Continuing to take their brand of Bluegrass on the road, Nu-Blu are Vagabonds for their recent album release. The North Carolina-based quartet stay true to Bluegrass traditions in their music, expanding on the potential of the genre. Nu-Blu stretch the reach of their songs by adding touches of Americana, Country, and Soul to string band mountain music heritage as Vagabonds opens by setting fire to the past with “Bridges That You Burned”. Nu-Blu slow the strums to cruise down “Battlefield Drive” as the song waves goodbye to young soldiers leaving home, take “A Fool and Her Heart” for a spin on a honky tonk dance floor, voice dreams with hopeful words and whispered rhythms in “Surround Me with Love”, and wonder “How Many Rivers” will tears create for a lonely soul.
Husband and wife team Daniel (guitar, vocal) and Caroline Routh (vocals, upright bass) stand at the heart of Nu-Blu as fellow band members flesh out the music with fiddle, mandolin (Clint White) and banjo (TJ Honaker). Vagabonds welcomes harmony into “Still Small Voices” from Jimmy Fortune and Ben Isaacs as the album brings in songs from Bob Dylan (“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”) and Waylon Jennings/Willie Nelson (“Good Hearted Woman”). The benefits of being a touring band moving from show to show gives Vagabonds an intuitive unity to its songs as the music tells the tale of a “Troublemaker” formed from abuse and honors the troubadours as “Gypsies on Parade” pulls into a late-night diner. Nu-Blu pair people from varied backgrounds as they tie humanity together with the wishes of “A Lot More Love” as the band builds a bridge to tear down the walls that keep us apart.