Biography

The innovative and progressive
Jon Stickley Trio crafts genre-defying
acoustic music that is intelligent,
joyful and unconventional. The
Asheville, NC-based group has now
teamed with Organic Records to
release Scripting The Flip.
Rooted in the traditions of bluegrass
but combining gypsy jazz, avant
garde, rock and even EDM music into
a powerfully unique sound of its own,
the Trio — which features Jon Stickley
on guitar, Lyndsay Pruett on violin
and Hunter Deacon on drums — has
become festival and music hall per-
forming favorites. A rapidly growing
and increasingly devoted fan base has
resulted from their national touring
schedule and in this, the Trio’s fifth
album.
A series of singles preceding Scripting
The Flip’s release serve as focus tracks
and show the band’s ability to weave a
multitude of strands into one
coherent, distinctive fabric.
The first, “Animate Object,” is an
intelligent blend of jazz, latin, and
dance music. It’s unconventional and
alluring, making it a perfect example
of the group’s twist on acoustic-based
music. “The world is a swirling
collection of objects passing through
space and time. As humans, we have
our own orbits that intersect with
others as we live in the world.
‘Animate Object’ explores the idea
of different musical orbits coming
together to create something
unexpected,” says Stickley.
Inspired by the late night festival sets
the Trio loves to play, where it often
takes on a life of its own, “Don’t Slip”
is the group’s dance anthem. “Overall
this song is one of the most ‘us’ tracks
we’ve ever recorded,” says Stickley.
“It’s about the freedom to explore and
get lost in the groove, and when it
takes over, make sure not to slip!”
The third is a characteristically witty
yet deeply rooted take on a blue-
grass classic: legendary fiddler
Kenny Baker’s “Bluegrass In The
Backwoods.” Stickley adds, “The tune
captures one of the coolest aspects of
bluegrass: its ability to naturally
incorporate other genres and styles.
It’s easy to hear the influences of
gypsy jazz, and even bebop in the
phasing of the melody.”
These, with the album’s 8 other
instrumental offerings, move through
moods that evolve over the course
of the album and even within the
tracks themselves. More highlights
include “Driver,” with guest banjoist
Andy Thorn of Leftover Salmon, which
reunites Stickley with a long-time
friend and former bandmate in a slice
of modern Colorado ‘grass, and the
title track, “Scripting the Flip,” where
intricately geometrical musical phrases
act as a metaphor for this Trio’s aim,
blending and extending a style rooted
in one world but entering another.
In this way, the Jon Stickley Trio
transcends the standards of acoustic
music with a wide range of influences
masterfully integrated into a signature
approach. The collection sums up the
Jon Stickley Trio: A three way
collaboration expressing music that
comes from the heart and the mind
and speaks to both.