“Old time music has always been a part of our live repertoire since we started the band” says Grain Thief’s Patrick Mulroy. “Until now, this was never really represented in our recorded repertoire. There was a piece missing in the discography. Thus, our new record Something Sour, Something Sweet; mostly traditional fiddle tunes, with a few extra recordings from the archives.”

There’s something about a record cut by a bunch of folks that have put as many miles on their fretboards of their instruments as they’ve put on the van’s odometer. While Boston, MA quintet Grain Thief's prior releases Animal (EP, 2015), Gasoline (2020) and Stardust Lodge (2018) both explored the boundaries of Americana, while also showcasing the group's core as a roots string band, Something Sour, Something Sweet is an ode to the influences that brought these musicians together in the first place. 

Patrick Mulroy (guitar, vocals), Zach Meyer (mandolin, vocals), Michael Harmon (bass, vocals), Tom Farrell (resonator guitar), and Alex Barstow (fiddle) know there’s no room to fake it when it’s just the band, acoustic instruments, and a microphone. “Our goal is to record everything as we would play it live, with as few overdubs as possible” Harmon tells. “We recorded everything ourselves and worked up each tune differently, swapping instruments and recording around one microphone.”