The Lumineers

Yahoo On the Road

The Lumineers performed in New York City on April 29 and performed in Boise, Idaho, on May 28 as part of the Yahoo! On the Road tour.

Before packing their bags for Colorado and starting the Lumineers, Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites were childhood friends. They grew up in Ramsey, New Jersey and began a fruitful music collaboration, which landed them in Brooklyn with gigs in and around New York. After battling the city’s cutthroat music scene and impossibly high cost of living, the duo, aptly titled Wesley Jeremiah, decided to expand their horizons and moved west. They packed everything they owned -- nothing more than a couple suitcases of clothes and a trailer full of musical instruments.

The first thing they did in the Mile-High City was place a Craigslist ad for a cellist. The first person to respond was Neyla Pekarek, a classically trained Denver native. As a trio, they began playing at the Meadowlark, a gritty basement club where the city’s most talented songwriters gathered every Tuesday for open mike sessions. Pekarek softened Schultz's and Fraites’s rough edges while expanding her skills to mandolin and piano. And so the Lumineers’ sound took shape; an amalgam of heart-swelling stomp-and-clap acoustic rock, classic pop,and front-porch folk.

In 2011, the band set out on a do-it-yourself venture that would lead to its success. A self-titled and self-recorded EP led to a self-booked tour. Before long the Lumineers had attracted devout fans, first across the Western U.S., then back to Fraites's and Schultz's old East Coast stomping grounds. The roots revival of the last few years has primed listeners for a new generation of rustic, heart-on-the-sleeve music -- the kind that nods to tradition while setting off into uncharted territory. Songs like “Ho Hey” and “Stubborn Love” illustrate the line the Lumineers walk with an unerring gift for timeless melodies and soul-stirring lyrics. Powered by passion and ripened by hard work, the Lumineers found their sound when the world needed it most.

 

Full schedule of events | The Lumineers' official site