The Deadly Gentlemen

A string band with a decidedly modern 21st century pop, punk, and rock approach to acoustic music, Boston's the Deadly Gentlemen, led by songwriter and banjoist Greg Liszt and also featuring mandolin player Dominick Leslie, fiddler Michael Barnett, guitarist Stash Wyslouch, and upright bassist Samson Grisman, may look like a traditional bluegrass band, but they aren't by any but the slimmest of definitions. Incorporating spoken word, rap elements, and everything under the sun into their material, the band released The Bastard Masterpiece in 2008, following it with Carry Me to Home in 2011, an album that saw the group moving more toward standard pop structures and arrangements, and by the time their third album, and first for Rounder Records, Roll Me, Tumble Me, appeared in 2013, the Deadly Gentlemen had dropped most of the kitchen-sink approach and completed a transformation into an acoustic pop band with sharp melodies, intelligent lyrics, and a subtle and song-supportive sound.