When it comes to movers and shakers in the bluegrass world, Full Cord is a super-group on the rise.
After winning the prestigious 2022 Telluride Bluegrass Band Competition in Colorado, the Michigan-based group followed that with another much-coveted honor when the International Bluegrass Music Association named Full Cord its “Momentum Award Band of the Year.”
While mandolinist Brian Oberlin notes the band’s music “is new and fresh to the ears of seasoned bluegrass fans,” the bluegrass traditions in Full Cord have deep roots.
The group’s members – Oberlin, guitarist Eric Langejans, bassist Todd Kirchner – boast decades of musical artistry, with experience in popular performing bands from Michigan to Oregon. The group brings along top players to fill in fiddle and banjo to round out that rich bluegrass tone.
The band’s debut album on Nashville’s Dark Shadow Recording released in Nov. of 2023 and has maintained charting positions through spring of ’24.
Full Cord’s songwriting has reached a new “tipping point,” Manager Katie Kirchner suggests, enhanced by the group’s vast repertoire and robust experience in numerous band projects over the years.
And Oberlin insists the band is “just hitting its stride” – ready to follow in the footsteps of fellow Michigan bluegrass icons Billy Strings and Greensky Bluegrass as yet another star in the making.
