After fifteen years, eight albums, innumerable sold out shows, and countless memories, Americana mavericks Horseshoes & Hand Grenades appropriately consider themselves a “family” on a wild, wonderful, and often whacky roller coaster. The bond between the quintet— Adam Greuel [guitar, vocals], David C. Lynch [harmonica, accordion, vocals], Collin Mettelka [fiddle, vocals], Russell Pedersen [banjo, vocals], and Samual Odin [bass, vocals]— fuels their creativity and chemistry on stage and in the studio.
“Horseshoes & Hand Grenades has always been about the adventure of it all,” Adam affirms with a grin. “We set out to have a bunch of fun making music that we believed in. Along the way, friends and fans started coming along for the ride and that added a whole other sense of magic and joy to it. It built this feeling of community, and that’s something we need in this world more than ever right now. We need some sense of fellowship, and music is such a sweet conduit to that.”
That community has rapidly grown since the five musicians first met in Stevens Point, WI at college, joined forces, and hit the road harder post-graduation in roughly 2013. They have ignited stages alongside everyone from Billy Strings, Greensky Bluegrass, Trampled By Turtles, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Railroad Earth, to Merle Haggard and Marty Stuart in addition to appearances at festivals and venues such as Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Delfest, High Sierra Music Festival, Blue Ox Music Festival, Red Rocks Amphitheater and Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
Their eight albums—Pigtails & Coffin Nails [2011], Another Round [2012], This Old Town [2013], Middle Western [2015], The Ode (2018), Miles in Blue (2020), For Old Time’s Sake (2022), and Living Room [2026} take the listener through a wide range of musical and emotional landscapes, something surely provoked by the five different members all sharing songwriting duties. Their most recent album, “Living Room” is a 13-track celebration of their 15 years together as a band, while nodding to the musical roots that have laid their foundation.
“When we first started playing music together, it was often at parties and we’d just stand or sit in a circle and rip it up. That’s one of the fun things about acoustic music: you can do it just about anywhere with just you and the instruments. We eventually decided that we should try to record something, so we took a stab at it right in the living room of our college house. We pieced together equipment, hung quilts on the windows, and we just had a bunch of fun playing music. It wasn’t technical or anything, probably pretty low-fi, but it was raw and it was “us”.
In an effort to recreate that organic, free-wheeling type atmosphere that was a big part of their beginnings, the band decided to retreat to Greuel’s house in the hill country of Wisconsin. They set up mics and chairs in a circle, largely inspired by the iconic Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”. The vibration was more relaxed and casual, like old friends gathering for a weekend to catch up, have some laughs, and relish in the unbridled joy of friendship.
“The atmosphere of the album was relaxed but deadly focused. Last minute arrangements were made on the porch over cold beer and tiny cigars,” Russell shares. “All it took was a few nods around the room to say, “that was the take.” Nothing was taken too seriously, but not a detail was overlooked for its honesty.”
Davey Lynch adds, “Yes, good music and recording was the goal, but not the object. During the recording, I got to stop trying and start doing. Stop remembering and start reminiscing. Stop building and start creating. Stop pushing and pulling and start lifting. Stop the clock of life that is mortality and put songs out there that someone, no matter who, might enjoy tomorrow, next year, or long after we’re gone.”
“After all this time, we just can’t help but continue on our deeply honest and still ever-innocent starry adventure”, Odin explains. “These songs aren’t my or your creations, they’re ours.”
