Tim Saxhaug

Music was part of his life from childhood: he started piano lessons early, acted in musical plays and sang in choirs all through school, and at fifteen he began learning the instruments he went on to play. When Simonett, a newcomer to acoustic music, started the band as a side project after his equipment was stolen, he recruited other newcomers: Saxhaug on bass, Erik Berry on mandolin and Dave Carroll on banjo.

The band’s albums began with Songs from a Ghost Town (2004), Blue Sky and the Devil (2005) and Trouble (2007). Duluth (2008) reached number eight on the Billboard bluegrass chart. Its successor, Palomino, stayed in that chart’s Top Ten for fifty-two weeks in a row. The band made its national television debut on Late Show with David Letterman in April 2012, and its album Alpenglow came out in October 2022.