Free Dirt Records is proud to announce the self-titled debut album from new roots music supergroup Mighty Poplar. Bringing together Andrew Marlin from Watchhouse, Noam Pikelny and Chris Eldridge from Punch Brothers, Greg Garrison (Leftover Salmon), and Alex Hargreaves (Billy Strings), Mighty Poplar was formed as a vehicle for these artists to explore their love of improvisation through straight ahead bluegrass.

At its heart, bluegrass music is about what happens when you commit to the moment. The joy of improvisation keeps the music fresh, and the fun of crafting ideas on the fly keeps the musicians on their toes. This true spirit of bluegrass infuses the self-titled record from Mighty Poplar, a new all-star roots project featuring Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse, Noam Pikelny and Chris Eldridge of Punch Brothers, bassist Greg Garrison (Leftover Salmon) and fiddler Alex Hargreaves (Billy Strings) coming March 31, 2023 on Free Dirt Records.

They nearly always come back. All the people that leave bluegrass. I had a strong feeling that I’d be coming back as well. My Bluegrass Heart is my first bluegrass record in over 20 years. It comes out September 10th but you can hear Charm School (featuring Billy Strings on guitar and Chris Thile on mandolin) right now.

To return to a point in your life that you have already lived is metaphysical. Déjà vu, as most of us call it, feels mystical, even if it has a chemical explanation. Scientific evidence aside, to relive something that you have lived before is an experience that seems to connect us with something beyond ourselves. We can both be in the moment and be able to predict (or at least have the feeling that we are predicting) what is coming around the next corner. But to experience déjà vu and to be able to improve upon the actions that once were? Now that is something different altogether.

Our society has developed a Chicken Little mentality that leaves lots of folks either glued to their cell phone or computer while waiting for a miracle or cringing that the good old days are gone.

GRAMMY® Award-nominated banjo virtuoso Noam Pikelny's critically acclaimed album, Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe, won "Album of the Year" at the 25th International Bluegrass Music Awards (Raleigh, NC: Oct. 2, 2014). An extremely rare nod for an all-instrumental recording, Pikelny also won the award for "Banjo Player of the Year".

GRAMMY® Award-nominated banjo virtuoso Noam Pikelny's critically acclaimed album, Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe, has been nominated for "Album of the Year" at the 25th International Bluegrass Music Awards, coming up in Raleigh, NC on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014. An extremely rare nod for an all-instrumental recording, Pikelny is also nominated for Banjo Player of the Year, and best liner notes.

Stemming from a musical friendship many years in the making, two stars of American roots music, Aoife O'Donovan and Noam Pikelny, headline select venues throughout the Rockies, Southwest and Midwest in November 2014. O'Donovan, widely renowned for her work with Crooked Still and her 2013 critically-acclaimed solo album Fossils, has quickly come to the forefront as one of today's leading female vocalists.

It's a rare opportunity for fans of American roots music to experience two modern masters of the banjo and fiddle together on one stage, performing a full set of originals and classics in a duo format.