Jennifer Newlin
When fiddle player Tim McIlree left Dead Horses last April, the Milwaukee-based bluegrass band required some reinvention. The group had always been an energetic, jam-heavy quartet, and losing the fiddle’s high-ranging melodic and improvisational punch changed the Horses’ sound.
But after logging nearly 100 shows as a guitar-guitar-upright bass trio, Dead Horses has no problem holding the stage. They’ll headline the Isthmus Wisconsin Bluegrass Fest at the Majestic Theatre on Jan. 16 and will release their third studio album — their first as a trio — in May.
Singer, songwriter and guitarist Sarah Vos describes Dead Horses’ transformation into a trio as “a fun challenge” that ultimately brought the group closer together. “I think a lot of people were maybe questioning if we could continue like that, but we did. And I think that made us tighter as a band.”
After their lineup change, Dead Horses put the focus on songwriting. “When you make the music about the songs, to me that’s the pie, that’s the birthday cake, that’s why I want to be a musician,” says Vos.
In order to craft the best tunes possible, the band is willing to go outside of traditional bluegrass instrumentation. In late 2015, Vos and bandmates Peter Raboin and Daniel Wolff traveled to Nashville to record with former Wilco and Uncle Tupelo drummer Ken Coomer as producer and percussionist, giving Dead Horses a recording experience unlike any they’d had before. They laid down drums, experimented with piano and harmonium and tapped some top local talent to help them infuse the new tunes with the “Nashville sound.”
That doesn’t mean that Dead Horses have rejected their roots. “We can still jam at live shows, but we can make a record where every song is really good,” says Vos. “We’re no longer trying to prove anything. We’re just making the best music that we can.”
“Bottom line, I don’t want to ever feel like we can’t do anything that we want. In 15 years, if we want to be an electronic band, then we should be. I just want to make good music that inspires people and that makes people feel connected.”
