Episode 112: The Infamous Stringdusters’ Chris Pandolfi

Listen to the banjo player discuss the band’s upcoming new album, ‘Toward The Fray’ and much more.

By Team JamBase Feb 10, 2022 • 10:25 am PST

Episode 112 of The JamBase Podcast, a partner of the Osiris Media Network, features an interview with Chris Pandolfi of The Infamous Stringdusters. Joining the podcast for the fist time is JamBase’s Nate Todd, who recently spoke to the banjo player about the Dusters’ upcoming new album, Toward The Fray.

A veteran member of the JamBase editorial team, Nate Todd was invited to join The Infamous Stringdusters at the site of their video shoot in Denver for the Toward The Fray title track. The experience served as a pre-interview introduction to Pandolfi and the other members of the band. Shortly after, Nate and Chris reconnected over a video call to talk about the record coming out on February 18 and more.

Pandolfi talked about what inspired some of the lyrical content found on Toward The Fray, including the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. The banjoist also discussed what motivated the decision to title an instrumental he wrote for the album, “Revolution.”

Like many others, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the band to take a new approach to recording Toward The Frey, and Pandolfi detailed how making the album was an experience unlike any of their other albums. The interview touched on the choice to use Circles Around The Sun drummer Mark Levy on two of the album’s songs.

Pandolfi also talked about his Osiris Media podcast, Inside The Musician’s Brain, which just began its third season. Chris told Nate about the experience of being nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album for the Dusters’ 2021 Bill Monroe tribute LP, A Tribute To Bill Monroe, and what it was like to win the award back in 2018.

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Stream Episode 112 of The JamBase Podcast via all major podcast services including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Podcast.