Rusted Root is an American

worldbeat Worldbeat is a music genre that blends pop music or rock music with world music or traditional music. Worldbeat is similar to other cross-pollination labels of contemporary and roots genres, and which suggest a rhythmic, harmonic or textural co ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band formed in 1990 in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

by singer-guitarist Michael Glabicki, bassist Patrick Norman and percussionist Liz Berlin. The band got its start as the

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

playing a weekly gig in Jack's Back Room on Pittsburgh's South Side. The band achieved fame in 1994 with its platinum-selling album '' When I Woke'', which included the hit single " Send Me on My Way". The song has been featured prominently in many films and commercials. Rusted Root has sold more than three million albums. After releasing '' The Movement'' in 2012 and touring through 2015, the band went on an indefinite hiatus, with principal songwriter and vocalist Michael Glabicki forming the group Uprooted with former members of Rusted Root and continuing to tour with that group into the early 2020s.

Musical style and influences

The band's style is a fusion of acoustic,

, world and other styles of music, with a strong

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

section that draws from African,

Latin American Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...

, Indian and Native American influences. Michael Glabicki has acknowledged the popular success of

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

's 1986 album '' So'' as an influence on his decision to incorporate

into his own music. The band's lyrical content varies but often talks about

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

and

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

. The group's 2012 album, '' The Movement'', was fan funded.

Members

Current members

*Michael Glabicki –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

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 ...

(1990–present) *Patrick Norman –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

*Liz Berlin –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

Past members

* Jim Donovan – drums, percussion (1990–2005) * Jenn Wertz – backing vocals, percussion (1990–2008)

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

*'' Rusted Root Live'' (2004)

Compilations

*''The Best of Rusted Root: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection'' (2005)

Extended plays

*''Rusted Root'' (1990) *''Christ Monkey'' (1991) *''Live'' (1995) *''Evil Ways'' (1996) *''

Airplane An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...

'' (1998)

Singles

References

External links

*
Official Facebook page

Rusted Root collection
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

's live music archive * {{Authority control Rock music groups from Pennsylvania Worldbeat groups Jam bands Musical groups from Pittsburgh Musical groups established in 1990 1990 establishments in Pennsylvania Shanachie Records artists Mercury Records artists