Trigger Hippy

Trigger Hippy Live At The Capitol Arts Center

“We’ve come Full Circle And Then Some,” goes the chorus to the title track of Trigger Hippy’s sophomore album, and it’s the perfect description of the long road these experienced musicians have traveled to harness their collective roots – from country, Delta blues, R&B and gospel to Southern rock and funk. Trigger Hippy features co-founders, former Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman and songwriter bassist Nick Govrik along with multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Ed Jurdi (Band of Heathens) and vocalist/sax player Amber Woodhouse joining Gorman and Govrik to round the current line-up. Recorded largely in a small hillside home, dubbed the Tree House, in Nashville’s eclectic Love Circle district, the album boasts some of the city’s finest musicians, including longtime Willie Nelson harp player Mickey Raphael, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s guitarist Sadler Vaden, guitarist/mandolin player Guthrie Trapp, London-born pedal steel player Spencer Cullum, and guitarist Sol Philcox-Littlefield, among others.

In 2014, joined by singer Joan Osborne and guitarist Jackie Greene, the band released its self-titled debut on Rounder Records, taking a “let’s see what happens” approach, performing some 40 live dates over seven months. Says Gorman: “Nick and I always pushed for more of a commitment to become a functioning, full-time band, but everyone had their own things going on, which made it difficult to keep that lineup together. We always had a vision and an idea of what we wanted to do.”“We took our time—we knew the chemistry had to be right. With Ed, we found our new direction right away and when Amber came along, we knew we’d found the final piece.” According to Govrik, Full Circle and Then Some is the band’s story to this point. “We never really wavered, we just kept going. We’ve come full circle because we believed in each other, even with the changes this band has been through…new lineup, new commitment.” He concludes, “We’re doing this the way we want to, the way we want it to sound…and that’s the beauty of this.”