Pinetop Seven is an American band from

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The group initially revolved around three core members, supplemented by instruments such as

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

, and

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

; more recent recordings have a more fluid lineup and increasingly orchestral textures. The group is a key representative of the Chicago

alt country Alternative country (commonly abbreviated to alt-country; also known as alternative country rock, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative) is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that diffe ...

musical scene.

History

Bandmembers Darren Richard and Charles Kim first met at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

, and began playing music on the

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

club scene starting in 1990; in 1994 they moved to Chicago and formed Pinetop Seven.

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Allmusic.com After adding Ryan Hembrey to the lineup in 1995, the band began touring, and eventually landed a record deal with Truckstop Records, who began releasing the band's material in 1997. 1998's ''Rigging the Toplights'' featured

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

work from fellow Chicagoan

Ken Vandermark Ken Vandermark (born September 22, 1964) is an American composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist. A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered composit ...

. In 2000, Charles Kim left the band, and the group expanded to a larger ensemble featuring more orchestral musical textures, beginning with 2000's ''Bringing Home the Last Great Strike''. Their 2005 release ''The Night's Bloom'' and its subsequent sessions release, ''Beneath Confederate Lake'', feature further orchestral exploration, as well as a revamped core of members, featuring original member Richard,

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

er Nate Walcott,

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

Melissa Bach, bassist Andy Rader, guitarist Mack Hagood, and drummer Ned Folkerth. Throughout its career, the band has garnered considerable critical acclaim from outlets such as

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres includin ...

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radio, One Times One, The ''

Orlando Weekly ''Orlando Weekly'' is a liberal progressive alternative newsweekly distributed in the Greater Orlando area of Florida. Every Thursday, 40,000 issues of the paper are distributed to more than 1,100 locations across Orange, Osceola and Semino ...

'',

Paste Magazine ''Paste'' is an American monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with studios in Atlanta and Manhattan, and owned by Paste Media Group. The magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publi ...

, and others. A few months after the release of ''Beneath Confederate Lake'', Richard enrolled in

law school A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for b ...

, and the group went on hiatus. Richard was working as a lawyer in the music industry.Former Rocker with Pinetop Seven playing up musical skill set in business law career
''Columbus Business First'', October 11, 2010.

Discography

*''Pinetop Seven'' ( Truckstop Records, 1997) *''Rigging the Toplights'' (Truckstop/

Atavistic Records Atavistic Records is an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois, known for its no wave and free jazz recordings. Atavistic has released albums by Glenn Branca, Nels Cline, Lydia Lunch, Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark, Pinetop Seven, ...

, 1998) *''No Breath in the Bellows'' EP (Truckstop/Atavistic, 1998) *''Bringing Home the Last Great Strike'' (Atavistic, 2000) *''Lest We Forget'' (2001) *''The Night's Bloom'' (

Sky Records Sky Records was an independent record label specializing in krautrock/Kosmische Musik and electronic music. They were based in Hamburg, Germany. Some of their releases could be classified as progressive rock or art rock, experimental music, indust ...

/ Empyrean Records, 2005) *''Beneath Confederate Lake'' (Sky/Empyrean, 2006)

References

{{Authority control Musical groups from Chicago American alternative country groups Musical groups established in 1994 Atavistic Records artists