On The Fringe
Bands Blurring the Lines of Bluegrass
“What I really appreciate about this band is that there are not a lot of no’s creatively,” explains Geraldine’s multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Vocke. We are eating dinner, along with the rest of Geraldine, Josh Anderson (fiddle), John Bolten (guitar/ vocals), Cory Chubb (mandolin), and Sarah Larsen (bass), in Bolten’s dining room, while Geraldine has been talking about their approach to making music. There is an easygoing, familiar camaraderie among the band. Throughout dinner, as they talk, there are just as many supportive comments and gushing platitudes of each other as there are good natured barbs.
The rest of the band all readily agree with Vocke that the freedom from the limiting idea of no is important to the identity of Geraldine. “I feel there should be no limitations placed on creative choices around music,” continues Vocke, “good music is just good music. We all have influences we bring into the picture, and that is what cultivates the sound.” Despite their traditional bluegrass lineup of banjo, bass, fiddle, guitar, and mandolin, and string-band approach, Geraldine exists outside the well-worn path of traditional bluegrass. “We are not a straight-up bluegrass band,” says Bolten. This freedom to exist and create without limitations in the sometimes confining and restrictive world of bluegrass is what defines Geraldine.
Geraldine, named after Townes Van Zandt’s dog, and from Ellicott City, Maryland, was formed in 2017 by Bolten and Anderson. They added Vocke a few months later at the Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, West Virginia, when camp neighbor Vocke joined Bolten’s band to allow him to have enough members to qualify for the band contest. The lineup for Geraldine was in flux over the next few years, with Anderson, Bolten, and Vocke remaining at its core. During this time, the band released their debut album Harvester in 2019. Harvester is a timeless collection of songs that examines the beating heart of America’s rural past. Their second album, Paw Paw, followed in 2023 and continued to highlight the band’s ability to serve as modern interpreters of Appalachian tradition. In 2023, they solidified their lineup with the addition of Chubb and Larsen. “Bringing Sarah and Cory in has been such a shot in the arm,” says Bolten. “It’s our best version of the band. It feels so good.”
The band, despite having their roots in old-time, are happy to venture into the musical unknown, even when it goes against long-established standards and expectations in bluegrass, inciting the ire of some, who Larsen says, “are not shy about telling you when you deviate from the bluegrass norm.” Geraldine takes pride in their uncommon approach to the bluegrass and old-timey sound. “I feel like it’s ok to be adventurous,” says Larsen. “I feel you earn the right to be adventurous by learning the history of the music.” Larsen’s mention of the more curmudgeonly segment of the bluegrass fanbase highlights the idea that only in bluegrass do you have to defend yourself when you are doing something that deviates from that established norm. This, despite the fact that as Bill Monroe was establishing what is accepted as the norms of bluegrass, he was breaking the rules.
At its core, Geraldine is a band built on the strength of their songs. “I don’t think you need to be flashy to be meaningful and spark emotion in someone,” says Bolten. “You can do that through a good song and heart. I take one guitar solo in our set. I am not a shredder; I am strictly a three-chord strumming guy. You can put folks in a trance with a good old-time groove. With a good song, you can cast a spell. We want to do both.” It is precisely that focus on the soul of each song and the way it moves listeners that makes Geraldine special, as their songs ring with depth and honesty. Geraldine is born from old-time and bluegrass, but it is Bolten’s inventive songwriting subtly eschewing the sound and style expected from a traditional band that provides Geraldine its definitive personality. With a laugh, Vocke clarifies, “It is very obvious John likes punk because there are a lot of songs that are a little head banger-y.”
Bolten, who is a self-taught musician and an almost compulsive songwriter, admits he writes every single day, “I write when I’m driving, in the shower, going grocery shopping, I am constantly thinking of words to rhyme. If something gets stuck in my head, I feel that’s good.” This compulsion to write and lack of conventional musical training powers a songwriter not constrained by rules, allowing songs to develop freely outside of the formulaic norm. Anderson, who, like the rest of the band, has had a more formal music education, says Bolten’s lack of musical training allows him to create using “timing aberrations and key aberrations that make songs really unique.” Those unique songs take flight when the full band adds their own singular flourishes to each tune. Bolten, in his understated manner, explains, “We can do a lot with a little idea. These guys can make it sound great.” Larsen adds, “We’re not trying to just stay rooted in string band styling, we are ok with rocking out a little bit more.” To a chorus of laughter, she adds, “Geraldine is like one-fifth punk rock.” And this is the genius of Geraldine. On the surface, it is old time. There is an acoustic guitar, a fiddle, a banjo, a mandolin, an upright bass, and lyrics recalling a timeless exploration of the Appalachian soul. All the elements one would expect, but upon closer listen and deeper inspection, there are subtle ingredients hinting at so much more, an odd strumming pattern here, a peculiar timing there, curious arrangements begging for sustained, intense listening, or a chorus that builds to an explosive climax like an out-of-control Buzzcocks tune.
For Vocke, he feels it is the patient, thoughtful approach of Bolten and the band that separates their songwriting from others. “What I am aware of with this band and truly value is that John writes great songs, and I don’t want to do anything that compromises the integrity of that process and the process we have around this. If that means a song takes four years to write, that’s fine because it will be right.” Their methodology towards songwriting makes Geraldine the kind of band other musicians listen to. People who really like and listen to music deeply tend to gravitate toward Geraldine.
Geraldine is not just purposeful in their songwriting. Their entire attitude towards the music industry reflects a calm, cool maturity often lacking in bands. “We always say our thing is we are on a slow burn,” explains Bolten. “Geraldine is not in a rush. We don’t want to play any stage until we are ready to play that stage. We are willing to put in the time to do it right.” The patience to let what they do slowly simmer, mature, and grow is not a trait often found in bands in this instant gratification, social media world.
In addition to the music, Geraldine is driven by another important pillar in the bluegrass world, community. “We like being fixtures in our community,” says Bolten. “We are passionate about our community. We like doing things in our community. We do workshops at festivals. We donate our time to local causes. We are passionate about the stuff we really care about. We care about doing good things more than things that will bring us fame.” To that goal, Geraldine wrote “In the Water,” about the Chesapeake Bay watershed, a vital natural resource in their home state of Maryland. The song serves to remind of the bay’s importance to the environment and encourages everyone to protect and care for it. “In the Water,” which appears on the band’s second album, has served as the anthem for the annual Baygrass Music Festival since its inception in 2022.
Heading into 2026, the band saw a slight change and addition to their lineup. Larsen planned to scale back her work with Geraldine to focus on her other band the Black Eyed Suzies and to be able to devote more time to managing the Chesapeake Winter Bluegrass Festival. She still will play with Geraldine when time allows. To help fill her absence Geraldine added bassist Kai Knorr.
Recently, the band has entered the studio to work on a new album, whittling down songs they road-tested this summer at festivals and shows. So far, they have settled on a quartet of songs which received rave reviews throughout the summer. “Curse My Heart,” which is built on a tricky arrangement requiring the band to be on their toes when playing it live. “Paint the Town,” Bolten’s attempt to write a song that would seamlessly fit in a Foghorn Stringband set. “Drunk on the Diamond,” based on the book, The Original Louisville Slugger, and about 19th-century baseball legend Pete Browning. And “Outrun the Rust,” a song written from the perspective of an old, restored Pontiac, that was recently selected for the 2025 Hazel Dickens Song Contest.
“To me, this album already feels different,” says Bolten. “The addition of Cory and Sarah has expanded our sonic palette, and we are approaching harmonies and arrangements from a more traditional perspective. On this album, we are not necessarily aiming to capture an old-time string band sound or a bluegrass sound, but rather let the songs do the work and see what serves the song best. We always shoot for minimal production on our records to capture our honest and genuine sound, and hopefully what rises to the top is something that sounds like us and no one else.”
The ability to sound like themselves and no one else is the band’s secret strength. Many bands intentionally or unintentionally emulate the sound and style of other bands they look to for guidance and inspiration. Geraldine, while rooted in the old-time, sounds uniquely like Geraldine. “There are people who go to bluegrass shows to party and people who go to sit in a lawn chair to watch Ricky Skaggs play two sets. Those are the extremes, and then there is the middle ground where we exist,” says Larsen. After a pause, Larsen, with a wide smile and a laugh, sums up Geraldine, “We are good-time, old-time.”
