Although they look like a bluegrass band, and at times incorporate bluegrass trappings and rhythms, the Howlin' Brothers (who are not brothers by birth) are most decidedly an Americana string band, but in a reconfigured 21st century version, incorporating rock, pop, gospel, jazz, R&B, Dixieland, country blues, and who knows what else into the mix along with a scattering of old-time Appalachian string band material and approaches. Formed in Ithaca, New York at Ithaca College in 2003, the Howlin' Brothers (Ben Plasse on upright bass and banjo, Ian Craft on fiddle, mandolin, and ...