The Infamous Strindusters Take On Harry Styles' 'As It Was'

07-18-2023

Single art

(DISCO) GRAMMY-Award-winning bluegrass quintet The Infamous Strindusters are no strangers to versatility and shaking things up. Coming off the heels of their critically acclaimed original album Toward the Fray which was nominated for Best Bluegrass Album in the 65th Annual GRAMMY Awards and revered tribute albums that honor bluegrass grandfathers A Tribute to Flatts & Scruggs (2023) and A Tribute to Bill Monroe (2021), it's astonishing that the band has maintained a robust touring schedule on top of podcast endeavors, heading their own Americana Vibes label, and announcing their inaugural music festival slated for September. Further diversifying their arsenal, the band has taken now taken to covering pop hits in their one-off cover of the chart-topping Harry Styles single "As It Was," available today via their label, Americana Vibes.

Choosing to cover the reigning pop star spurred out of bassist and vocalist Travis Book's transient obsession with Styles that developed out of his daughter being a fan coupled with seeing Styles perform at this year's GRAMMY Awards ceremony.

On his newfound respect for Harry Styles and the band's decision to cover "As It Was," Book details, "I didn't consider myself a fan of Harry Styles until we saw him perform "As It Was" live at the GRAMMY Awards ceremony last winter. Not only was I totally blown away by his stage presence, I had that song in my head for a month. My daughter was already a fan, so she was happy to indulge in my brief Harry Styles obsession. We listened to him a lot for a few weeks, but "As It Was" was sticky. I wanted to play it with the band, and once we played it, we wanted to record it. We had in mind a jazz or a lounge aesthetic, and I'm really happy with the version we achieved in the studio."

The single release is accompanied by a lyric video done by Sun Brox who fans and viewers might recognize from the animated videos released during the A Tribute to Flatts & Scruggs campaign.