The Packway Handle Band serves up a dark and passionate folk aesthetic, “…with a side of blood†[Sarah Hagerman, jambase.com]. The five members of Packway have wowed audiences for over a decade with near perfect 4-part harmonies and seemingly boundless on-stage synergy.  Over the years the band has evolved as a premier gather-around-the-mic act.  Their performance is focused around a tight cluster of microphones surrounded by an arsenal of acoustic and electric instruments:  banjo, fiddle, mandolin, acoustic and electric guitar, upright and electric bass, and an ever-changing array of percussive accessories, sometimes called “The Rattletrap.”  Packway’s sound is steeped in old-fashioned bluegrass, but they hold a niche in the American music realm that’s all their own.  Clever songwriting, an eccentric mixture of modern folk music, dark themes, old-time religion, affectionate satire of Bluegrass, and devotion to apocalyptic infotainment leave the listener to decide what exactly a Packway Handle is.
2015 began with the Packway Handle Band touring in support of their Yep Roc release, Take It Like A Man, alongside producer and collaborator, folk surrealist, Jim White. The band’s second consecutive voyage aboard Kid Rock’s annual Chillin’ the Most Cruise yielded an invitation to join Kid Rock and Foreigner for forty amphitheater shows on the 2015 Cheap Date Tour. The tour took the Athens five-piece to all corners of the continental United States and included 10-consecutive sold out shows at the DTE Energy Music Theater in Detroit, a feat that was commemorated by Billboard Magazine. Since the tour wrapped in mid-September, Packway played the industry-focused, Americana Music Festival in Nashville, Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion, and the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco, CA. At long last, the boys are back in Georgia gearing up to hit the studio and record a new album.
ACCOLADES/BIO/PRESS QUOTES:
“This is how I like my bluegrass served up – dark and passionate,with a side of blood.” -jambase.com, Sarah Hagerman SxSW review
“One thing is obvious to all: The Packway Handle Band is not your father’s bluegrass band.†– Bluegrass Now Magazine, Dave Higgs
“The Packway Handle Band mixes dark themes and old-time religion with a uniquely modern folk aesthetic that pins down just what American music is all about.”- Splice Today, Z.N Lupetin
“Packway Handle’s strength is in its cohesiveness. Vocal Harmonies and string syncopations lock together like Legos.…” – Aspen Daily News, Adam Preskill
“If you like Chatham County Line and/or The Avett Brothers, then you should catch this perpetually touring five-piece for a trad-absurdist experience delivered from exceptionally seasoned youths.” – Flagpole Magazine, David Eduardo
