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Bronwyn Keith-Hynes x Pixie & The Partygrass Boys
Sun, 28 Jun, 8:00 PM PDT
Doors open
7:30 PM PDT
Tractor
5213 Ballard Avenue NW, Seattle, WA 98107
Event Information
Age Limit
21+

Bluegrass
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Bluegrass
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes has long been renowned as a prolific instrumentalist, earning two IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year awards as well as a Grammy for her work with Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway. But on her latest album I Built a World, the Charlottesville native unlocks an impressive new sound: her voice.
"This is the first album I've ever sung lead on. Singing is something I'd always thought I'd do at some point and in 2020 I had the time and space to finally find my voice," Bronwyn says. Even as the pandemic halted touring and so much else, vocal lessons
kept her focused. "It's funny," she jokes of the timing, "you put a mask on me and suddenly I want to sing."
I Built a World marks her first vocal album, but Bronwyn has been a musician since before she can remember. "Apparently, I saw two girls busking on the street playing fiddles when I was three," she explains with a laugh, "and I pointed to them and said, 'I will do that.'"
As a child, music lessons gradually transitioned into public performances, with a particular emphasis on Irish music after her family relocated to Charlottesville, Virginia. And her lifelong musical education continues to shape her work today. A background in dance makes her a captivating and energetic live performer. An on-stage collaboration with fellow Charlottesville native Dave Matthews taught her how a crowd could feed your energy. And attending Berklee during the early years of its American Roots Music program offered inspiration from classmates like Sierra Hull and Alex Hargreaves—as well as an introduction to Tuttle and most of Bronwyn’s Golden Highway bandmates. "My favorite bluegrass musicians today are the ones who are rooted in traditional music, but don't really see any boundaries," she says. "It's as if they draw from a traditional bluegrass vocabulary, but use it to say what they want to say."
Now, as her own entry in bluegrass history expands from celebrated instrumentalist to bandleader and frontwoman, Bronwyn isn’t just crafting a career in the image of genre greats like Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas; she’s bringing them along for the ride. Both Bush and Douglas are featured as players on I Built a World, and they’re not the only of Bronwyn’s musically-inclined pals and heroes to make an appearance.
Darrell Scott sings on “Angel Island,” a Peter Rowan tune. Country fans may recognize Dierks Bentley singing harmony on “Trip Around the Sun” and Brit Taylor on “Answers”. Longtime pal Tuttle and Bronwyn’s fiance Jason Carter (an accomplished fiddle player
himself) also appear as vocalists on multiple tracks. And rounding out the band are Bryan Sutton on guitar; Dominick Leslie, Bronwyn’s Golden Highway bandmate, on mandolin; Wesley Corbett and Scott Vestal on banjo; and Jeff Picker on bass.
Indeed, community is the axis on which I Built a World spins. Long before she tapped talent for the studio, Bronwyn sourced songs for the album from her musical network in Nashville and beyond. "A lot of the songs are gathered from my friend group and community here in Nashville," she says. "I reached out to friends and just people whose music I liked and asked, 'Is there any chance you have anything that you're not planning on recording?'" Many did.
Not all of the songs were new territory, though. In fact, she’d been holding onto the title track for years after hearing it on the radio while driving through Kentucky. She
contacted the artist, Matthew Parsons, for his blessing to record it, and the song set the tone for the entire project.
"‘I Built a World’ is about daydreaming, about building worlds in your mind. I was definitely a kid who did a lot of that. But as an adult, I feel like music still can take me to that place," she says. She hopes listeners can take a little bit of that dreaminess with them. “Each song on this album is its own little world, its own story, a space and a place in your mind that you can travel to and explore. Whatever you're needing or wanting to feel, you can go to that place here. I hope you enjoy the journey.”

Bluegrass
Pixie & The Partygrass Boys
Pixie & The Partygrass Boys
Bluegrass
THERE IS A FEELING OF UNBRIDLED LIFE FOUND IN THE WILD CORNERS OF OUR WORLD. IN THE EXPANSIVE POSSIBILITY OF A MOUNTAIN TOP, THE CHAOTIC FAMILIARITY OF ENDLESS FIELDS OF SNOW, THE ROAR OF THE OCEAN, OR THE SOLITARY SERENITY OF THE MOST REMOTE DESERT. IT IS IN THESE PLACES AND MOMENTS THAT PIXIE AND THE PARTYGRASS BOYS FIND INSPIRATION, CRAFTING MUSIC THAT CHANNELS THE SAME HIGHS, LOWS, AND IMPROVISATIONAL IN-BETWEENS.
HAILED AS "THE HOTTEST BAND IN THE WASATCH" BY THE INTERMOUNTAIN ACOUSTIC MUSIC ASSOCIATION, PARTYGRASS ISN'T EXACTLY BLUEGRASS, OR NEWGRASS, OR POP, OR PUNK, OR ROCK AND ROLL. THEY FALL SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN IT ALL, AND THAT’S EXACTLY HOW THEY LIKE IT. DRAWING INFLUENCE FROM THE BLUEGRASS ROOTS OF APPALACHIA AND TRANSPORTING IT STRAIGHT TO THE WESTERN EDGE OF THE ROCKIES, PIXIE AND THE PARTYGRASS BOYS CREATE A UNIQUELY AMERICAN SOUND. INSPIRED BY LANDSCAPES FROM COAST TO COAST, THE GROUP COMBINES CLASSICAL TRAINING WITH JAZZ, BROADWAY, POP-PUNK, AND AN UNABASHED LOVE FOR HAVING A DAMN GOOD TIME.
THE BAND HAS BEEN TOURING WHILE STEADILY GAINING A FANBASE NATIONWIDE AND PLAYING FESTIVALS INCLUDING: HIGH SIERRA, DELFEST, PEACHFEST, WINTERWONDERGRASS, ARISE, AND HANGTOWN, IN ADDITION TO SHARING THE STAGE WITH ARTISTS SUCH AS: LAKE STREET DIVE, BILLY STRINGS, GRACE POTTER, YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND, THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS, AND THE TRAVELIN’ MCCOURYS.