Mipso formed in 2012 as an excuse to play together between classes in Chapel Hill. Joseph Terrell came from a family of banjo-playing uncles and a guitarist grandma, and he’d gotten curious again about the string band music he’d heard as a kid. Jacob Sharp was raised on equal parts Doc Watson and Avett Brothers in the mountains of North Carolina and he was hunting for a chance to sing some harmonies. Wood Robinson added a Charlie Haden-esque interest in bridging jazz and grass sensibilities on the double bass, and Libby Rodenbough soon joined on fiddle, unsatisfied by her classical violin training but drawn like a moth toward the glow of old, weird Americana.
Thank you to the following folks who are directly supporting the presentation of Mipso at this year’s festival: Jill and Thomas White, Judy and Len White, Mary Katherine and Durant Bell, Carrie and Will Stewart, Jacalyn and Brantley White, Missy and John Fields, Laura and Adam Duggins, Molly and Mark Harbaugh, Kitty and Will Sydnor, and Jon Worth.