March 10, 2023 — 2022 saw Asheville, North Carolina-based Fireside Collective emerge from their involuntary, Covid-commanded hiatus with a bang, touring across the country and releasing their second album with Mountain Home Music Company, Across The Divide. Now, the quintet is entering the 2023 touring season with another splash; this time, it’s a delicious cover of Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” that shows the group is not only capable of coming up with the strong originals that populated Across The Divide, but of taking on a signature song from a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and pop music giant in a way that both honors the original and makes it their own.
“When Fireside first began working on this song, we were just getting back on the road after the pandemic,” recalls lead singer and mandolin player Jesse Iaquinto. “Everything was different. It seemed like we were entering a new world — and it felt like ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ spoke to the immediacy of the times. Even though it was composed decades ago, the words seemed to relate to our current situation, and when a few of us started jamming on the progression, we were instantly hooked. The steady changes in the chord progression along with the range of notes covered in the vocal line keep this song fresh and engaging. Elton John is one of the world’s greatest musicians and performers so we didn’t take the challenge lightly. We wanted to honor the original composition while allowing the bluegrass instrumentation to take the song into new territory.”
That’s exactly what the quintet does, opening their take with what amounts to a musical transliteration from the original instrumentation to mandolin, dobro (Tommy Maher), banjo (Alex Genova), acoustic guitar (Joe Cicero) and upright bass (Carson White) but shifting into the characteristic up-tempo drive of bluegrass for subsequent verses, embellished with tight harmonies and punctuated by blistering solos before the circle closes with a return to a more relaxed tempo in the song’s final passages.
Adds Iaquinto, “In addition to the depth and relevance of the song, ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ is a joy to sing and a blast to play. The constantly changing chord progression, the beautifully flowing vocal melody and the jubilant harmonies all work together to make this Elton John classic a pure delight to perform and we are honored to be able to record such an incredible song.”
The song is the first from the band to be released in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL. Allowing listeners to feel as if they’re inside the song itself, Dolby Laboratories’ Dolby Atmos is familiar to many from its “surround sound” application in thousands of movie theaters. It is described by the respected sound technology innovator as “revealing depth, clarity and details like never before….a sound experience you can feel all around you.” Audio produced in Dolby Atmos adapts automatically to your Atmos-compatible device and system to give you an all-enveloping sound experience you would not expect.
Listen to “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” HERE.
About Fireside Collective
A quintet who cheerfully disregard every kind of one-dimensional label that might be attached to their music, Fireside Collective has been on a roll since emerging from the fertile roots music scene of Asheville, North Carolina. In quick order, the progressive bluegrass group released its debut album, won the 2016 Band Contest at MerleFest, earned an International Bluegrass Music Association Momentum Band of the Year nomination and embarked on an ambitious touring schedule that’s earned an enthusiastic reception from traditional bluegrass to wide-ranging, eclectic music festival audiences alike.
Blending the characteristic interplay of bluegrass instrumentation and harmonies with strong original material and exuberant energy, Fireside Collective has drawn on folk, blues, funk and a wide variety of bluegrass sounds to create a distinctive body of work that’s all their own.
Each member—Joe Cicero (guitar); Alex Genova (banjo); Jesse Iaquinto (mandolin); Tommy Maher (resonator guitar) and Carson White (upright bass)— brings a strong, original voice to his instrument, and the unique contributions of different lead and harmony vocalists complement the variety in the group’s many original songs. “Depending on where you come from and your experience with folk music, you may think we’re very traditional, or on the other hand, consider us a progressive act,” says Iaquinto. “We appreciate both ends of the spectrum and may lie on a different end on any given night.” But whether they’re bringing the classic sound of bluegrass or exploring new musical territory, Fireside Collective delivers a fresh, energetic approach and a blast of enthusiastic creativity that’s electrifying audiences across the country.