Style: Experimental indie-folk; compare to The Infamous Stringdusters, Wilco, The Carolina Chocolate Drops
Top tracks: “Trapped Under the Ice,” “Hangman,” “Tired Old Phrases”
As a forerunner in bluegrass modernization, Cadillac Sky’s indie-folk-roots amalgamation has infatuated a growing number of music lovers. On their third full-length (and first produced by Dan Auerbach), the innovative quintet further extends bluegrass boundaries, using their picks and bows to string together an unusual set list of avant-garde acoustic music. Recorded raw in one room, the album tackles sour relationships and toxic sin with such poetic charm that redemption is not so much heard lyrically as it is felt in the self-deprecating strains. Fun but acutely self-aware, technical yet adventurous, both brash and sacred, these Letters are a key to American music.
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