Pert Near Sandstone emerged from the same roots-based musical hotbed in Minneapolis, Minn., that gave birth to Bob Dylan, The Jayhawks and Spider John Koerner. Originally created by four friends from the same hometown, the band formed over weekly, whiskey-fueled picking sessions in an old house in St. Paul.
Without intentions of becoming a nationally touring act, they started playing shows and their chemistry followed them everywhere. Word spread of the band’s uncanny ability to whip audiences into frenzies, and they were invited to play some of Minnesota’s most legendary venues including First Avenue, the Cedar Cultural Center, and the historic Orpheum Theater.
The band’s formative years on the road paved the Pert Near path as they traversed the country, winning over audiences the old-fashioned way – face-to-face. The band has maintained a full touring schedule appearing at national festivals and sharing the stage with legendary talents like Del McCoury, Wilco and Yonder Mountain Stringband.
In 2008, Pert Near Sandstone was hand picked by Garrison Keillor to appear as the featured musical guest on NPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” where Keillor proclaimed, “The group has become a force on the Minnesota roots music scene and beyond.”
Faultline North is located on Gallatin Park Drive in Bozeman. Doors open for the all-ages show at 8 p.m. and music begins at 9 p.m.