Greensky Bluegrass at the Fillmore, 3 Things To Know

Greensky Bluegrass performs Friday and Saturday, Feb. 9-10, at the Fillmore Detroit (Photo by Dylan Langille)
Greensky Bluegrass performs Friday and Saturday, Feb. 9-10, at the Fillmore Detroit (Photo by Dylan Langille)

if you go

• Greensky Bluegrass

• Friday and Saturday, Feb. 9-10. Doors open at 7 p.m.

• The Fillmore Detroit, 2115 Woodward Ave.

• Tickets are $29.50-$50.

• Call 313-961-5451 or visit thefillmoredetroit.com.

Greensky Bluegrass has certainly made its mark as a recording act, with nine albums -- studio and live -- to its credit so far.

But the stage is the Kalamazoo-formed troupe’s real home.

Those stages have gotten larger since 2000, too, as heavy touring and the embrace of both the bluegrass and jam band audiences have elevated the quintet steadily over the years. The group is now big enough to sell out two nights at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver and host its own Camp Greensky festival in the spring. And none of this is taken for granted according to guitarist-singer Dave Bruzza...

• Greensky is currently at work on new material, with plans to go into the studio “some time this year” according to Bruzza, 37. But at this point everything is open-ended. “Nothing really surprises me,” he says by phone. “You never know with us, really. We’ve always been pretty adventurous musicians and never wanted to be pinpointed as one thing. We all have such deep love for music and are pretty much game for anything. So nothing’s been a surprise, really. It’s been really fun to have that kind of freedom where we can do just about anything. So we’ll see how it happens.”

Advertisement

• Bruzza and his bandmates are also confident Greensky’s audience will embrace whatever direction they take. “It seems like they’re just as game as we are for adventure,” he says. “I don’t think I could base my whole musical career on exactly what people think of me. If someone doesn’t like it, that’s fine -- we’re doing our job, I guess. But I think there’s more people with us than against us, lately. There’s no denying the growth we’ve had in the past five years. It’s really exciting and satisfying.”

• Though the quintet hails from Michigan, only banjoist Michael Bont still resides in the stage. “But we’re still a Michigan band,” says Bruzza, who makes his home in Fort Collins, Colo., now. “That’s the whole thing. That’s where we started. None of us deny where we came from, and none of us have forgotten that. So we’re always excited when we play there, in any part of the state.”

If You Go:

• Greensky Bluegrass

• Friday and Saturday, Feb. 9-10. Doors open at 7 p.m.

• The Fillmore Detroit, 2115 Woodward Ave.

• Tickets are $29.50-$50.

• Call 313-961-5451 or visit thefillmoredetroit.com.

About the Author

Gary Graff

Gary Graff is a longtime Detroit-area music critic and rock and roll reporter. Reach the author at gary.graff@oakpress.com or follow Gary on Twitter: @GraffonMusic.