Barbaro’s Adventurous + Expansive Vision Of Pastoral Americana Comes Into Focus On New Album About the Winter Out October 20 on StorySound Records

Watch The Cut-Up Collage Video For Lead Single“Gardens”

“one of the Midwest’s most in-demand acoustic acts” — Bluegrass Situation

Announce US Tour Dates, Full Dates Below

Today, Barbaro — the burgeoning Minneapolis-based roots group who have become “one of the Midwest’s most in-demand acoustic acts” (Bluegrass Situation) — announces the October 20 release of About the Winter, their debut album for StorySound Records. About the Winter is a beautiful introduction to Barbaro, comprised of Kyle Shelstad (vocals and guitar), Rachel Calvert (vocals and fiddle), and Jason Wells (vocals and bass).

As the band explains, About the Winter reveals “the sacred transfiguration of our many personal and musical influences into something greater than the sum of its parts” and provides a confident expression of Barbaro’s musical evolution. Its pastoral Americana sound feels both traditional and progressive — though they incorporate roots instrumentation, Barbaro’s compositions value texture and gesture over technical prowess. The band works in concert to deliver indelible moments: emotional gut-punches, moments of clarity, and submissions to beauty in the face of overwhelming odds.

Alongside the album announcement, Barbaro shares “Gardens,” a song that pairs Shelstad’s vulnerable and urgent vocal with the refined, slow-blooming instrumental interplay of his bandmates. Shelstad says: “This tune is one of those that was written quite easily in one sitting about 3 years ago. The goal for the song was for it to be a long crescendo from start to finish.” With his band gathering momentum amid a steady lead instrumental melody, Shelstad takes aim at the powers that reinforce an acquisition-centric, colonial mindset: “The empire is seen, edge of their lawns / hoping all their gardens grow."

The music video for “Gardens” was created by Lewis Klahr, a Los Angeles-based collage artist who uses found images and sound to explore the intersection of memory and history. Watch the official “Gardens” music video here.

Barbaro — named after the beloved, tragically euthanized Kentucky Derby champion horse — recorded About the Winter during the winter of 2022 with Brian Joseph (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, yMusic) at his The Hive studio, a refurbished barn outside of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Joseph played a pivotal role in the album, engineering, mixing, and co-producing the album with Shelstad. Josephs helped the band craft a distinctive, enveloping sonic landscape that combined their acoustic instruments with a rich bed of synthetic sound — they cite electronic musician Jon Hopkins as a particular influence.

The songs on About the Winter alternate between Shelstad and Calvert on vocals, which lends Barbaro the ability to inhabit different characters whose ongoing dialogue propels the album forward with natural, almost play-like progression. From the shimmering album overture “Apples To Apples” on through the ghostly bluegrass throwdown “Ike’s Farewell,” Barbaro conjures up a varied and engaging inversion of roots music orthodoxy.

Shelstad founded Babaro as a duo in 2017 alongside Isaac Sammis, who, before departing the band after the birth of his second child, played on the sessions for About the Winter. Calvert joined at the end of 2017, and, after some shuffling of musicians, Wells arrived in early 2019. Although coming from an almost exclusively classical music background, Wells was intrigued by what he heard in Barbaro, and was sold immediately after his first gig with them. Calvert, who also comes from a classical background, likens the band’s approach, through the song dynamics and their musical interactions, to playing in a classical quartet.

In 2018, Barbaro released their first EP and began to build up a local following, winning the John Hartford Memorial Festival Band Contest and the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old Time Music Association’s Americana Roots Band Contest. The group's debut full length — 2020’s Dressed In Roses — was warmly received as well. The Bluegrass Situation commended them for “brightening the Midwest bluegrass scene,” while The Minneapolis Star-Tribune praised the “elegant yet understated violin and banjo parts alongside singer/guitarist Kyle Shelstad’s Mumford-meets-Paul Simon type of songwriting.” Mike Pengra of Minnesota Public Radio says that “Barbaro budge beyond the bounds of bluegrass…I find myself leaning into the sound, trying to figure out where this unique blend came from, and where it’s going next.”

This fall, Barbaro will take their music on the road throughout the United States on a headlining tour, culminating in a hometown performance on December 2 at the Cedar Cultural Center. The full routing can be found below.

Barbaro Tour Dates

Wed Nov 1        Des Moines, IA             XBK 

Thu Nov 2         St. Louis, MO                Off Broadway 

Fri Nov 3           Nashville, TN                The Basement

Sat Nov 4          Atlanta, GA                   Eddies Attic 

Sun Nov 5         Asheville, NC                The Outpost

Tue Nov 7         Philadelphia, PA            MilkBoy Philly

Wed Nov 8        New York, NY               Mercury Lounge

Thu Nov 9         Boston, MA                   Cafe 939 

Fri Nov 10         Albany, NY                    The Linda 

Sat Nov 11        Burlington, VT               Radio Bean 

Tue Nov 14       Toronto, CAN                Monarch 

Wed Nov 15      Pittsburgh, PA                Club Cafe

Thu Nov 16     Kalamazoo, MI                Bell’s

Fri Nov 17         Chicago, IL                   Judson & Moore 

Sat Nov 18        Chicago, IL                   Judson & Moore 

Sat Dec 1         Minneapolis, MN           Cedar Cultural Center