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Patriots of Pick:
The New Familiars sound like America

By: John Pollock

One of this country’s most valuable natural resources, honest and heartfelt Americana, has manifested itself once again in an exciting new Charlotte band. The New Familiars are picking up steam with their own interpretation of mountain music, bringing it to Wilmington this weekend.

Just a year and a half ago, Justin Fedor (vocals/guitar/mandolin/banjo) and Eric-Scott Guthrie (vocals/guitar/harmonica/banjo) met with fellow picker Josh Daniel (vocals/resonator/guitar) in a neighborhood jam session, leading them to find a common interest in sound and style. From there it was a natural progression. Like all working musicians, they took to the bars and local venues, playing the music they grew up with.
“My aunt’s husband—he’s 85 years old now—but he plays old-time music, and that’s just how my family is,” Fedor explained last week to encore. “We would always just have people over to the house; everybody would grab an instrument, and we’d just play songs. That’s kind of how The New Familiars came about.”

Recognizing the limitations of playing as a small acoustic act, the threesome recruited Pat Maholland on upright bass and Daniel Flynn on drums. “Adding a bassist and drummer made it evolve into more of a rock band than an acoustic folk band,” Fedor noted, touching on an interesting aspect of most folk-rock amalgamations: Change and adaptation seem to be an invisible yet ever-present member of the band.

Frontrunners of the genre like Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Band of Horses and Ryan Adams seem to have picked up where the previous generations of true American musicians had left off, providing a sound that is intricate yet soulful and classic. From there, they added all the trappings of their own experience. The heartbeat is the same, but new technology in both sound and science, reactions to a changing social and political climate, and a few new pharmaceutical and psychoactive cocktails have created a new American style that we can now call our own.

The New Familiars also seem to be on the brink of their own transformation. “It doesn’t have to be all ‘Yee-haw, bluegrass!’ That’s not really what we’re doing,” Fedor explained about the band’s sound and direction for a new project.

A new full-length album is burgeoning forth from the studio at this very moment with a slightly different style evoked from the five-piece’s first EP. “We were younger as a band when that came out, so we’re excited to get back into the studio,” he continued. “It’s going to be a little more on the rock ‘n’ roll side than bluegrass. We’re going to start incorporating some more electric elements, some electric guitar and other stuff, so it’s morphing into its own little thing.”

Already, tracks like their own interpretation of Smokey Robinson’s Motown hit “My Girl” make it clear that The New Familiars have many new paths to explore. Thanks to bands like this, bluegrass has gone from the dorkiest to the hippest thing on our iPod.

The New Familiars will be playing in the lounge at the Soapbox with Zach Deputy this Friday, July 11th. Cover is only $5 and doors will open at 9pm.