The Forming of Bluegrass Supergroup Mighty Poplar

As a longtime admirer and friend of Yonder Mountain String Band and a former member of Leftover Salmon, banjo player Noam Pikelny holds a bona fide tie to the genre-expanding iterations of bluegrass that have emerged from Colorado during the past few decades.

Those connections go back to when Pikelny, who grew up near Chicago, was attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the late ’90s. "It was just after Jeff Austin and Dave Johnston moved to Nederland to form Yonder," he recalls. "Two of the guys I met right away there and started playing with had been part of the band the Bluegrassholes, which Dave and Jeff had played in before heading to Colorado. That connection eventually led me to becoming a member of Leftover Salmon. When people talk about bluegrass breeding grounds and hot spots, they don't usually reference Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, but for a few of us, it was a crucial place that ended up making an impact on our lives."

Seeing Yonder Mountain String Band find success as a touring group changed Pikelny's career plans. The banjo player, who now lives in Vermont, says he never considered making a living as a bluegrass musician until he saw the blossoming jamgrassers of Yonder perform to a packed room of enthusiastic listeners. In 2002, the ambitious young plucker, who turns 43 this month, took over the banjo spot in Leftover Salmon, which opened up after the band's innovative and original banjoist, Mark Vann, passed away from cancer. After broadening his horizons with the legendary purveyors of polyethnic Cajun slamgrass for a couple years and then playing in the John Cowan Band, Pikelny joined mandolin player and vocalist Chris Thile in the groundbreaking acoustic group Punch Brothers in 2006.

In his latest project, Mighty Poplar, Pikelny's musical arc hits a new high; he and his bandmates have created a supergroup of sorts, fronted by the highly acclaimed Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange). The outfit, whose first album has been nominated for a Grammy this year, is rounded out by Greg Garrison (of Leftover Salmon), Chris Eldridge (Punch Brothers) and Alex Hargreaves (Billy Strings). Pikelny says the Poplar project found its inspiration in an earlier bluegrass aggregation of top pickers that coalesced in 1980.

"Mighty Poplar was inspired by the Bluegrass Album Band," says Pikelny. "That was a group that included Tony Rice, J.D. Crowe, Doyle Lawson, Jerry Douglas, Bobby Hicks and some rotating bass players. It wasn't a proper touring band, but they came together every few years to celebrate their shared bluegrass roots and to record versions of some of the most seminal first-generation bluegrass tunes. Their albums were highly influential and were a bit of an archetype for us when we started scheming on our group."

As an ever-evolving musician, Pikelny blends a variety of styles by studying and implementing the work of traditional and eclectic artists. He says the members of Mighty Poplar all hold a reverence for legacy bluegrass music, and that their ensemble allows them to create music in the same spirit as the Bluegrass Album Band.

"In our case, we try to find more obscure material by the artists we choose to cover, so that we aren't just playing well-worn standards," he explains. "A lot of the attraction was getting to play bluegrass with these specific five people. Getting Andrew to come on board was great. There were four of us who were very familiar with each other from our various histories, but Andrew brought a brand-new energy. Being a great hunter and gatherer of songs and a great songwriter in his own right really helped bring this band together and showcase another side of him."

For Mighty Poplar, the sometimes-disputed line between traditional and progressive bluegrass doesn't appear to be a big concern. The group can go from an old tune by Lead Belly or Bob Dylan to a bluegrass classic or songs penned by present-day American songsmiths.

"Genre designations can be a little overdone and overthought," says Pikelny. "Bluegrass, at its core, was new at the time it came out and was considered radical. Mighty Poplar isn't trying to reinvent the wheel, and we like to try and bring the same kind of freshness to our sound as those original players. It's hard to check your sensibilities at the door when you go out to play. We bring the totality of our influences to the sound. Lately I've been enjoying the classic traditional stuff like Scruggs and Crowe. The simplicity of that music is deceptive. It's a deep well, and more complex than people might think."

Pikelny says that Poplar, now on its third tour since its beginning, greatly enjoys playing in Colorado whenever it can. And thankfully, that will be soon: Mighty Poplar plays the Ogden Theatre on Friday, February 16.

"We launched our tour last year with a couple dates in Colorado, and we're coming back for more," he enthuses. "We will have played more in Colorado than anywhere else by the end of March. We love doing this, and we have a bunch of new material. I'm really excited that we're being considered for a Grammy alongside some amazing company, and we're going to start recording another album this spring."

Mighty Poplar, 8 p.m. Friday, February 16, Ogden Theatre, 935 East Colfax Avenue. Tickets are $35.95.