Hot Buttered Rum has been busy recording three 6-song EPs, each focusing on a part of music that Hot Buttered Rum loves and is inspired by, and each with a different producer. The first EP (The Kite & the Key: Part 1) was recorded with Railroad Earth’s Tim Carbone and was released late 2015. The second will be a collection of Stanley Brothers old school bluegrass standards.  The Kite & the Key: Part 2 was recorded and produced by Sally Van Meter in the fall of 2015. The Kite & the Key: Part 3 will be Hot Buttered Rum’s latenight throwdown music.  These tunes were recorded and produced with SCI's Kyle Hollingsworth and is due out this spring. Together, the three collections of songs will explore Butter’s roots and express Butter’s present passions.

“The Kite & the Key: Part 2 is one of those wonderful recordings where you will come to know the Bluegrass roots that Hot Buttered Rum relied upon for inspiration for their more progressive musical leanings that have now brought them full circle with their music. As the second of a three-disk project, HBR brings home for me and for all listeners what Bluegrass music- real Bluegrass- is. With such strong commitment to the Stanley Brothers recordings of nearly 60 years ago, Hot Buttered Rum give the old songs a new spirit, playing with such passion to keeping it real in the mountain style of bluegrass so exemplified by the Stanley Brothers themselves.” — Sally Van Meter

HOT BUTTERED RUM 

Hot Buttered Rum lives for a good time, and a mindful recklessness settles in whenever these five guys step on stage. From Anchorage to Miami, the group’s onstage chemistry fuels the lovefest that is a live Butter show. Rooted in the trajectory of west coast bluegrass, Hot Buttered Rum plays what has been described as California’s own acoustic music.

HBR’s years of touring have given the band the chance to work and play with a wide cross-section of musicians, people like Peter Rowan, Phil Lesh, Chris Thile, Brett Dennen, and Robert Earl Keen.  Seasoned veteran Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), acoustic guru Mike Marshall, and left-coast rocker Tim Bluhm (Mother Hips, Nicki Bluhm) have all produced studio albums for the band. Each guided HBR towards the next step in its evolution. It’s a sound that is tough to describe and easy to love, and it has found its way to the most prestigious pop, folk, and bluegrass stages in the country: Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Bonnaroo, Strawberry Music Festival, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Kate Wolf, Horning’s Hideout, Northwest String Summit, Grey Fox, Merlefest, All Good, High Sierra, Wakarusa, and many more.