Kitchen Dwellers Is Much More Than Bluegrass

The members of Kitchen Dwellers aren’t trying to be a bluegrass band. At least, that’s how upright bassist Joe Funk explains the Montana quartet’s approach nowadays.

“We don’t play really that much bluegrass in our shows anymore,” he says. “It’s bluegrass rhythms and bluegrass instruments, but the songs are more rock and roll or folk or electronic, even, than traditional bluegrass. We just play what we like to play and what we want to hear and feel.”

And for the past sixteen years, that’s hit home with audiences, too, as Kitchen Dwellers quickly became one of the hottest acts of the current newgrass movement. There’s no end in sight, either. The group’s latest album, Seven Devils (2024), debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Bluegrass Albums chart.

“We were very proud of those songs. It felt like the most complete work, and we left no stone unturned as far as the recording and writing process goes,” Funk says. “We put everything we had into that album. That was great it debuted at No. 1. We felt pretty accomplished. We’re so proud of that work, and that’s a good indication of the work we put in.”

Funk, mando player-Telluride native Shawn Swain, banjo picker Torrin Daniels and guitarist Max Davies recently released a surprise three-song EP, The Katabatic, just before the new year, which comprises some leftovers from a 2021 recording session, including time at Denver’s own Mighty Fine Studios.

“We just wanted to get those songs out. We’ve been sitting on the recordings and weren’t sure if we needed to touch them up or work on them more,” Funk explains. “We went into the studio that time after we recorded Wise River (2022), and we had more songs we wanted to record that didn’t make it on Wise River. Then those three were the ones that ended up not making it onto the Seven Devils record.”

The extra serving inspired by the four’s deep love of and respect for the outdoors features Grammy-winning trumpeter Eric “Benny” Bloom of Lettuce. He also runs Benny & Zoid Selections, a Colorado-based natural wine distribution company, alongside Lettuce sax man, Ryan Zoidis.

“That was fun. Like a lot of the way I write, I hear things in my head and I got to figure out what instrument that is. It was something that just stuck out in my head,” Funk shares. “I was hearing trumpet on some parts, and I’ve been talking with Benny around that time of year. I was like, ‘Let’s just see if he’s in town.’ He was and came down, I bought a box of wine from him, and he threw down some trumpet.”

Kitchen Dwellers is heading back to Denver for three shows: The first two are at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom on Thursday, January 22, and Friday, January 23, with Jammy Buffet and Silas Herman & the Tone Unit, respectively. Then there’s a headliner spot on Saturday, January 24, at Mission Ballroom with Mountain Grass Unit and Lindsey Lou.

With spur-of-the-moment setlists and its signature genre-expanding sound each night, Kitchen Dwellers always deliver, no matter what you want to call it.

“We’re all trying to create the energy sonically of what we loved growing up, what we currently love, and translate that into music,” Funk says. “We’re not trying to purposefully push boundaries or do weird stuff just to be weird. We just want to do what we want to do in the moment, and whatever comes out, that’s who we are.

“It’s led a lot of our songwriter and how we shape songs sonically,” he concludes. “It’s part of our souls.”

Kitchwen Dwellers, with Jammy Buffet and Silas Herman & the Tone Unit, 7 p.m. Thursday, January 22, and Friday, January 23, Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom, 2635 Welton St. Tickets are $97.