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Artist
Poor Old Shine
12+ albums
folkbluegrass
about
Poor Old Shine is a roots band with a grassroots ethos. The Connecticut quintet prizes the human element that underpins their music, from songwriting to recording to album design and even choice of record label: Poor Old Shine releases its self-titled debut studio LP, recorded with Sam Kassirer (Josh Ritter, Joy Kills Sorrow), Nov. 5 on Signature Sounds. “You can’t have music without people, whether it’s electronic music or the oldest Delta blues players,” singer and banjo player Chris Freeman says. “The people behind it are really important, and we always want to make sure that everything we do feels handcrafted and pure.” Purity is subject to interpretation, of course, but the term certainly describes the band’s motives. Formed at the University of Connecticut, where Freeman met banjo and mandolin player Antonio Alcorn in a folk music club on campus, an early version of Poor Old Shine landed its first gig—opening for a friend’s band at the legendary New Haven club Toad’s Place—before the musicians had even decided what to call themselves. “We came up with our name a few hours before the show,” Freeman says. “It was a lot of fun and we figured, we might as well get another gig, and it went on like that for another year or so.” With the addition Max Shakun on guitar and pump organ and Harrison Goodale on bass, the band began writing songs influenced by Pete Seeger, vintage bluegrass and bands like the Avett Brothers; recording a pair of self-released EPs and spending time
