When Long Road Home was formed by Justin Hoffenberg and Martin Gilmore in 2005, they struggled with defining the band’s personality and style. While other young bands often moved away from bluegrass, then found themselves moving toward it. Attracted to its power, simplicity, and honesty, they focused all the more on staying true to the tradition they found inspiring and meaningful. They could wear suits on stage without obscuring their personality, and they could sound their best on stage without using technology foreign to the genre.
Still featuring Martin Gilmore (guitar), Justin Hoffenberg (fiddle), Pete Wernick (banjo), Jordan Ramsey (mandolin), and now with Andrew Bonnis on bass, Long Road Home continues to champion the music that they love to represent. Each year you see more bands qualifying their brand of bluegrass with an adjective: “hard driving bluegrass”, “progressive bluegrass”, and many others. These five musicians are proud to just call themselves bluegrass.
– Adapted from Justin Hoffenberg’s notes in Long Road Home’s 2013 release, “Headed Back to Dixieland”