Dave Simonett

Simonett started Trampled by Turtles as a side project after thieves broke into his car during a show with his earlier band and took most of his gear, leaving him an acoustic guitar. He had never played bluegrass, and he built the band from other newcomers to the music: Tim Saxhaug on bass, Erik Berry on mandolin and Dave Carroll on banjo. He sings lead and plays guitar, and the band’s fast style owed as much to rock as to bluegrass. The band’s records have topped Billboard’s bluegrass albums chart, and Alpenglow (2022) was produced by Jeff Tweedy.

Dead Man Winter began with the EP Wolves (2010) and the album Bright Lights (2011) on the band’s own label, Banjodad, with Young among the players. After more than a decade leading Trampled by Turtles, Simonett stepped away to write a second Dead Man Winter album in a single winter week at a Minnesota cabin; Furnace came out in January 2017. His first album under his own name, Red Tail, was released by Thirty Tigers on 13 March 2020, and the EP Always Now, credited to Dead Man Winter and Dave Simonett, followed in September 2024.