Artist Cornmeal

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Cornmeal

Cornmeal has produced only three studio albums—most recently 2006’s Feet First—though it’s kept busy by touring constantly in the last decade. It’s almost obligatory to mention that the Chicago-based jam band is meant to be experienced live—as captured on 2010’s Live In Chicago, IL Vol. 1, its first live album in a promised forthcoming series. Cornmeal’s take on traditional bluegrass is breezy and sprightly, using banjo, fiddle, and upright bass in the service of good-time, groove-oriented tunes. Though these instruments aren’t alien to the genre—the Appalachian influence on The Grateful Dead, for example, is obvious—Cornmeal’s dedication to both vocal harmonies (four of the five members sing) and authenticity helps it stand out.

Updated 04/13/2011