Biography

Eleanor’s first music teacher was her mother. They would sit down at the piano each week and work on new songs. The record player often spun the harmony-laden songs of folk music revivalists while car rides featured the likes of Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, and Barbara Streisand on full blast with her mother singing harmony. Born in 1981, Underhill was also no stranger to the pop, alternative, and R&B music of the 80’s and 90’s. In 5th grade, she picked up the trombone and joined the school band where she continued to develop her skills and interest in music, particularly jazz.

At about age 14, Eleanor’s mom was working as a balladeer in the taverns of Colonial Williamsburg, about 5 miles form where she grew up. Eleanor began to notice an overlap in her mother’s repertoire, and the ballads that she heard Jerry Garcia cover. It was about this time that Eleanor picked up an guitar and started penning songs of her own. She continued to write and play throughout high school but mostly kept it under wraps, excluding a few local open mics.

In 2000, Underhill shipped off to Warren Wilson College in the Swannanoa Valley near Asheville, NC. It was there that she learned the intricacies of the claw-hammer banjo style and met her musical partner, Molly Rose. This led to the formation of the regional standout group the Barrel House Mamas. Following a successful run that included an audition for Fox television and a three-year stretch touring the Southeast, the band parted ways. Ultimately, Eleanor and Molly decided to take to the stage as a duo, launching Underhill Rose in 2009.

Since Underhill Rose’s formation, Eleanor has been a major component of the band, cementing its status as a staple in the southern music scene through her unique sound, which is a mesh of folk, jazz, blues, and pop influences. Along with Molly and upright bass player Salley Williamson, she has performed on the main stages of Merlefest, LEAF, Floydfest, Bristol Rhythm and Roots, and Red Ants Pants Festival, and toured nationally and internationally.

In 2011, Underhill Rose released its self-titled, debut album, which was named one of the 2011 top 20 WNCW regional releases. Something Real was released 2013, landing in the Top 25 on six different domestic and international airplay charts. In addition to being played on radio stations around the world, the album peaked at #18 on the Americana Music Association Airplay Chart and remained in the Top 40 for 10 straight weeks. The band’s third independent album, The Great Tomorrow, was released in 2015 and peaked at #28 on the AMA Chart and hovered at #1 on the Roots Music Review’s Progressive Bluegrass Album Chart for several months. In 2017, Underhill Rose released Live, an album featuring the live, stripped-down sound that the group had cultivated over the years of extensive touring.

In 2014, Underhill wanted to create an adventurous side-project that could play in the Asheville area while Underhill Rose was off the road. Using a solid repertoire of original songs that differed from Underhill Rose, Eleanor’s aim was to create a group that you could groove to, or listen too. It was a different avenue for Underhill to stretch her musical muscles and expand her repertoire. Thus, Eleanor Underhill & Friends was born. With their thoughtful originals and unexpected covers you would never expect from a banjo-fronted group, Eleanor Underhill & Friends has played at about every venue in the Asheville area and is amassing a growing following.

But Underhill still felt called to explore a new project, something she had never attempted before — a solo album. Though collaboration has surely been the cause of much of her success, she felt the burning desire to get her hands on the dials and take a song all the way through the process of writing to recording to producing to mixing to release. In the fall of 2016, Eleanor holed up in her parent’s restored mill house with her modest collection of recording equipment and began tracking. With the help of an awarded Regional Artist Project Grant, Eleanor is thrilled to releasing her very first solo album — Navigate the Madness — in the fall of 2018. Leaning on the talents of several Asheville musicians, she has created a work that is more adventurous and singular than anything she has done before.

Underhill’s unique musical style and prolific writing ability has generated significant attention outside of her bands, as she has won top honors at Asheville’s Songwriting Idol Contest, played on the Grammy Award Winning Song “Mind Over Matter” by Kid-Hop artist, Agent 23 Skidoo and was part of the Asheville All-Star Band in the summer of 2018. She is also named a Deering Banjos endorsing artist. In addition to her musical accomplishments, Underhill is a thrice-published illustrator and a certified science teacher. When not gigging, Eleanor teaches music part-time at at local middle school, works on visual art, and loves to cook and garden.