CROWDFUNDING RADAR: Bold New Projects from Gangstagrass, Nate Sabat, and Broken Compass Bluegrass

Punxsutawney Phil has spoken, and, assuming you put your weather forecasting faith in rodents, spring is on the way. With spring, or, more accurately, the end of the brief lull that follows the holidays, comes new crowdfunding projects. This month’s group is a diverse one. We’ve got campaigns from a California-based bluegrass band, an artist seeking to feature an instrument not often out front, and one of roots music’s most genre-bending outfits.

Broken Compass Bluegrass – Second Studio Album (click here to view campaign)
Formed in 2021, Broken Compass Bluegrass is a jamgrass act that already has extensive experience on the jam festival circuit, playing fests like High Sierra, Winter Wondergrass, and The Northwest String Summit. They released their first album, the self-recorded and self-produced Fool’s Gold, just a year ago and have since produced a live album as well, but they’ve already got a full slate of songs ready for a new album, and this time they plan to book studio time to record it. Their $7,750 Kickstarter campaign is more than halfway funded with almost two weeks to go, so demand is already high. To reach their goal, the quartet has a host of backer perks on offer. The album is available in CD format (with a digital download included), and you can also get a tie-dye T-shirt, tickets to a show including a song request, the chance to have one member of the band play on one of your songs, and a house show.

Nate Sabat – Bass Fiddler (click here to view campaign)
Upright bass is a vital part of any old-time roots music project, but it isn’t often a featured instrument. While fiddles, guitars, mandolins, and banjos get the solos, the bass typically stays in back, keeping the rhythm going. Bassist Nate Sabat (Mile Twelve, The Foreign Landers) wants to change that. On his solo debut, Bass Fiddler, Sabat will arrange a selection of original and cover material for just bass and vocals. To produce, Sabat has brought on board old-time stalwart Bruce Molsky. The album has been tracked and now Sabat is seeking $10,000 on Kickstarter to finish it and get it released into the world. The album will be available in digital and CD formats. Other backer perks include a Bass Fiddler hat, an hour-long online bass lesson, an instructional book, a commissioned song in audio and video formats, and a house concert.

Gangstagrass – New Album (click here to view campaign)
Gangstagrass is a band I’ve loved for a long time just because of their sheer audacity. Melding bluegrass and hip-hop, urban and rural, fiddles and rhymes, Gangstagrass manages a hard feat: creating something that sounds like a completely new genre. They’ve seen some success with it, landing the theme song for FX’s Emmy-nominated Justified and appearing on America’s Got Talent as well as drawing crowds all over the country. So it’s no surprise that their $20,000 Kickstarter campaign smashed through its goal in days. Now the band is pursuing a $25,000 stretch goal to unlock a vinyl pressing of the album. You can also get the album in digital and limited-edition, hand-numbered CD formats. Other backer perks include T-shirts, hoodies, tickets to the album launch party, a Zoom meeting with members of the band, and a chance to appear in one of their music videos.