Full Cord @ The Mousetrap – Saturday, October 10th

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A good bluegrass band can light up a room with speed and precision. A great one makes it feel like you’ve been invited into something an inside joke, a shared history, a community. Full Cord has that rare combination of jaw dropping musicianship and easy, welcoming chemistry, and it’s been the engine behind their steady rise from West Michigan favorite to national touring standout.

Full Cord formed in 2008 in Grand Haven, Michigan, and their name comes from a perfectly on-brand moment: at one of their early gigs, Eric (guitar & also a sawyer) noticed their instruments stacked in a corner and said it looked like a “full cord of wood.” The phrase stuck and so did the band’s reputation for bringing heat, whether it’s a listening room set, a packed theater, or a festival main stage.

Their breakout year came in 2022. First, Full Cord won the Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Contest, a stage tested proving ground with a track record of identifying tomorrow’s headliners. Then, the International Bluegrass Music Association named them Momentum Band of the Year, recognizing the band’s combination of performance power, songwriting, and forward drive.

The band’s recorded catalog tells the same story: roots forward, creatively restless, and built to be played live. Early releases Choreomania (2019) and Hindsight (2021) established their voice, and their Dark Shadow era has amplified it. Signed by Dark Shadow Recording, Full Cord has been praised by the label for “great songwriting, tight picking, and excellent vocals,” a clean summary of what audiences hear within the first song or two. Their Dark Shadow album Cambium arrived in November 2023, following singles that earned strong radio attention and chart activity.

Musically, Full Cord is bluegrass at the core, with the confidence to let other colors seep in touches of jazz, western swing, and rock ’n’ roll attitude without ever losing the drive and clarity that make bluegrass hit so hard.

At the center are Brian Oberlin (mandolin/vocals), Eric Langejans (guitar/vocals), and Todd Kirchner (bass), musicians with deep experience and a shared sense of timing that makes their grooves feel inevitable. Full Cord often expands into a powerful five-piece onstage with elite banjo and fiddle firepower; recent performances and tours have featured award winning banjoist Max Allard and Chase Potter on fiddle, and the band’s broader lineup history includes notable collaborators in the banjo and fiddle chairs.

The result is a show that’s high energy, harmony rich, and built around songs that stick whether you came for traditional bluegrass, progressive edges, or simply the thrill of a band that knows exactly how to lift a room.

Billy Strings had this to say:

Sometime in 2011, I moved away from my hometown of Ionia and headed up to Traverse City to see what kind of trouble I could find. I worked at a local hotel for a while before I got the call: I was on the clock, but I picked up anyway. The fella on the line said he was a bluegrass musician, and he expressed interest in playing tunes with me at some point. I was excited to make some new friends and meet some of the local pickers in the area, but I didn’t know I was walking into the inferno. At that first get-together, I met Paul Kirchner, who is a great banjo player and a walking encyclopedia of all things bluegrass. I quickly realized his kids are musicians, and his kids’ kids will probably play too. I was invited to stay for dinner and to come back and pick any time. I ended up hanging out with the Kirchners and their extended musical family quite a bit. They introduced me to Eric Langejans, and we hit it off pretty quickly, discovering our shared love of Flatpicking-guitar and the smell of flowers. Playing bluegrass music into the wee hours of the morning with them at bluegrass festivals across the region was a common occurrence. Shortly after I met Todd, we did a gig or two together, and Eric was always around singing and playin’ the hell out of that guitar. These fellas know some great tunes. It’s such a blast to make music with them, and it’s exciting to see what they’ve been up to over the last few years. I’ve noticed Full Cord ignite with the additions of fiddle maestro Grant Flick, ripping banjo of Ricky Mier, and rock-solid vocals, repertoire, and mandolin mastery of Brian Oberlin. The first play-through of this album made me want to grab my axe, drive up North, meet up with these guys, and jam till tomorrow morning like we’ve done so many times before. I don’t need to though, because songs on this record transport me back home.

-Billy Strings

THE BAND

ERIC LANGEJANS – Guitar / Vocals

Eric is a multi-instrumentalist with an exceptional ear for music. He has been in many bands including local favorites Down Home and Woodpile. Affectionately called “Fast Eric” by his peers, his lighting fast riffs on the guitar leave you wondering what he’s going to do next. Eric also plays mandolin and fiddle when the need arises. He has recently performed on stage with John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

TODD KIRCHNER – Bass

Todd has played bass since his early teens and grew up picking bluegrass with his dad and brothers. He got his first upright bass from his dad as a Christmas gift and has not put it down since. He has played bass in many bands and has a deep appreciation for all types of music which you can hear in every performance.

BRIAN OBERLIN – Mandolin / Vocals

Brian is an internationally acclaimed mandolin player and educator. During his decades-long professional career, Brian has been playing swing, bluegrass, and Italian classical as a solo mandolinist and vocalist. Brian celebrated the release of his 20th album in May 2016; Troubadour which features Brian playing solo and singing original music. Along with the myriad of award-winning bands (The Journeymen, GER Mandolin Orchestra with Mike Marshall and Twin Mandolin Slingers with Evan J. Marshall) and ensembles he has collaborated with throughout the United States and Europe, Brian is also the founder and director of the River of the West Mandolin Camp, the Great Lakes Mandolin Camp and the Oregon Mandolin Orchestra. Brian was a top ten finalist at the 2013 Telluride Troubadour Contest, an instructor/performer at the 2012, 2013, and 2017 International Mandolin Academy in Italy, a featured soloist at the 2014 EuroFest Plucked String Festival in Bruchsal, Germany, and a featured soloist at the 2015 Mandolin Upgrade festival in Berlin, Germany. When he is not performing, Brian teaches music to children and adults at art centers, cultural events, festivals, camps, music schools, and academies.

More info on Brian can be found at www.mandoberlin.com