AJ Lee & Blue Summit

AJ Lee and Blue Summit made their first appearance in Santa Cruz in 2015. Led by award winning singer, songwriter, and mandolinist, AJ Lee, the band has become the most exciting and fast rising bluegrass bands to come out the fertile California Bluegrass scene in the last decade. In 2019, they released their debut album, Like I Used To. Their second full-length project, I’ll Come Back, came out in August 2021, followed by two breakout years touring nationally. 2024 will see the release of the yet-untitled third studio record, supported by headlining shows and festivals around the country.

Unlike their first record, which featured experimentation with session musicians and electric instruments, the new project is a pure reflection of the live sound of the group, hearkening back to their acoustic roots. Each band member performs at their peak, and the variety of songs on the record caters to their broad fanbase. Certain tracks fall more in the classic bluegrass realm of songwriting, while others fall into that hard-to-define realm of acoustic Americana that blends mesmerizing lyricism and acoustic mastery. The new album is produced by Lech Wierzinsky of the California Honeydrops.

Although falling loosely under the bluegrass label, AJLBS generally plays sans banjo, with Sullivan Tuttle and Scott Gates on steel stringed acoustic guitars, AJ on mandolin, Jan Purat on fiddle, and upright bass - a configuration effectively used to create unique space and texture in the arrangements not as commonly found in the music of their peers. Drawing from influences such as country, soul, swing, rock, and jam music, the band uses the lens of bluegrass as a vessel through which to express and explore the thread that binds and unifies all great music.