by Lisa Butterworth

Trampled by Turtles is not a bluegrass band. Yes, of the six members, there’s a banjo player, a mandolin player, and a fiddle player — all core instruments of traditional bluegrass — but the music they play, along with the lead singer/guitarist, bassist, and cello player, owes as much to folk, country, rock ’n’ roll, and even, it turns out, speed metal.

That’s the type of band Ryan Young was drumming in when he joined Trampled by Turtles as their fiddle player in 2007. “Generally speaking, we did not grow up listening to bluegrass music,” Young said by phone ahead of the group’s Thursday, March 12 performance at Claremont’s Bridges Auditorium. But that hasn’t stopped three of the band’s 10 albums from topping Billboard’s U.S. Bluegrass chart.

“It really started from the hardcore bluegrass people noting that we are not a bluegrass band and letting us know that,” Young said dryly. “We didn’t start the band in order to make bluegrass music, so it wasn’t an insult or anything. We have more in common with Neil Young and Bob Dylan than we do with [bluegrass pioneers] the Stanley Brothers.”

Trampled by Turtles formed in 2003 in Duluth, Minnesota, after Dave Simonett’s electric gear was stolen and the frontman decided to start a new project with his acoustic guitar. He recruited players from the Duluth music scene, including Tim Saxhaug (bass), Dave Carroll (banjo), and Erik Berry (mandolin). Young joined several years later, and his fiddler origin story is just as serendipitous.

Growing up, guitar was Young’s first instrument. But fiddle, or violin — the difference exists in how they’re played — was a close second. “I was such a music nerd as a kid,” he said. “I just loved listening to music and playing music and was trying to get my hands on anything and everything.”

When, as a fourth grader, his elementary school started an orchestra program, Young picked the viola because it was the only instrument he’d never heard of. “My mom actually just made a mistake. When she went to the store to rent me a viola, she was like, ‘My kid wants a violin or something. I don’t know.’ So she came home with the violin.”

In his early orchestra days, Young learned to play more melodic parts than he would have as a violist, a foundation that serves him well in Trampled by Turtles, whose songs range from heart-wrenching ballads to frenetic boot-stompers to a collection of unexpected covers, including Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees.” (He also picked up the viola later in life, so no loss there.)

Young’s lack of a bluegrass background also serves the band well. “I grew up listening to rock ‘n’ roll and punk rock and jazz,” he said. “So my fiddling kind of sounds like what a guitar player would do, or what a saxophone player would do. And it gives me a little bit of a unique sound.” Rather than emulating fiddle heroes, Young cites “weird” bands like Ween and Mr. Bungle as influences, along with the many local Duluth bands he grew up playing with and seeing live.

Young now lives in the Twin Cities, where Trampled by Turtles recently played a swiftly planned benefit show for the Immigrant Rapid Response Fund in the wake of the disruption and violence fomented by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity. “It’s only a little bit of work for us to do that, and the benefits are great,” Young said. “It’s hard to see your neighbor suffering, and it seemed like the right thing to do, to help people out.”

When asked what it’s like to play music with such deep Americana roots in the America of today, Young looked to the bigger picture. Not so much about bridging political divides, but rather finding humanity in a world being hollowed out by tech. “I think we’re lucky to be playing this kind of music, especially with the rise of AI. It’s nice to listen to just some humans sit around and play music,” he said. “Nothing against electronic music or computerized music in general, but I think it’s nice to just listen to some acoustic music that’s not heavily processed. We sing a little bit out of tune sometimes, and we play some wrong notes sometimes, but the vibe is there.”

The vibe will definitely be at the Bridges Auditorium next week when Trampled by Turtles kick off their 2026 tour in Claremont before crisscrossing the country. Unlike most tours, this one isn’t in support of a particular album. The band’s latest — 2025’s “Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles” on Sub Pop Records — is a collaboration with Sparhawk, another Duluth musician and the co-founder of Low, who’s not on the tour. That means concertgoers will get “a sampler platter,” Young said. “I can imagine we’ll play a little bit of everything, going all the way back. We’ll play from our first few records all the way up to the newest ones.”

According to Young, Trampled by Turtles is better live than in the studio: “When we’re recording, it might be the third time we’ve ever played that song together. Since then, we’ve played that song thousands of times at different shows. We’re able to squeeze out even more emotion into the songs or squeeze out even more intensity.”

It helps that the band is an exceptional group of listeners. “Let’s say the banjo player plays something interesting. Everybody else will hear that and either complement it in some way or even just stop playing and get out of the way so that banjo thing can be heard.” The improvisational nature makes every show utterly unique, and conveys the Bruce Springsteen borrowed sentiment expressed in the band’s Instagram bio: “It ain’t no sin to be glad yer alive.”

That’s the feeling Young hopes Trampled by Turtle’s Claremont audience experiences. “Just joy and happiness,” he said. “If that happens, then it’s mission accomplished for us.”

Tickets for Trampled by Turtles’ 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 12 show at Bridges Auditorium are $59-$69 at pomona.edu/administration/bridges-auditorium. More info on the band is at trampledbyturtles.com.