To most people, the organ-infused, breathy pop harmonies of The Zombies’ “She’s Not There” are as far from bluegrass standard as Lexington, Ky., is from London.
To Paul Harris, aka Digger Cleverly, the lead singer of the comedic bluegrass quintet The Cleverlys, however, the lines between genres are more blurred.
“I noticed that no [bluegrass band] was covering pop or hip-hop songs, so we went for that,” he said. “It was targeting another family of people who wouldn’t normally listen to bluegrass music.
“The Beyoncé fan base would never listen to a bluegrass song, but they love The Cleverlys.”
From Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” to Travie McCoy’s “Billionaire,” the Arkansas-based Cleverlys have injected a little Kentucky fire into some of mainstream radio’s biggest recent hits.