Cybergrass Bluegrass Music News: The Student Loan Mix It Up Bluegrass Style

BMNN wrote: on Oct. 19, 2009:

The Student Loan is an eclectic four-piece bluegrass/newgrass band originally from Bowling Green, Ohio. Mixing traditional bluegrass and folk music with elements of rock, jazz, and blues, The Student Loan has a sound that defies genre and is both familiar and new. With original songs and a vast library of covers from groups as diverse as Thelonious Monk, The Beatles, Bill Monroe, and The Grateful Dead, The Student Loan will please just about any audience.

Based in Portland, Oregon, The Student Loan has taken their fast and furious style to both national and international audiences alike. The band has made recent appearances at Appalachian Uprising, The Black Swamp Music and Arts Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the National Geographic Society. They have appeared with prominent national and regional acts including Sam Bush, County Line II, eKoostik Hookah, The Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars, Alejandro Escovedo, The Ragbirds, Greensky Bluegrass, The MacPodz, and The Blind Corn Liquor Pickers, and were featured alongside Larry Keel at the 2008 Appalachian Uprising All-Star Bluegrass Jam. In 2009, the group completed an extensive tour of Southeast Asia as part of the Rhythm Road Music Abroad Program sponsored by the U.S. State Department and Jazz at Lincoln Center, performing concerts and educational workshops in Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, Vietnam, Fiji, and Samoa with prominent performances at Rolling Stone Indonesia and the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival.

Formed in the spring of 2005, The Student Loan synthesizes a wide array of musical styles and backgrounds. A formally trained composer, percussionist, and violinist, West Virginian mandolinist Chad Kimbler blazes a trail of furious picking, and guitarist and fiddler Liz Chibucos, a Bowling Green, Ohio native and avid songwriter, brings to the table a wealth of jazz, classical, and rock influences. Banjo player and guitarist Mark Gerolami of upstate New York draws upon a rich background of folk, western, and world music, and seasoned rock, gospel, and jazz bassist and Tacoma, Washington native Julio Appling lays down a solid foundation and more than holds his own as a soloist.

The Student Loan released their first album, Wake Up to The Student Loan in 2006 and followed up with their sophomore effort, A New and Different Life, in 2008. Their latest project, Live: St. Patrick's Day in Suva, Fiji was released earlier this year.

Instrumentation:

Julio Appling: Bass, vocals
Liz Chibucos: Guitar, fiddle, vocals
Mark Gerolami: Banjo, guitar, vocals
Chad Kimbler: Mandolin, vocals

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