The Hillary Reynolds Band invites listeners into a folk hootenanny experience. The quintet charms with campfire congeniality, classic songs, and an astounding soulful and technical grasp of Americana. After four years, the band has risen from coffeehouse darlings to sharing stages with Norah Jones and performing at festivals in front of thousands. In advance of the band’s upcoming album, HRB released a standalone single, “Crossing The Line,” to whet its fans’ appetites. The single and
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The Hillary Reynolds Band invites listeners into a folk hootenanny experience. The quintet charms with campfire congeniality, classic songs, and an astounding soulful and technical grasp of Americana. After four years, the band has risen from coffeehouse darlings to sharing stages with Norah Jones and performing at festivals in front of thousands. In advance of the band’s upcoming album, HRB released a standalone single, “Crossing The Line,” to whet its fans’ appetites. The single and upcoming album mark a new era plum exposure for these roots-pop torchbearers.
Over two albums and three stunning videos—HRB’s most recent video, “Crossing The Line,” notched over 90,000 views in its first 2 months—the band has garnered acclaim for blending a diverse cross selection of roots music within a framework of finely crafted songs that feel instantly familiar. The Hilary Reynolds Band is compromised of members from all over the U.S. but coalesced at Berklee School Of Music around a reverence for traditional American music forms. HRB is Hillary Reynolds, lead vocals; Coor Reese, guitar; Trevor Jarvis, cello and backing vocals; Jeff Hale, drums; and Chris Mewhinney, electric and acoustic bass. The Boston-based group has graced the stages of some the most esteemed venues nationwide and performed at Northeast Pennsylvania Bluegrass Festival, Mile of Music Festival in Appleton, WI, the Blue Plate Special on WDVX Knoxville, the EAA AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, and Green Bay's Meyer Theatre and Fox 11 morning show “Good Day Wisconsin.”
The five piece has been blogged about by popular fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss, and featured on the front page of Reddit.com. HRB has performed and been featured on Wisconsin radio stations 91.1 the Ave, WWSP 90, Boston's Berklee Internet Radio Network, 92.5 The River, among many others. Additionally, HRB has won acclaim for its members’ instrumental virtuosity. Primary songwriter Hillary Reynolds has earned endorsements with Lampifier Microphones and Eastman Mandolins, and members of the quintet have worked with such notable artists as Wyclef Jean, Imogen Heap, and The Click Five, and Michael Manring,
HRB is enriched by the vibrancy of its members’ personalities and their expansive creativity. “Trevor's neurotic, Hillary's happy-go-lucky, I'm unnecessarily masculine, Chris is sarcastic and self-deprecating, and Connor's apprehensive,” drummer Jeff Hale says laughing. “But seriously, Trevor's efficient, Hillary's warm and welcoming, I'm low-maintenance, Chris is hilarious, and Connor's just the coolest one of the bunch.” Of the band’s multiple instrumental talents, Connor adds: “Each instrument adds a different flavor, and if someone plays some random thing, we can usually find a way to incorporate it. Because of this, the instrumentation is always evolving—we travel with 10 instruments on the stage and more in the car, like piano, cello, mandolin, acoustic, electric, and pedal steel guitars, ukulele, upright and electric bass, and drum kit. It's quite a family.”
As a whole, the band fuses a wide spectrum of genres like rock, jazz, bluegrass, folk, country, and pop. The songs are written mainly by Hillary, but arranged by the guys, giving her distinct pastorally beautiful songs a cohesive band identity. “I get inspired by nature, especially the woods, and friendships, relationships, other people's stories, as well as experiences on the road,” Hillary says. A towering spirit within Hillary’s music is her mother who recently passed away from breast cancer. Hillary previously released a solo EP, and donated proceeds to the "The Trina Fund" (named after her mother). The fund’s purpose is to help women diagnosed with breast cancer receive the best possible care by providing resources to assist with transportation costs related to obtaining a second opinion or transportation costs related to receiving treatment for their breast cancer.
Up next for the band is releasing HRB’s third album. “The next record will definitely be different. We'll be focusing more on traditional instruments,” drummer Jeff Hale reveals. The folky two-step feel of “Crossing The Line” is a good indication of the earthy and accessible nature of this new material. The band will be self-producing in the studio.
“Looking back on the last few years, the most gratifying thing is watching our music reach more and more people,” cellist Trevor Jarvis says thoughtfully. “It's amazing to see people out in the audience singing along, loving our music as much as we love making it. “