Hank, Pattie & the Current

Two of North Carolina’s veteran bluegrass musicians– Hank Smith on Banjo and Pattie Hopkins
Kinlaw on fiddle– join forces with some of the most versatile musicians in the Carolinas to create
modern, American, acoustic music featuring the full range of their talents as composers and
arrangers. The band is on tour regionally and nationally in support of their new album, RISE ABOVE
on Robust Records.

The band makes use of traditional bluegrass instrumentation in a nontraditional way to present
original music to the listener that goes beyond the limits of the idiom. The arrangements take on a
new level of maturation that follows in the footsteps of Bela Fleck, Mark O'Connor, Chris Thile, Sam
Bush, Edgar Meyer, and Tony Rice. Hank, Pattie & The Current want to pick up where seminal
crossover groups like The Punch Brothers, Strength In Numbers and the ever-changing Bluegrass
Allstars call home.

The music is vocal and instrumental, allowing the band to experiment with
arrangements and tailor the compositions to become vehicles for exploration. Hank Smith plays
banjo, Pattie Hopkins Kinlaw plays fiddle and is lead vocalist. The Current includes Billie Feather on
guitar and Stevie Martinez on bass.