Bristol Lightning, a brilliant new ensemble of virtuoso musicians from Bristol, Tennessee, is bridging history and culture through bluegrass music that transcends genre expectations and rules. Their first EP, Bristol Lightning, was released on June 28. The four songs, part of a planned full album for later this year, are rich, vibrant, and evocative; a sound so fresh that a couple of them, reworkings of popular classical music pieces, feel like a musical rebirth.
The music mirrors the story of how the band came together. For two of the members, Dave Eggar and Phil Faconti, Bristol Lightning marks a new personal and musical beginning.
When the World Health Organization declared the pandemic in early March 2020, New York became the epicentre of one of the first significant outbreaks in the US. Lockdowns soon brought life to a standstill. The music and performance arts industry was one of the most severely impacted by the health measures, as musicians and performers saw show after show be cancelled, effectively vanishing their livelihoods.
Cellist Dave Eggar and producer and guitarist Phil Faconti, two multiple Grammy-nominated musicians based in New York, found themselves “marooned” in the city, as Eggar explains. Prompted by some of their musician friends, Eggar and Faconti packed their bags and instruments and relocated south to Bristol, Tennessee. The move was providential.
“When things got really bad in New York, we had friends beckoning us to come to Bristol for our safety and mental space,” Eggar explains. They arrived in Bristol feeling like “refugees” but quickly integrated into the local music scene thanks to mandolin player Blake Collins. Collins helped them settle in the city in practical and artistic ways and later became the third member of Bristol Lightning. Collins’s sister, Jamie Collins, a standup bass player and singer, also contributes to the band.
Bonds of friendship and music
In 1927, the Victor Talking Machine Company conducted a series of recordings of “hillbilly music” in Bristol. These sessions, known as The Bristol Sessions, are considered the first country music recordings. Almost a hundred years later, the city remains a destination for recording musicians wanting to tap into the sound and traditions of bluegrass and Americana.
Bristol has “become this little Mecca of creativity,” Eggar says. Coming from the New York music scene, neither musician knew what to expect.
“If you would have asked Dave or me if we would have been in a bluegrass band in 2019, [we would have said] absolutely not,” adds Faconti. However, the pandemic brought opportunities along with the challenges. As the restrictions made gathering in a small studio together, remote recordings became more frequent, which helped Faconi and Eggar to continue working with local and out-of-town musicians. One of those artists was Phillip Phillips, for whom Eggar recorded the strings for his 2023 album Drift Back remotely in the studio. Eggar has contributed to Phillips’s four albums and toured extensively with Phillips in support.
Dave Eggar and clarinetist Tasha Warren recorded their 2022 duet album, Ourself Behind Ourself, Concealed, in the same studio. Phil Faconti produced the album, which received two Grammy nominations.
The musical bonds and collaborations grew out of the friendships they formed along the way, and making music that reflected the history of bluegrass and Americana in the region felt “powerfully organic,” says Eggar, “it felt like we’re just making music with our friends.”
The call of bluegrass
Despite having played or recorded with a staggering number of musicians in all genres–from Coldplay to Evanence, to H.E.R., Frank Ocean, and Beyoncé, to Patti Smith and Esperanza Spalding, or premiering numerous new works of contemporary composers–Eggar says he has always had a connection with folk music and bluegrass.
It’s partly the influence of American composer Aaron Copland, with whom he studied as a young child. Copland incorporated folk music into his classical music compositions. Eggar explains that he likes the challenge of playing bluegrass on the cello, which tests his technique, but also because incorporating Americana and bluegrass into classical music allows him to embrace his identity as an American classically trained musician.
“There’s something very beautiful in being able to apply these stories of your heritage to your classical technique.”
For Faconti, the “blues” in bluegrass appeals to him, as does the storytelling, which he says is “at one of its highest levels” in the genre. “It’s honest music,” he adds. Faconti has recorded with artists such as Lewis Capaldi, Foreigner, ZAYN, Norah Jones, and Five For Fighting.
In addition to the texture that the two former New York musicians bring to the music, Bristol natives Blake Collins and Jamie Collins, brother and sister, add the authentic sound of the Appalachians to Bristol Lightning. Rapper, singer, songwriter, and actress Le’Asha Julius, based in New York but originally from Washington, DC, is the unexpected but inspired last piece of the puzzle.
The idea, says Faconti, was to embrace their differences and “show ourselves.” “Le’Asha is a friend, and she’s a rapper, poet, actress, and we’re actually not barring any of those things.”
“Americana is about diverse stories and bringing the stories of the country and the city, and white stories and Black stories together,” Eggar added. “It’s very exciting for us as New Yorkers to bring some of those urban flavours to this Americana music and see how it challenges the harmonic spectrum of what it can be.”
Bristol Lighting is available for streaming on all music platforms. Follow Bristol Lightning on Instagram.
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