Canada/US Folk and Bluegrass Collective Sourwood Reflects on the Myth of the Open Road in Debut Single, “On the Road”
Sourwood, the progressive bluegrass and folk collective based between Waterloo, Ontario, Chicago, and Los Angeles, is releasing their debut single, “On the Road,” a driving and introspective anthem that reckons with the myth of the open road and the dreams of freedom that defined an entire generation.
“‘On the Road’ is my way of finding closure with that ‘beatnik’ mythology—the Kerouac, Easy Rider, even Into the Wild kind of dream—that so deeply influenced my growing up,” explains lead singer and songwriter Lucas Last. “It’s coming to terms with the fact that what was sold to us as an aspirational way of life was, in many ways, a fantasy in a world that has gotten so small. It really stems from growing up in Virginia during that adolescent phase where you just know you need to be somewhere else.”
“A lot of the art I was consuming then just poured gas on that fire. It kicked off a decades-long journey searching for a place to belong,” Last reflects. “‘On the Road’ is almost a caricature of that journey, hitting the key emotional beats of leaving and searching.”
The track’s unique opening, with a unison melody played on upright bass and mandolin, sets the tone for the band’s distinct sound. “It felt like it really set the stage for who we are musically,” Last notes.
The recording process was a raw, collaborative experience.
“We met just two days before recording, and by Thursday, we had the first track cut,” Last shares. “The moment we decided to chop off the last bar of the hook and nailed it in one take summed up the session—no egos, just a group of near-strangers making it work.”
Sourwood recorded this track live off of the floor to capture their authentic sound.
“It forced us to trust the process and discover the sound together, right then and there,” Last explains.
The result is a fresh, genre-blending sound influenced by bluegrass, folk, jazz, and Celtic traditions.
A standout moment in the song comes with a reference to Neil Young’s “The Needle and the Damage Done,” which is enhanced by a fiddle-mandolin interplay.
“It takes what could’ve been a throwaway line and makes it special,” says Last.
First off, care to introduce Sourwood to our readers?
I’m Lucas Last, vocalist and guitarist for Sourwood. We formed in 2024, really as a collective of musicians wanting to create ‘art for art’s sake.’ I’m incredibly proud that since then, the project has genuinely taken on a life of its own, particularly as we’ve begun releasing music in 2025.
Sourwood is based across Waterloo, Chicago, and Los Angeles—how did the band
come together across such a wide geography?
To put it simply, the band is a map of my musical life over the last 15 years. I met our bassist, Patrick Dinnen, while at university in Chicago, having moved there from Virginia. Later, when I was living in Los Angeles, I met Liam Lewis (mandolin). We were both subbing in different bands and kept bumping into each other on gigs, eventually discussing a project based on some songs I was developing. Then, in 2020, I took a break from the music industry and moved from LA to Waterloo, where I am now. After some time off, I was initially planning a solo record, but ended up reaching out to Liam. He was enthusiastic and brought our incredible fiddle player, Olivia Breidenthal, into the project. Larry Johnston (banjo) was also kind enough to sit in for the recording; he was one of the first musicians I met after moving to Canada and really welcomed me into the local scene. Inviting him felt like the perfect way to bring this collective of musicians together.
The single grapples with a sense of disillusionment. How did you channel that into your
lyrics without losing the emotional charge or nostalgia behind the myth?
A lot of my songwriting stems from reaching a point of closure with a particular chapter in my life. The song On the Road was actually the last one I wrote before the band fully came together. I was in a very reflective headspace, thinking about all the experiences: the good, the bad, and the complex in-between moments that had brought me to that point. It was bittersweet. There was a lot of excitement about these incredible musicians, people I hadn’t seen in years, converging to work on this music. It felt like a part of my old life was returning, but it also stirred up a sense of frustration that, during all my time working in the industry in LA, getting something like this off the ground had felt nearly impossible. It took moving away from Los Angeles and, in a way, what I thought was the end of my music career, to finally create the record I truly wanted to make. The lyrics flowed quite directly from that journey.
Recording live off the floor isn’t easy—how did that approach influence the final sound
of “On the Road”?
I’ve spent a lot of time in studios for various projects and have always pushed for recording as ‘live’ as possible. However, that usually involves a click track. This was a completely different beast: no click, and everything you hear is exactly how we can perform it live. I was initially nervous about this approach, especially with our limited studio time and the fact that, with members spread out, there wasn’t much room for re-dos. We really had to commit. I think those high stakes brought a level of focus I hadn’t quite experienced in the studio before. Everyone walked into the studio with a real sense of ownership over the project, it wasn’t just my record anymore, it was all of ours. As Ani Difranco says,
“People used to make records, as in the record of an event, the event of people playing music in a room.”
We were committed to that idea. On top of that, Patrick and Liam laid down such a deep-pocket rhythm; honestly, they made it easy for the rest of us to lock in and just focus on the arrangements. At that point, my biggest concern was just not stumbling over my own lyrics!
Does “On the Road” hint at a larger project to come, perhaps an EP or full-length
album?
Hell yeah, it does! We’ll be releasing a steady stream of music this year, all leading up to a full-length album. The plan is to release it strategically in time to support a festival tour in 2026.
Lastly, if you could share the stage with any artist—past or present—who would it be?
And why?
That’s a tough one, as our band’s influences are really all over the map! Speaking just for myself, though, if I could share the stage with anyone, it would be Dave Bazan from Pedro the Lion. That would be an enormous personal milestone. His approach to songwriting has been incredibly impactful on my own musical development. I’ve been playing his songs since I was about 14. I saw him live for the first time in Toronto last year and was just blown away by his presence, his vulnerability, and his ability to connect so deeply while performing at such a high level. He’s truly one of the best. Distant second would be Dua Lipa, I want her to teach me that little pencil sharpener dance of hers.
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