There’s something about a record cut by a bunch of folks that have put as many miles on their fretboards of their instruments as they’ve put on the van’s odometer. Something Sour, Something Sweet is a soundtrack to this constant state of roaming, constructing a wide map of experiences and genres that explores the boundaries of Americana. At the same time, this record is a joyful homecoming. As an ode to the influences that brought these musicians together in the first place, Something Sour, Something Sweet builds upon the Boston, MA quintet’s prior releases Animal (EP, 2015), Gasoline (2020) and Stardust Lodge (2018) to showcase the group's core as a roots string band. 

Patrick Mulroy (guitar, vocals), Zach Meyer (mandolin, vocals), Michael Harmon (bass, vocals), Tom Farrell (resonator guitar), and Alex Barstow (fiddle) know there’s no room to fake it when it’s just the band, acoustic instruments, and a microphone. “Our goal is to record everything as we would play it live, with as few overdubs as possible” Harmon tells. “We recorded everything ourselves and worked up each tune differently, swapping instruments and recording around one microphone.”

Recorded at Harmon’s Wachusett Recording studio in Princeton, MA, the record features flautist Anh Phung of the band Twisted Pine on the tune “Farewell to Trion”. “We all wound up jamming on this tune one night in Boston” explains Mulroy. “I couldn't get the sound out of my head, so I knew if we were going to record it, we had to have Anh on the track!” As is the case with all Grain Thief records, Something Sour, Something Sweet is imbued with a tangible internal cohesion. They play together whenever possible - and at least twice a week - to maintain their melodic brotherhood at the highest level.

The result is a record that captures both where they started and how far they’ve come. It is a musical snapshot of the band’s true live sound. “Old time music has always been a part of our live repertoire since we started the band” says Grain Thief’s Patrick Mulroy. “Until now, this was never really represented in our recorded repertoire. There was a piece missing in the discography. Thus, our new record Something Sour, Something Sweet; mostly traditional fiddle tunes, with a few extra recordings from the archives.”

Always honing their roots-focused sound, Grain Thief also leaves room on Something Sour, Something Sweet for where they’re going next. After returning home to their foundational influences, they are once again deep into writing their next record of originals. This is the sound of a band that has fully found their musical sea-legs, and are ready to see how far they can take them. Whatever Grain Thief comes up with next, climb on in, turn the key, and give ‘er some gas. I promise you’ll be in for a lovely ride. 

Grain Thief has toured the north, south, east, and west of the U.S., playing stages large and small. They have graced the stages at the Greyfox Bluegrass Festival, Hempfest, Podunk Bluegrass Festival, Thomas Point Bluegrass Festival, Ossipee Valley Music Festival, UMS Music Festival, and Rockygrass, among others. Stardust Lodge reached #17 on the Folk DJ Radio Album Chart, #4 on the Roots Music Report Folk Album Chart, and #1 on the Roots Music Report Traditional Folk Album Chart

The music of Green Heron stretches across the entire folk landscape. Old-time, folk, bluegrass, country, Irish and blues music are all represented as the band brings the back porch to the stage. Featuring Betsy Heron (formerly Green) on fiddle, banjo and vocals, and Scott Heron on guitar, banjo and vocals, the duo has been sharing New England stages together since 2016. The two songwriters weave the contemporary with the traditional and deliver high energy performances.

Betsy, brought up playing country music with her family's band in rural Massachusetts, still plays alongside her three sisters in The Green Sisters. Meanwhile, Scott spent several years in various metal bands touring New England and much of the country before discovering folk and bluegrass. Despite their very different backgrounds in music, the pair still draws from their roots when writing and performing and have found a common love for Americana music.

To date, Green Heron has released three albums: Folk Heroes in 2018, New Pair of Shoes in 2019 and Feet on the Floorboards released in 2021. The latter of which was recorded at their home during the pandemic by Ben Haravitch and Circus Tent Studio.