Trampled By Turtles

Trampled by Turtles is an original, non-traditional bluegrass band from Duluth, Minnesota. Their energetic live performances and two well-received albums (Songs From a Ghost Town, 2004 and Blue Sky and the Devil, 2005) have gained them a large and loyal fan base throughout the Midwest and beyond.
Coming from varied musical backgrounds, the members of Trampled by Turtles blend hints of grunge, punk, alt-country, and pop with the traditional sounds of the acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, and bass. The last two years have been spent playing venues ranging from punk-rock basement parties to the Great American Music Hall, sharing the stage with a diverse group of musicians including Low, The Radiators, Pedro the Lion, Nickel Creek, and Charlie Parr.
The group consists of guitar player and lead vocalist Dave Simonett, mandolin player Erik Berry, banjo player Dave Carroll, and bass player Tim Saxhaug.
The day before his senior year as a playwright student at the University of North Carolina, Joe Pug sat down for a cup of coffee and had the clearest thought of his life: I am profoundly unhappy here. Then came the second clearest.
Pug packed up his belongings and drove the longest route possible to Chicago. Working as a carpenter by day, the 23 year-old Pug spent nights playing the guitar he hadn't picked up since his teenage years. Using ideas originally slated for a play he was writing called "Austin Fish," Pug began creating the sublime lyrical masterpiece that would become the Nation of Heat EP.
The songs were recorded fast and fervently at a Chicago studio where a friend snuck him in to late
night slots other musicians had canceled. He was short on money, but his bare-boned sincerity didn't require much more than a microphone and it dripped off of each note he sang.
In May of 2008, Pug played the first headlining slot of his young career to a sold out crowd at
Chicago's storied Schubas Tavern. Two weeks later he released the Nation of Heat EP, which has
garnered near-universal critical acclaim and established him as one of the most respected songwriters of his generation. Pug has since played shows with Todd Snider, Susan Tedeschi, Kasey Chambers, and James Hunter. He plans to release his debut full length record in 2009.