In 2014, guitarists Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge received widespread critical acclaim for their debut album as a duo, Avalon, an unlikely instrumental collaboration born from friendship and mutual admiration. Since then the pair, while continuing to work on independent projects (Eldridge is a member of the Punch Brothers; Lage has a busy solo career and most recently collaborated with Nels Cline), stayed in touch, deepening their musical relationship and eventually writing and recording a sophomore album, Mount Royal.
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Ahead of the album’s release, the duo has shared a new track, the complex, dizzying “Greener Grass,” a song that listens like a spirited conversation between the two acclaimed musicians.
“The seed for ‘Greener Grass’ came from a memory I had of listening to a scratchy old time fiddle recording,” Eldridge says. “I don’t remember the name of the fiddler or the tune, but I can picture the harsh and unpleasant cacophony of sounds, which was somehow still really catchy and hypnotic. ‘Greener Grass’ was my attempt to write a melodic fiddle tune that also paid homage to the delightful screech of that old time fiddle.”
Mount Royal is out February 24. Listen to “Greener Grass” below.
