A progressive bluegrass sound with a focus on lyrically-driven songwriting.
The High Road Home brings you a progressive bluegrass sound with a clear focus on lyrically-driven songwriting, while continually pushing the boundaries of tradition… relentlessly experimenting with arrangements and improvisation at their live shows. The band is made up of David, along with Jens Davis on bass, Adam Hines on banjo, Douglas Crowl on resonator, and when they’re lucky enough… always-welcome guest, Jackson Earles on fiddle.

Bandleader David Allen Willis was raised in a family of railroaders and truck drivers–what should have been the classic bluegrass background–but the music of The High Road Home bears little resemblance to traditional bluegrass. David started writing songs in college and played in a number of bands over the years, but never as the driving vision for the band’s music. The songs kept piling up, but with nowhere to go most were relegated to a pile of notebook paper. After amassing over a hundred songs, he finally decided that he needed a vehicle to bring the music to life, and set out to find people looking to branch outside the constraints of traditional bluegrass.

He may have left his second-generation railroad background behind at age eighteen, but classic bluegrass themes continue to regularly work their way into his music. His lyrics often originate from a deeply personal place, with narratives loosely based around the images and experiences of his past. He counts among his biggest songwriting influences names like Jason Isbell, John Moreland and Robert Hunter.