Mighty Poplar

In 2023, bluegrass supergroup Mighty Poplar arrived with a self-titled debut album that earned a Grammy nomination, announcing the five-piece as one of acoustic music’s most compelling new collaborations. The record, which includes a striking take on Bob Dylan’s “North Country Blues,” paired the group’s considerable individual résumés with a shared love of traditional bluegrass.

The band formed in 2020, when bassist Greg Garrison helped assemble the lineup alongside guitarist Chris Eldridge, banjoist Noam Pikelny, mandolinist Andrew Marlin, and fiddler Alex Hargreaves. Each member arrived with deep credentials: Eldridge founded the Infamous Stringdusters in 2005, winning Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2007 IBMA Awards before joining Punch Brothers, while Pikelny is a nine-time Grammy nominee and Punch Brothers bandmate of Eldridge. Garrison, an original Punch Brothers member who spent two years on their debut album “Punch,” has played with Leftover Salmon since 2000 and holds a doctorate in Music Arts.

Eldridge, a 2019 Americana Instrumentalist of the Year and Oberlin Conservatory-trained guitarist, anchors the group’s string-band sensibility alongside Marlin and Hargreaves, both respected figures in modern acoustic circles. Mighty Poplar continues to blend virtuosic instrumental interplay with a devoted reverence for bluegrass tradition.