Appalachian Road Show — a band formed in 2018 by the independently acclaimed musicians Barry Abernathy, Darrell Webb, Zeb Snyder, Jim VanCleve and Todd Phillips — was just getting ready to release an album full of traditional songs about hardship and heartache when the real-life modern crisis of the coronavirus struck.
Fittingly, the folk and bluegrass supergroup's new release is called Tribulation.
"About the time we started to release this record, [the] COVID-19 epidemic started reaching the top of the national news," says Jim VanCleve, who plays fiddle in the band. "Next thing we know, we're living in hard times, trials and tribulations."