Folky farmers Earthbound Trio have added a fourth member to their lineup. While that means they’ll be able to do a lot more on stage, it’s not without complications – in particular, coming up with a new name.

Jay Merrill will be familiar to many as the guitarist for the once defacto Feels Good go-to band: the currently hiatusing Gordon Gets Lost. He’ll be just a little transposed now as he joins fellow Gordon Gets Lost alumnus Mike (Mumble) Humble.

“I’ve played with Jay for ten years now with Gordon Gets Lost and other projects,” says Mumble. “He’s a theory guy, where [singer, guitarist] Dwayne is more of a feeling dude. He’s taking what Dwayne does and he’s going to be putting theory on top of it. He’s going to be like Garth from The Band – giving us lessons.”

“This will allow us to play live more like we play on the album, to have those holes filled up. Some of the songs especially feel really weird now, now that we hear them without all of the special players, and now with Jay we have this whole other rhythm / lead / atmosphere player. It’s going to be great, as soon as we figure out the stupid name thing.”

Dwayne Doucette says that he is also pleased with the addition to the band, “Jay Merle is now our mad scientist. He’s an all around good guy. It’s awesome that he’s willing to jump into the mess that we are.”

Bassist Bob Fitzgerald was minding a recent addition to his family in the midst of a festival and was unavailable for comment.

“Dwayne’s going to do some of the lead riffs too,” explains Merrill. “I’m just going to fill in some of the parts of what they’ve recorded. I’ve known two of them for a long time, and I’ve known Dwayne the last two years, and they seem like a lot of fun.  The thing about playing with Earthbound Trio is that they all love playing, and they all want to do it, and keeping working at it, and I like that.”

While Merrill has stood in with the band before, including a show in St. Andrew’s last week, Follyfest was the first official performance the band has played as a four-piece before a festival audience. It included this little crowd-pleaser right here:

Here’s the fun part. The band formerly know as Earthbound Trio are still in the market for a new name. They’ve thrown around a few ideas, but they’re waiting to see what sticks. To help them along we’re going to have a contest. Whoever comes up with the name the gets the most votes will win an autographed copy of the band’s latest album, Ditch Flowers. (Note: In no way is this legally binding for the band to go with the winning suggestion. We don’t need to repeat Boaty McBoatface, but I’m sure they appreciate the suggestions). Poll closes Thursday, July 7th.

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(Cover images by Arlynn Webster)