Red Bud Trio

“A multi-hyphenated instrumental power trio that braids post-rock, pysch, Americana, prog, ambient, and jazz into a restless and radiant soundtrack.” - Cincinnati, OH

Social Media: Instagram

When former Alone at 3AM bandmates Chris Mueller and Andy Hittle reunited to develop a new musical project, they envisioned a big band: lots of moving pieces, perhaps even a Voltron-like collective that could size up or down as needed. After casting about for bass players, the two found NYC transplant Nate Stevens (Rev. Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir), who immediately convinced them to scuttle their outsized plans and close the circle into an unanticipated configuration: a multi-hyphenated instrumental power trio that braids post-rock, psych, Americana, prog, ambient, and jazz into a restless and radiant soundtrack. The new group would indeed be big, but with minimum instrumentation—guitar, bass, drums—and a lot of joyful work.

As the three veteran musicians jelled in their Dayton, Kentucky, practice space with no particular pressure or timetables, the Red Bud sound began to take shape. The trio experimented with odd time signatures, hypnotic drones, jagged riffs, dubby pulses, harmonic complexity, and unpredictable arrangements, sometimes stitching a few songs together into byzantine suites. As much as they wanted to surprise eventual listeners, Chris, Andy, and Nate kept deconstructing their quickly accumulating pool of songs for the sheer thrill of bending and breaking the music until something enigmatic and compelling emerged.