Bluegrass band Colebrook Road recently released its fifth album, and if you ask band members what they think, they’d readily say it’s their best yet.
It may also be their final album. For now, at least.
“Too Far To Let Go” released April 24, produced by Steep Canyon Rangers alum Woody Platt. When Colebrook Road recorded it, they weren’t necessarily viewing it as a last hurrah.
But, life gets in the way sometimes.
Colebrook Road, with members based in Harrisburg and Lancaster, will go on an indefinite hiatus by the end of the year. Their upcoming album release party at West Art, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 29, will be the last concert they perform in Lancaster, at least for the foreseeable future. They’ll play every song from “Too Far To Let Go” during the set.
Each band member — vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Jesse Eisenbise, fiddle player Joe McAnulty, mandolin player Wade Yankey, banjo player Mark Rast and bassist Jeff Campbell — has his own life outside of the band, which started more than 15 years ago. And in those 15 years, they’ve had different jobs and have been raising families.
“We’ve been doing this a long time,” Campbell says. “Our personal lives have developed a little bit. … We’re all pretty busy.”
Campbell and Rast say they’re happy to leave the band on a high note. There’s no bad blood among any members, they confirm.
“We’ve had remarkably little drama” as a band, Rast says. “We’re a precision band, and we need to practice a lot to keep that precision. … We can’t sustain the practice schedule we need to play how we want to play.”
The goal for now is to continue performing shows until later this fall. They plan to have a farewell show, too, but the date for that is to be announced, Rast says.
“We played some big festivals, we traveled across the country,” Rast says. “And we could have never done all that without the support of a really good hometown crowd to get you started.”
Swan song
Campbell says it’s nice for the band to end with “Too Far To Let Go,” as he says it’s the best he’s played on an album since Colebrook Road began.
The 10-song album is just 35 minutes long, and features twangy, thoughtful songs. Some are upbeat, some are slower.
“Woody Platt, who produced it, was terrific and really drew out of us the best stuff,” Rast says. “I think we all feel really proud. It’s sometimes really hard to listen to your own stuff. This (album), I can listen to.”
Platt is a Grammy Award-winning musician who was bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers’ lead vocalist and guitarist from 2000-2022. Colebrook Road opened a show for the Steep Canyon Rangers around 15 years ago, and band members have kept in touch since.
(The band, which sometimes collaborates with actor and banjo player Steve Martin, is no stranger to the Lancaster area, as they performed here in 2012 and 2023.)
“Working with Woody was … intimidating, a little bit, looking through the studio glass window at him,” Campbell says. “I think I played way better than I would have if he wasn’t there.”
New beginnings
While Colebrook Road may be ending, the band members intend to continue performing.
Rast, who is nearing retirement in his career as a family medicine doctor for Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, says that he’s “ready to get going” on performing and continuing his music career.
“I’m 20 years older than everybody else, and I remember those times” with family and career obligations, Rast says.
Another of Rast’s longtime bands, Americana band Vinegar Creek Constituency, went on an indefinite hiatus in 2024. The band reunited for a performance at this year’s Lancaster Roots & Blues festival held in late February and early March.
Rast currently takes part in the Old Time Jam at West Art, alongside musician Danny Mulligan. It’s a weekly event on Tuesdays that invites community members to jam together with acoustic instruments. He says he plans to play more with his son, musician Jordan Rast, too.
Campbell and Rast say they will also occasionally perform together in some capacity, too.
“We reached a lot of goals” with Colebrook Road, Rast says. “I don’t think anybody’s going to stop playing, and I’m sure you’ll see all of us in some form. And you may see the band in some form again, too, but we’re not making any guarantees about that.”
