The Minnesota string band Trampled By Turtles has elevated string music and exposed audiences everywhere to the new sounds that traditional bluegrass instruments can create. Their songs are often high intensity and influenced by rock, but still deliver folk charm.
Wisconsin-native, Erik Berry, has been the band's mandolinist since it began 15-years-ago. Growing up, Berry studied classical music, jazz, and rock on guitar, which he says helped shape his mandolin style. And despite two decades of playing, he's still in love with the instrument.
“For the 20 years I’ve been playing [the mandolin] I’ve learned how to manipulate that and work with it and do stuff with it and get all kinds of shading and subtleties out of it. But at the end of the day there is something that went through my head when I first played and I was like, 'Oh boy, this thing’s great!' And that still is there," he says.
After a brief hiatus, Trampled By Turtles, released their latest album, Life is Good on the Open Road, last year. They are currently touring in support of the album and are taking their music to the Stephanie H. Weill Center in Sheboygan on Friday, September 13.
