The impetus for Trampled By Turtles was a pragmatic one. Originally based in Duluth, Minn., the band was formed as a stripped-down side-project in 2003 by frontman Dave Simonett after most of his music gear was ransacked from his car.
Left with nothing but his acoustic guitar, as trite as this humble beginning may seem, Simonett took inspiration from genres that didn’t rely on amplification — like bluegrass and folk — since he had no amplifiers to rely on anyway.
Bassist Tim Saxhaug and fiddler Ryan Young (who played drums in a speed metal band) were added to the mix, and were as new to bluegrass as Simonett was. Mandolinist Erik Berry and banjoist Dave Carroll rounded out early Trampled By Turtles. By pulling influence from all directions, the group carved out a frenetic sound that owed as much to rock and roll as anything acoustic.
“I’ve been in jazz bands, and I’ve been in punk rock bands. I was even in a hip-hop cover band,” said Ryan Young, who joined the band in 2007. “Other people in Trampled By Turtles had been in jam bands, or they’d been in rock bands. Although we do listen to bluegrass music and enjoy it, it’s not our only influence.”
Young adds that the band has more in common with Neil Young and Bob Dylan than they do with Flatt & Scruggs and Bill Monroe. But for the general public, Trampled By Turtles is and looks like a bluegrass band, on account of the fiddle and banjo.
Trampled By Turtles released its debut, “Songs from a Ghost Town,” in 2004. The album stood out with its contemporary sound, bridging the gap between each member’s distinct musical background. The albums “Blue Sky and the Devil” (2005) and “Trouble” (2007) heightened those distinctions, but it was 2008′s “Duluth” that finally granted Trampled recognition from the bluegrass community.
“Duluth” peaked at number eight on Billboard’s bluegrass chart, paving the way for festival appearances including Coachella, ACL Fest and Lollapalooza, in addition to major bluegrass and folk festivals. The band has also been on countless tours with acts like Lord Huron, Wilco, Caamp, Mt Joy and Deer Tick.
Trampled’s fifth album, “Palomino” (2010), debuted at the top of the bluegrass chart and remained in the Top Ten for over a year. The band’s crossover appeal landed its sixth album, “Stars and Satellites’' (2012), on the Billboard 200 pop chart.
Alan Sparhawk — of fellow Duluth band, Low — produced Trampled’s next record, “Wild Animals” (2014), which was another foray into experimenting with sounds and arrangements, adding another notch to the band’s genre-blending abilities. Sparhawk gave the band agency to explore new sonic territories, while the engineer, who’d never worked on a folk or bluegrass record before, polished “Wild Animals” with a modern sheen informed by pop and hip-hop.
The album eclipsed its studio predecessor on the charts, reaching number 29 on Billboard.
“Wild Animals” was a noticeable shift in tone (read: darker), but Trampled by Turtles has arguably evolved with every album since Dave Simonett’s instruments were stolen back in the early aughts.
“I wouldn’t want to be a band like AC/DC, where they put out the same record, you know, 20 times,” Young said. “One of my very favorite bands in the world is Mr. Bungle. Every record is a different genre basically. And not that I think we should go that far, I do like it when bands change a little bit and try different things.”
2022 saw the release of Trampled By Turtles’ latest work, “Alpenglow,” which was produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. The album features the solid songwriting found across all of Trampled’s catalog, but with a little more of that atmospheric Tweedy touch.
The first song, “It’s So Hard to Hold On,” opens with a measure of a seemingly simplistic instrumental with guitar, fiddle and cello. It’s a soft, interweaving sheet of sound that the vocals comfortably sit on top of a few moments later (“There’s a branch lying still by the ocean / Time goes fast, grab your lover and hold them”). It’s an emotional and classic Tweedy move, and those are found throughout that record.
The tenth track, “Quitting is Rough,” has more of an ambiguous time signature that doesn’t reveal itself as a waltz until about a minute in, emphasizing different beats than standard waltz would — on the one and the four instead of on the two and the three. And maybe that’s getting into the weeds of songcraft, but those are what make this Trampled/Tweedy collaboration and Trampled’s exploratory sensibilities unique.
Ryan Young says the band has much more music in the can, including a Trampled By Turtles-backed Alan Sparhawk album, an EP and a song for a yet-to-be-released TV show.
What the new releases sound like depend on whatever avenue Trampled By Turtles choose to go down next.
How to go
What: Trampled By Turtles with special guest Oliver Hazard
When: 7 p.m. Aug. 16
Where: The Rose Music Center, 6800 Executive Blvd., Huber Heights
Tickets: rosemusiccenter.com
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