Album Notes

Fueled by original songwriting, award winning musicianship, and exhilarating americana instrumentation, Jackass Flats epitomizes the new generation of cross-genre bands who combine creativity and tradition to produce something all together unique.

Since taking home Virginia State Champion Bluegrass Band honors in 2002, the boys have been crowd favorites on the bluegrass, americana, and world music scenes. In 2003 Jackass Flats took their local music scene by storm and were awarded Best Bluegrass/Country Band by internet magazine Richmond.com, who called the band "masters of backwoods symphonies". In 2004 the band was presented with a Virginia Music Award for The Best Americana Jamband. The band has performed at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN and shared billing with groups as diverse as The Wailers, Del McCoury Band, Ani Difranco, Victor Wooten Band, Railroad Earth, Keller Williams, Sam Bush Band, Xavier Rudd, Tony Rice, Drive By Truckers, and J.D Crowe and the New South.
Jackass Flats plays hard hitting original music with gritty rock influences and hitches the whole thing to a fast and furious bluegrass engine. The band grew out of the musical partnership of Stephen Kuester and Travis Rinehart, who began playing and singing together since before they could drive. The two crafted a vocal harmony attack that landed them in the east coast's premier clubs, music halls, and festival stages. The typical show has Jackass Flats picking their way through original material, fresh arrangements of bluegrass standands, and non-traditional tunes from genres as varied as rock, reggae, and jazz.

The band consists of Eddie Carlton on bass fiddle, Travis Rinehart on the banjo and guitar, Stephen Kuester on the guitar and pedal steel, Cory Potrafka on keys and harmonica, and Scott Lewis on drums. Live, the band is intense, spontaneous, and always out for a raucous time.