Greensky Bluegrass Celebrates 25 Years With New Album ‘XXV’ & Shares ‘Reverend’ Single Featuring Billy Strings

On October 31, Greensky Bluegrass will celebrate the exact date of their 25th anniversary with the release of a new studio album, XXV. The record arriving via Big Blue Zoo Records/Thirty Tigers includes the newly shared single, “Reverend,” featuring fellow Michigan native, guitarist Billy Strings.

Greensky Bluegrass began on Halloween in 2000 when they performed an unplanned concert in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The string quintet – mandolinist Paul Hoffman, bassist Mike Devol, guitarist Dave Bruzza, banjoist and dobro player Anders Beck – recruited several additional special guests for XXVM, which revisits the music the band has created over the past 25 years.

“We’ve called on some dear friends to breathe a touch of new life into some classic Greensky songs for your listening pleasure,” Beck explained. “We’ve reinvented the sounds of some of our (dare I say) ‘hits’ because after a quarter century of Greensky Bluegrass, with plenty of new music on the horizon, we believe it’s worth celebrating what the five of us have created together… and we want you to have a damn good time listening to it.”

Along with Strings, joining GSBG across the album’s 13 tracks includes Lindsay Lou, Nathaniel Rateliff, Aoife O’Donovan, Holly Bowling, Jennifer Hartswick, Natalie Cressman, Ivan Neville and Jason Hann. Bluegrass veteran Sam Bush also appears on the previously shared “Can’t Stop Now.”

Hoffman provided insight into the latest single, “Reverend,” stating:

“This is quintessential Greensky to me. When we were about to record [2008’s] Five Interstates, our producer and long-time friend, Tim Carbone, told me he thought there was one more important song missing. Something I still needed to write.

“Shortly after, I spent a night talking songs with a Michigan musician named Seth Bernard, affectionately referred to as ‘the reverend.’ He uses his music for community and activism… the next morning this song kind of fell out of me.

“Keeping the song in its Michigan roots, we asked Billy to play and sing on this. I love the way he relates to this song and how he participates when he performs with us. His love for our band has always been generous, so why not have a quintessential Greensky fan participate on the quintessential song?”

Greensky Bluegrass will celebrate their 25th anniversary and the release of XXV with their first headlining concert at Kalamazoo’s Wings Event Center on October 31. The band will play the same hometown venue the following night as well.

Watch a lyric video for “Reverend” featuring Billy Strings and stream the prior shared Sam Bush feature “Can’t Stop Now,” below:

XXV Tracklist

1. Can’t Stop Now (feat. Sam Bush)
2. In Control (feat. Lindsay Lou)
3. Reverend (feat. Billy Strings)
4. Broken Highways
5. Old Barns
6. Last Winter in the Copper Country (feat. Holly Bowling)
7. Past My Prime (feat. Nathaniel Rateliff)
8. 33443
9. What You Need (feat. Jennifer Hartswick and Natalie Cressman)
10. Who is Frederico? (feat. Jason Hann)
11. Lose My Way (feat. Aoife O’Donovan and Ivan Neville)
12. Windshield (feat. Holly Bowling)
13. Drink Up and Go Home