Article and Photos by: Nick Durcholz

Nashville, TN – These Minnesota boys, beatified in the contemporary world of bluegrass, got a chance to
scream their searing sermon in the mother church Friday saving many-a-soul.

Hiss Golden Messenger opened filling the sacred sonic space with gorgeous lyrics and a chill, nostalgic tone. A perfect whetting for the slash and burn bluegrass baptism ahead.

Straight out of the gate, Trampled by Turtles‘ Ryan Young was undoubtedly the star of the show. He is the Tesla of fiddle players going from 0 to 100 in a thin second. Opening with “Life is Good on the Open Road” and closing with “Goodnight Irene,” they gave the crowd a fairly biased offering of their catalogue with a noticeable majority going, of course, to their newest album Life is Good on the Open Road. But they did include a mystery track in the middle of the show undefined by online setlists. They also played the crowd-pleasing barn-burner “Wait So Long.” The air was as electric in the church as the stormy
conditions outside its doors.

For those who don’t know, the Ryman Auditorium is said to have the best acoustics of any
indoor venue in the entire US, and this night it was filled with the beautiful music it was born with.