Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road: Mountain Roots, Berklee Precision
Liam Purcell wants listeners to feel something when they hear his music. Since forming Cane Mill Road in 2014, the Deep Gap, North Carolina, native and Berklee College of Music graduate is steadily becoming one of bluegrass’s most promising young songwriters, producers, and bandleaders—all without turning his back on his musical roots.
“If I can get people to come along on a journey with me in a song, that’s the absolute goal,” says Purcell.
Purcell views bluegrass not as a strict tradition, but as highly relevant music that can touch the hearts of his listeners. “To me, it’s not really traditional music. It’s my music, the stuff I grew up with. It’s this living, breathing thing that’s gotten passed down.”
“I think to keep the tradition growing, you have to add to it.”
No matter where his career takes him, he remains rooted in the music of the Blue Ridge Mountains. “Growing up in [Deep Gap] taught me everything about music. I’ve been fortunate to attend a music school known for its innovation, and I certainly learned a lot there,” Purcell says of Berklee. “But I think those places can only help you get better. What really taught me were the folks in the bluegrass community.”
“I picked up guitar through a local program that paired young kids who wanted to learn with older traditional musicians,” Purcell recalls. “It was very informal. There’s no curriculum, and I grew up learning only by ear, which I think served me pretty well later on despite having to learn to read music eventually.”
Attending Berklee College
Building his musical foundation in the community of Deep Gap, Purcell’s hunger to learn more led him to Berklee College in Boston. “I wanted to study things that went pretty far beyond bluegrass. I felt like I had dedicated my life to these traditional aspects for 10 or 11 years at that point. I wanted to really stretch my limits.”
At Berklee, that pursuit paid off. “For me, it broadened my horizons in a couple of directions.”
“Be it popular, be it jazz, be it rock and roll—those are all things that are studied at Berklee equally and treated with an equal amount of respect, including traditional music, which I appreciate. I think figuring out that there’s a lot more than three chords [in reality] changed the way I write.”
Deep Gap is at the heart of his songwriting.
“A lot of times, my inspiration can come from…other places, but, you know, certainly a lot of it is still inspired by my sense of self and place.”
“When you grow up…and you have the passion for picking, I think we all became aware of our smaller pond just here in the area and started learning from each other in a way that was really beautiful.”
Forming Cane Mill Road.
Cane Mill Road grew out of the friendships Purcell formed with fellow young musicians in Deep Gap.
“The folks I started the band with were my friends Elliot Smith, who’s now not touring but is a pretty renowned luthier, and Trey Wellington, who’s having his own huge bluegrass and beyond career.”
Purcell chose some of the most skilled young musicians in Deep Gap. “We just loved the music and really pushed each other in a good way.”
On what’s up ahead
Cane Mill Road’s current lineup includes Zack Vickers, Ari Silver, Teddy Kent, and Devin Jones.
“We're working on a live record because the energy we're able to get live is … something you can never capture in a studio,” shares Purcell. “We’re sorting back through all those takes and kind of picking our favorites, and we're going to do at least one live album.”
“We like to show up and give people an even better live show than we can on the record,” Purcell offers. “There's always one missing ingredient. That's the energy and the connection with the crowd.”
The team matters. “I’m super grateful for the team that we have, and they've given up and sacrificed a lot to be on the road with me over the last couple of years.” He adds, “I want to provide a good living for the folks that allow me to employ them.”
When asked about his plans, “I want to keep putting out music that is new and interesting. I want to take this [Cane Mill Road] project as far as it'll go.”
