By Kelsey Knott • Photos by Matt Johnson
“I’ve always been most inspired by people who are breaking the rules a little bit.” An original Monarch member with twenty years of professional experience, Aaron Bibelhauser is a humble hustler in the Louisville music scene.
Before becoming the multi-instrumentalist he is today, Aaron Bibelhauser started playing piano in the fourth grade, weekly lessons that instilled a work ethic–a value lingering within many of his songs. “I always wanted to play music, but it didn’t really light a fire under me until I started singing and playing with other people.” As a young adult, Aaron recruited his twin brother Adam and began a bluegrass band known as Relic before developing the roots-rock ensemble that became the Bibelhauser Brothers. Sounds like the banjo, fiddle, and mandolin often find their place in his songs, though Aaron doesn’t tie the band to one genre: “The more melting pot approach, the better, in my opinion. And don’t just be different to be different.”
As he gained experience through gigs, Bibelhauser also grew his engineering skills as a session musician, playing pedal, steel guitar, and slide dobro guitar as well as singing and arranging background vocals on records he produced. He developed his songwriting and pitched songs to artists he admired. “I eventually got some of my songs recorded by other people in the bluegrass industry, which was a big deal for me. For many years, I didn’t feel like I was necessarily going to be a relevant force as a recording artist and that maybe I could impact my community by writing songs that got recorded by other people. The further I got down that road of getting songs recorded, the more it felt like I should try harder at impacting by recording and releasing my own music.”
On stage, Aaron sings and plays guitar: “There’s four of us currently in the band. I play guitar, my brother plays bass, and we sing together. Jeff Guernsey plays mandolin and fiddle, and Steve Cooley plays banjo… I feel really lucky to be able to make music with them. We could probably all switch instruments on stage and still create something special and moving.”
Bibelhauser humbly recognizes the gift of working with“hero-status” musicians as he’s gained prestige, but hisoverall priority in music is simple: singing with his brother.“We can perform a song we didn’t write, and it can still be very moving because, you know, blood harmony. Our record Close Harmony is the prime example.” While Close Harmony covers songs that affected the brothers personally along their journey, their latest live record spotlights original material, collaborating with other artists: “It felt like the next thing to do was incorporate the live show with collaborators, to try to get the most mileage out of each song and connect with more people.” Dale Ann Bradley, Nick Dittmeier, John Cowan, Sam Bush, and Michael Cleveland are a few special guests to expect.
While he knows the importance of play, Bibelhauser emphasizes hard work in creative and learning experiences. “The songs I’ve written that have had traction or relevance, recorded by other artists, all had this ‘hard work’ undertone within the lyrics.” He’s no stranger to hard work–in addition to singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, radio show host, and award nominee, Bibelhauser took on composer and musical director roles with Kentucky Shakespeare: “There was work involved in writing songs and composing music to 400-year-old lyrics by the most prolific writer in the English language. It also was really fun. These lyrics have existed in this folio for so long with no music, and anytime somebody has made a production of this particular Shakespeare play, it’s cool to be the local songwriter to help create that.” Drawn to the timeless way Shakespeare reveals aspects of humanity through art, this experience helped him achieve an ultimate artistic goal of moving audiences to feel something that challenges their expectations or norms and inspires them to change something about the world or their lives.
Bibelhauser hosts the Bluegrass Evolution Jam at The Monarch every third Wednesday of the month, where world-class musicians play in all different areas of the facility for people who love supporting music. “It’s a member-focused space nurturing people wanting to develop themselves as professionals in the arts. It inspires me just to be here. When you come here for a show, it feels like you’re really giving to the artist. The primary focus is this person’s art, and you can come and expect to hear every note of the performance.” The Monarch is unique among music organizations as it’s grassroots, organic, and mission-driven, and there are plans to continue growing this vision. “It’s meant to be a gathering place to jam and play music together, and I encourage people to show up because it’s not a place where anybody’s trying to get anything out of them–we’re just trying to get them interested in the music. It doesn’t feel like anything we’re doing is because it’s going to appease or engage people. It’s like, ‘Let’s just facilitate the space and see what happens here.’”
Stay tuned for new Bibelhauser Brothers music in January and visit bluegrassevolution.com to keep up with the band!
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