…a new North Shore band playing swingin music set in modern maritime New England.

The band features the songwriting of Ipswich fiddle player Pierce Woodward. Burke Sampson and Cal Joss add layers of introspection on telecaster, pedal steel, electric piano and mandolin. Garth Retallack’s trombone solos leave you happier than they found you, while Brian Hone and Mark Casella keep the songs pushing ever onward on upright bass and drums.

The group started out as the house band for Ipswich’s winter contra dance series, but expanded its repertoire to prepare Woodward’s latest solo release, Against the Strong Water, for a live show. These days you’ll find them working their way into Western swing and Cajun styles as well.

Previously Woodward toured as the bass player in folk-rock luminaries The Mammals and indie-folk trio The Jolly Bankers. Joss plays with North Shore bands Caspian and Cables and Lines. Sampson recently resurfaced in Massachusetts area after 15 years in Baltimore (StarCrunches, The Brakemen, The Bellevederes). Hone’s upright stylings are a fixture in the North Shore jazz and folk scenes, and in an interesting twist, he also enjoys scoring Western films. Casella lays down both the boom-chick and the chicka-chang in Ipswich’s beloved roots cover band, Bottles & Cans, whose members also include Joss, Hone and Woodward.