Press

About Lucky Drive (2005):

Nashville Scene: "Open Road are from Colorado, home to a million jamgrass-leaning bands, but the group cut against the grain by banging out hardcore 'grass that has improved steadily through three CDs for Rounder. Their latest, Lucky Drive, hits the streets just days after their Ryman debut and easily justifies their appearance in a concert series filled with undisputed masters. Leavening a cannily selected set that's heavy on obscurities with a couple of Folk's solid, idiomatic originals, it chugs along with a commendably tight drive that bears witness to Open Road's exhausting tour schedule and makes a convincing case that they're among the best of today's neo-traditionalists."
-Jon Weisberger

The New York Post: "WITH George Straight's over-orchestrated new CD yawner hitting record shacks, the time is ripe for a bluegrass band like Open Road to ask, 'What happened to country music?'
With a banjo/fiddle/guitar combo, Open Road provides its own answer. The traditional American sound is alive and well on "Lucky Drive," a disc that examines wanderlust, wealth and mental wellbeing with old-time country style.
The instrumental interplay is terrific, pure and simple. It's as if the band plays huddled around a single microphone. The straightforward arrangements allow singer Brad Folk's tenor to always stay in front of the music. His twanging, emotional croon is original, yet reverential. Download these: 'Wanderin' Blues,' 'I'm Lonesome'"

Nashville City Paper: "The disc spotlights the band capably executing several challenging musical and lyrical ideas. Among the highlights are a moving duet with legendary vocalist Vern Williams on the tune "I'm Lonesome," Williams' first studio recording in almost two decades."

Bluegrass Works:"The new recording, moreover, underscores a larger point about the current bluegrass scene: that the young generation is carrying on, with skill and distinction, a hard-core traditional style thought a few years ago to be a species on its way to inextricable extinction. Open Road, often and justly praised, is easily the equal of any of its generational contemporaries, a band whose taste and execution defy not only substantive criticism but petty kvetching."

Barnes & Noble: "You don't have to wait long for the action to heat up on Open Road's third Rounder album, Lucky Drive. Brad Lee Folk's puzzlement at the lifestyles of the rich,"Lucky Drive," sprints out of the gate powered by Folk's twangy vocal set against a rousing backdrop of banjo, fiddle, and mandolin; then the whole affair goes airborne in the chorus when Eric Thorin gets to slappin' the doghouse bass at a furious pace. From this exhilarating kickoff, the album gets deep into the heart of the matter, blending a reverence for the ancient tones of bluegrass with a contemporary rhythmic and percussive sensibility -- achieving what the liner notes describe as music that is "old and new at the same time." Folk adds another sterling original tune to the mix later on with his languorous country blues "Wanderin' Blues," a musician's weary testimony about the privations of the road and the havoc the constant travel can wreak on the homestead, his plainspoken voice mirroring that of the beleaguered road warrior as the band sets the mood with steady rolling instrumental support. Another paean to the travelin' man, Charlie Monroe's "Rollin' On," celebrates wanderlust with a spirited dialogue between the acoustic guitar and the mandolin, and a fiery little passage of instrumental dueling between the banjo and the fiddle, as Folk and Open Road co-founder Caleb Roberts trade personable lead vocal parts. On the tender side of things, a classic early western swing arrangement of Ernest Tubb's "If I Never Have Anything Else" frames a sweet, affecting lyric of devotion to a loved one, with a lone, evocative, keening fiddle lending a poignant tone to the proceedings. Rich and deep, Lucky Drive is a fine calling card for one of bluegrass music's great young hopes."
-David McGee

Music Row, June 21, 2005:
OPEN ROAD /Lucky Drive Writer: Bradford Lee Folk; Producer: Sally Van Meter; Publisher: Happy Valley, BMI; Rounder (track) (www.openroadbluegrass.com) —The lead singer's nasal quality takes a little getting used to, but you'll be hooked on their picking at first listen. In addition to this title tune, you might want to check out the timely lament "(Country Music) It's Blowing Away," originated by Jimmie Skinner decades ago, but sounding completely up to the minute. There's also a cool cover of the Kitty Wells classic "After Dark."

Knight-Ridder Newspapers: "Open Road pursues the purest, old-timey style of country picking and piney-woods harmonizing on “Lucky Drive” (Rounder). Dub ‘em hicksville hip."

Louisville Messenger-Inquirer

Cybergrass

About Open Road:

Westword Best of Denver 2005, Best Bluegrass Band

The Rocky Mountain News named Open Road "Top Bluegrass Band" for 2004: "...this band is the real deal, penning and performing swaggering original music that has the soul of the genre’s originators. The band’s new CD, “In the Life” (Rounder), is climbing the national bluegrass charts and they are booked into every festival that matters."

South By Southwest showcasing artist 2004.

Americana Music Association Showcase Band 2003.

International Bluegrass Music Association Showcase Band 2002.

Westword Best of Denver 2003, Best Bluegrass Band: “These musicians make tradition exciting. ”

Westword Best of Denver 2002, Best Bluegrass Band: “The acoustic combo from Lyons continues to serve up pure, traditionally spirited music of the finest kind -- an approach that's drawing attention from around the nation.”

“I'm a big fan. I really love traditional music, and I appreciate that they have the chops to play traditional bluegrass, but they can also create new material to carry the music on.”
-Jim Lauderdale

“Open Road has a completely obvious and definite style...they’re not imitating anybody, and there’s a lot of imitator bands out there that don’t get very far with me because I’ve already heard the original people.”
-Pete Wernick, HotBands.com interview

“The first time I saw [Brad Folk] sing was in a showcase room at WOB [IBMA World of Bluegrass Trade Show] and he made me, and I think most others in the room, feel like he was singing directly to us. ...This is a very cool band which continues to grow and evolve.”
–Ken Irwin, Rounder Records

“When I first heard Open Road, I was transported back to the days of Vern and Ray, the Stanley Brothers and, of course, Bill Monroe. Real serious bluegrass.”
–Sally Van Meter

“When we sit and listen to music, [Open Road] is the stuff we listen to. Brad Folk -- the voice on that guy -- and that whole band; they're so amazing.”
–Ben Kaufmann, Yonder Mountain String Band, Westword

“Sunday also brought out perhaps the surprise act of the weekend with Open Road, a traditional bluegrass band out of Colorado. Within a few songs, the dancers flooded the front of the stage, kicking up dust as they danced and called for encores.”--Grand Targhee 2002 review, Teton Valley News.

“Colorado's own Open Road hit the stage like a thunderbolt on Friday, wowing the audience with their tight and traditional approach.”--RockyGrass 2002 review, Colorado Daily.

Idaho State Journal (August 2004)
Missoula News (July 2004)
Rocky Mountain News (July 2004)
Out & About, Wilmington, DE (January 2004)
The Missoulian (December 2003)
Manitowoc Herald-Times (October 2003)
Red Magazine Telluride Festival Review (June 2003)
Bluegrass Now (December 2002)
Boulder Weekly (October 4, 2001)
No Depression (March 2001)
Westword (April 27, 2000)

About In The Life (2004):

On the charts

• Billboard: In The Life appeared at number 13 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart on Sept. 4! Click here to see the Billboard Bluegrass chart
• National Bluegrass Survey: In The Life spent seven months on the National Bluegrass Survey charts, appearing at number 14 on the National Bluegrass Survey Bluegrass Album Chart for September 2004, and "Bald Knob Arkansas" appeared at number 15 on the National Bluegrass Survey song chart for January 2005. Thank you bluegrass DJs!

Best of 2004 lists

• Tim Walsh's #1 choice for CD of the Year in Bluegrass Now: “Open Road's second straight masterpiece. Once again, Bradford Lee Folk's soulful tenor, razor-sharp wit, and unassuming charm lead the Colorado quintet through a flawless set of spine-tingling traditional bluegrass. With seemingly unlimited talent and energy tempered only by genuine grace and humility. Open Road is the most dynamic young band in bluegrass today.”
• Westword's Best of 2004 Recordings: “At its core, bluegrass is primitive music: raw and plainspoken, but with a structural rigor that requires those who play it to have uncommonly quick fingers. The men of Open Road certainly share the latter characteristic, and because they balance faithfulness to the form with sheer exuberance, their latest disc is richly satisfying from start to finish. Oh, what a Life.” -- Michael Roberts
• No Depression Best of 2004 critic's poll
• National Review Best CDs of 2004

“the ultimate post-modernist bluegrass band” -- Vintage Guitar

“the future of bluegrass. They respect the traditions of the music but put their own stamp on the older material while creating new songs that sound like first-generation bluegrass.” -- Owensboro, KY, Messenger-Inquirer

“a follow-up that not only matches, but builds on the reputation garnered from that first disc as a young band deeply rooted in traditional bluegrass, yet bursting with their own new approach and style” -- Country Standard Time

“showcases Open Road's growing songwriting skill and musical tightness” -- Country Weekly (a "Bluegrass: The Next Generation" featured artist)

“Good news! Bluegrass music is in good hands with bands like Open Road. This band is making a strong statement about bluegrass, keeping the tradition and at the same time adding to the mix with new and fresh songs.” -- Uptown Bluegrass web site

“proving once again that youthful exuberance can give old-timey music new life” -- Westword

“This follow up to the tremendous success of Cold Wind doesn't let you down.” -- Cybergrass internet magazine

“The northern Colorado bluegrass band has the unmistakable mid-century sound you would expect from any studious collector of old Bill Monroe records. But as traditional as it comes, Open Road manages to add a little country honky-tonk and rockabilly to create a distinct sound.” -- Juneau Empire

“a full-on joyous attack, and a thoroughly enjoyable, looser, fuller sound...a top-notch effort, by golly” -- Colorado Daily

More reviews:
Chico News and Review
Westword

About Cold Wind (2002):

Recognition of Open Road's Cold Wind, released in October 2002 on Rounder Records, includes the following:

• Nine months on the Bluegrass Unlimited National Bluegrass Survey Album chart, peaking at number 6. Two of Bradford's songs on the CD appeared on the Bluegrass Unlimited song charts: "Cold Wind (On Fletcher Hill)" spent nine months on the charts, peaking at number 4, and "Hard Times" spent five months on the charts, peaking at number 23.
• Best Country Album and one of the top 10 albums of 2002 on Radio 1190's Skip Pop Scratch show.
• One of Billboard.com's Best of 2002 staff picks.
• Number 15, Top New CDs of 2002, WCMS, Virginia Beach, VA.
• Number 27, Best CDs of 2002, CFUV, Victoria, BC.
• One of Westword's best local picks of 2002.

“If you've seen Open Road, you'll want to hear this album, and once you've heard this, you'll want to see them.”-–Country Standard Time

“Some of the best traditional yet new sounding bluegrass I've heard come down the pike in ages.”-–Kim Gluckler, WFDU, Teaneck NJ

“These guys are a revelation...They manage to sound straight out of the halcyon days without being merely imitative. This is soulful stuff, terrific music that'll bring a smile to your face.”-–Bluegrass Unlimited

“The audience response for this CD was overwhelming. While playing the entire CD, my request line never stopped ringing. It is rare to have a CD that generates this much feedback.”-–Al Shusterman, Backroads Bluegrass, KCBL, Sacramento, CA

“Guitarist, main songwriter and lead singer Bradford Lee Folk has an uncanny knack for crafting timeless tunes on timeless subjects.”-–No Depression

“Old-fashioned hasn’t sounded this good in quite some time.”-–The Missoula (MT) Independent

“Open Road turns past into future with innovative panache, breaking new ground during the current bluegrass resurgence.”
–Joel Davis, Boulder Weekly, Boulder, Colo

More reviews:
Sing Out! Magazine
Country Standard Time
Colorado Daily
Westword (Denver, CO)

About Open Road (self titled 2000):

Westword Best of Denver 2001: Open Road's self-titled recording was named Best Bluegrass Recording, and lead singer Bradford Lee Folk was named Best Bluegrass Vocalist. "The self-titled debut from Open Road is a bone-chilling masterpiece of Kentucky-grown sound. Leader Bradford Lee Folk sports a harrowing voice, and he and his mates possess a commanding, retro-respectful grasp of their adopted music. From giddy stompers to tear-jerking laments, this record delivers all of the rustic goods."

“Tough, hard-edged traditional bluegrass in all its no-nonsense finery, complete with that timeless Stanley Brothers swagger that few groups have ever come close to matching, much less emulating.”--Dave Higgs, Bluegrass Breakdown, KPLN-FM, Nashville

“No bull. This is the real thing!”
–Gene Libbea, Nashville Bluegrass Band

“The quintet offers impeccable rhythm and timing with plenty of drive, skillful solos, heartfelt vocals and a selection of material that leans noticeably, but not excessively, on the Stanley Brothers repertoire.”
–Jon Weisberger, MoMZine

“The band’s secret? Playing vintage bluegrass not as some polite re-creation or excuse for noodling, but as it’s meant to be played: with urgency, immediacy and a face-first blast of guts and emotion.”
–Marty Jones, Westword, Denver, Colo.

Promotional Photos

Click here for the Rounder Publicity Photo of Open Road

Where We're Going

Check Our Schedule

How We Sound

Click here to go to our Sound page to download MP3s and to hear & view archived performances.

How to Set Up Our Sound

Click here for the Open Road Stage Plot

What Folks Say About Us

Reviews and Comments
Press Clippings

How to Get a CD to Play on Your Radio Station

Email Radio@Rounder.com.

How to Get a Press Packet

Contact Open Road's press contact at Rounder: publicity.rounder.com

How to Set Up Interviews with the Band

Contact Open Road's manager:
openroadbluegrass@yahoo.com