At the helm of “bluegrass folklore,” Deviant Folk’s Mark Abruzzese has taken the genre to depths unknown. A playful blend of unconventional lyrics led by powerful harmonies and driven by undaunted musicianship, Abruzzese’s arrival to the scene is just as unabashed as…well, a devil playing the guitar.

Abruzzese did not grow up learning music, though he did sing at church until he was old enough to know better, and subscribed instead to the gospel of Sunday morning wrestling on TV. It wasn’t until his late teens that he first picked up a guitar. As with most aspiring musicians, Abruzzese went to Dartmouth College to study Earth Sciences before a spectacular and inspiring field program took him across the American West. The group he traveled with immersed themselves in their scientific studies — but as it also was — bluegrass and roots music. Artists like James Brown bounced them between mountain ranges, while Bela Fleck’s iconic album, Drive, served as their soundtrack across the plains. The rest became history; while Abruzzese studied science by day, he would pick his way through modern bluegrass at night. To him, it was clear that he was split between two worlds, and that was not a bad place to be.

Relocating to California, Abruzzese continued on to study Geochemistry in graduate school while frequenting bluegrass festivals and starting his Bay Area bluegrass band. As life has a way of doing, Abruzzese’s passions took a backseat to his career and as he began a family. Coming home to the Boston area to be near family, music re-emerged as a priority as he branched out into playing more mandolin and rocking electric bass in a local bar band. Still, though, Abruzzese had never quite finished writing a complete song and never been lead singer in his projects.

March 2020: forced like everyone to stay at home, it was finally time to make good on a promise  —  the impetus to put together his eponymous debut album, Deviant Folk. A clandestine visit to a “closed” music store in Woburn, MA scored him the audio interface needed to record at home. The “quarantine demos” that resulted featured Abruzzese on guitar, mandolin, bass, lead harmony vocals recorded on an ancient iPhone: a steep learning curve indeed. Songs resurfaced from the archives, music written a decade prior the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming; others were collaborative efforts with his two young sons, Felix and Linus, sharing lines and swapping ideas in an unprecedented time of pause and quiet.

As completed songs emerged, Abruzzese sought a platform to get his music from his living room to the stage. Having taken a handful of bass lessons from Mile Twelve bassist and vocalist Nate Sabat, Abruzzese decided it was time to reach out in search of an established partner on his album. After a bunch of exchanges, Sabat agreed to produce a demo of “High Time.” “The demo process made me twice the musician,” said Abruzzese. “Trial by fire. I learned quickly because I had to, held to standards I had never before encountered.” The partnership escalated as original songs accumulated and it became obvious that Sabat would produce a full-length album. He was able to pull in an all-star cast of musicians to record at Wachusett Recording Studios in Princeton, MA in October 2020: BB Bowness (Mile Twelve, banjo); Mike Harmon (Grain Thief, drums); Kathleen Parks (Twisted Pine, fiddle); Nate Sabat (Mile Twelve, bass); and Maddie Witler (Della Mae, Lonesome Heartstring Band, mandolin).

With a whimsical lyricism and climbing picking patterns, the album introduces itself and its creator as a new voice in the bluegrass community. The 45-year-old high school chemistry teacher has had a longstanding love for acoustic music, but his passion for writing and singing is newfound. At times, the music captures the elation of moments spent adventuring the outdoors; in others, it's the somber ending of an old chapter to start anew. “What I love most is that I don’t know quite what the songs are about when I conceive of them…I’ve learned to leave the meaning to the listener, and that notion has freed me,” explains Abruzzese. A positive and playful call in a time of pandemic, Deviant Folk beckons listeners to celebrate life for all its complexities and nuances — even in those times that are kinda sad, too. 

Deviant Folk is a musical reflection of the humanity we face in our choices, and our views on what life is supposed to be rather than what it is — packaged into a mischievous mix of bluegrass and straight ahead folk. Abruzzese continues to teach Chemistry and is an adventurer at his core, a theme he frequents in his compositions. He breaks up his days writing songs and composing lyrics and melodies while running in the woods of Middlesex Fells Reservation, and being a father to his two incredible sons.