Gangstagrass – Dec 3rd Party

This show is 18 years of age and up ONLY! Bring ID to show.

“Gangstagrass fuses string instruments with hip-hop artists, resulting in arguably the best argument yet for a rap and country music marriage.” – Rolling Stone Magazine

Gangstagrass‘ music takes so much of what’s amazing about this country — ingenuity, creativity, freedom, unity across differences, people’s individual strengths and struggles — and distills it into a message of common ground in the form of original songs that will have everyone up & dancing!

Gangstagrass spends time hanging in Fountain Square for a promo shoot before their show at the HiFi on Wednesday, May 15, 2019. Photo cred Melodie Yvonne

Making beats for local NYC rappers and hosting country music nights in popular NYC venues, Rench had a musical itch that needed to be scratched – he was listening to the 1970s recordings of Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys and couldn’t help imagining what classic bluegrass would sound like with rap vocals and beats. The result was a genre-demolishing blitz called Rench Presents: Gangstagrass. He put it up for free download and people took notice. Hundreds of thousands of downloads followed creating an intense underground buzz. When FX Network came to Rench looking for the Gangstagrass sound for the theme song to their new series Justified, he had bluegrass players lay down an original track with rapper T.O.N.E-z, the younger brother of early hip-hop legends Special K and T-LaRoc.

The result was “Long Hard Times to Come,” the song that opened every episode of six seasons of the hit series. “Long Hard Times to Come” was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2010, contending for best theme song after critical praise and massive fan response.

The same live-bluegrass-band approach was used to make Lightning On The Strings, Thunder On The Mic, a full-length album with T.O.N.E-z, the MC featured on the Justified theme song. Two years later the Gangstagrass sound expanded with the release of Rappalachia, a 15-song album featuring a variety of rappers, including Kool Keith, Dead Prez, Nitty Scott MC, T.O.N.E-z, BROOKLYN35, R-SON the Voice of Reason, and Dolio the Sleuth. Country singers Brandi Hart and Jen Larson contributed gritty harmonies to Rench’s choruses. Broken Hearts and Stolen Money -– featuring performances by legendary rap team Smif-N-Wessun, Juno award-winning rapper Liquid (of BranVan 3000), Brandi Hart of the Dixie Bee-Liners and Alexa Dirks of Chic Gamine, in addition to the now regular crew of MCs and pickers – was released in 2014 to critical acclaim, with the Boston Globe labeling raucous single Two Yards “Essential.” A fourth official album, titled American Music, was released in April 2015, debuting at #5 on the Billboard bluegrass charts. With American Music’s collection of standout original cuts and traditional folk anthems the band once again broke new ground, while also paying tribute to their cast of American songwriting heroes. The 2019 live album Pocket Full of Fire spent 20 weeks in the top 10 Billboard bluegrass charts, making it to the #2 spot.

Gangstagrass has toured internationally, blowing minds on main stages from SXSW to Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, with a live act taking full advantage of the improvisational aspects of both hip-hop and bluegrass. With MCs R-SON and Dolio the Sleuth trading verses, Dan Whitener on banjo, Brian Farrow on fiddle, Rench on guitar and beats, and frequent three-part harmonies, the Gangstagrass stage show has garnered a reputation among fans for its dynamism and spontaneity. Through touring across the United States and abroad, Gangstagrass uses live performances to organically develop new material to further explode the boundaries between genres generally thought to be incompatible.

Their 2020 offering, No Time for Enemies – which features “Nickel and Dime Blues,” the inspirational “Freedom,” the jump-starting “Aint No Crime,” and the hugely popular “Ride With You” – has more than a million streams/views so far. It quickly hit #1 on the Billboard bluegrass charts. No Time for Enemies takes you for a ride through the hoods and hollers while having a sweat of a good time.

TICKETS HERE! Or buy physical tickets with cash/check at our HQ, Methow Arts in downtown Twisp. This show is 18 years and up only! Bring ID. Cash/Check bar only. Tickets, $18/ADVANCE for gen admin adults (18yrs and older), $22/DOOR and $30 for limited reserved seating. Reserved seating will be placed a little farther from stage to ensure we have space for folks to dance. We also have balcony reserved seating @ $30. At the Barn, Winthrop, WA. info@methowartsalliance.org.

Paid for in part by the Okanogan County LTAC.