WE play songs
Bear Grass is built around the songs of Katie Hammon, who’s sultry pipes have been compared to a ‘fresh from the dryer blanket feeling instrument’. Hammon's roots in the pacific northwest shape the character of the music with lyrics often referencing the people and places from her childhood memories. The instrumentation sets the stage for vocals to wrap you up and draw you right in while Hammon’s deeply personal yet relatable lyrics take you on a journey. Bear Grass can be classified as indie, folk rock and released their sophomore album LEFT, to a global audience in 2018.
LEFT and its singles received glowing reviews from publications such as Atwood Magazine, Secret Meeting, Spill Magazine, Playlist Play, Soundblab and received Best Album of 2018 by If It’s Too Loud and made it in the 2018 Top 10 by Reductive Reviews. Secret Meeting said that ‘In a time when people like Laura Veirs, Lucy Dacus, Anna Burch and the aforementioned Soccer Mommy have all released albums to critical acclaim, Bear Grass deserve to be included in that company. Their tightly-honed sound provides the perfect backdrop for the hugely emotive vocals that instantly hook you. Do yourselves a favor and check out this fine collection as soon as you can.’
Drawing on influences like Laura Veirs and Dave Bazaan, the music is sometimes subtly dark, but always thoroughly captivating and melodic.
Katie Hammon | Vocals & Guitar
Katie grew up on a small island in Washington State's Puget Sound, and has created a life of music and event operations in upstate New York after studying music industry and event management in Albany. She is the owner of The Maples Estate, a wedding and event venue in Schoharie!
Katie has been writing and performing under the name Bear Grass since 2004 with a stint as Slender Shoulders with Rick Spataro of Florist and The Firs / Onlyness.
August Sagehorn | Bass
Hailing from San Jose, California and weighing in at 170lbs is August Sagehorn on electric bass guitar. He enjoys coconut oil, Thelonious Monk, Elton John, The Beatles and recently delved into the wide world of specialized magnets.
Ian White | Drummer
Ian White is a geologist and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Geology and Mathematics in 2000 from Union College and a Master’s degree in Geology in 2003 from Western Washington University.
Ian’s fields of expertise include geologic exploration and evaluation, field mapping, surveying, and aggregate quality permitting. Ian is a member of the Geological Society of America
Peter Lavery | Guitar
Peter Lavery joined Bear Grass in the summer of 2018 to support the release of LEFT.
He grew up in the Capital District and now lives in Albany, working as an utilities auditor.
Peter also writes and rips with psych-funk rock band, Front Biz.
FULL BIOGRAPHY
Bear Grass was conceived as Katie Hammon's solo project in 2004 and released its first album In The Light on B3nson Records in 2011. In the fall of 2012, Katie was invited to play at Albany's annual Harvest Festival. Ian White, Mitch Masterson and Stephen Stanley rounded out Bear Grass "the band" for the inaugural performance.
Tommy Krebs joined in 2013 following the first full-band recording, Stories in Books, a joint B3nson-Swordpaw release. In fall 2014 Masterson decided to pursue other ventures, and August Sagehorn joined for a Northeast tour. Stanley moved to New Orleans in early 2015, and Krebs took over on guitar full-time. Following the recording of LEFT, Tommy pursued other ventures and Peter Lavery joined on guitar.
Bear Grass has performed across the East coast since 2013 and released their sophomore album LEFT recorded at Business District Recording with Hunter Davidsohn and mastered by Josh Bonati on August 10, 2018.
They are now working on a new album which should be released sometime in 2023!