Americana stars Mipso play Vagabond Blues Thursday night

Mipso, the four-person Americana band hailing from Chapel Hill, N.C. will be making its Alaskan debut this weekend, with a show Thursday, Jan. 31 at Vagabond Blues in Palmer and an Anchorage show Saturday night at Koot’s.

The band first formed as music students from the University of North Carolina.

“We were studying other stuff, but we had a love of folk music. We started writing and one thing led to another — it was a little weekend side project and now it’s a career,” said Jacob Sharp, who plays the mandolin and sings. “We graduated 5 and a half years ago and since then we’ve played about 850 concerts around the world and put out four albums. So now we’re pretty deep, creating music and travelling.”

Mipso’s latest album, ‘Edges Run’ was released in April, was up for consideration for a Grammy nomination, cracked the top 10 in Billboard’s Folk and Americana charts and got special attention from NPR as ‘must hear’ artists. The album’s first track, ‘Take Your Records Home’ sets the tone for a lugubrious yet soulful playlist that goes right to the tender core of heartache.

“This album, for us is kind of a breakthrough. I think this, on the national Americana scene, announces our arrival confidently,” Sharp said. “All of us write in the band and we have three lead singers so there’s lots of harmony. It has a lot of layered songs with a lot of space and ambient voices.”

The band recorded the album at Moody Records in Oregon last winter.

“That was a time of a lot of change; the Trump inauguration had happened and we had members of the band dealing with breakups, family deaths,” Sharp said. “I think we looked at the world from a little more mature point of view.”

Saturday night’s show at Koot’s will benefit the Let Every Woman Know project, the 7th annual event of which runs Feb. 1-3. Focusing on educating the public about gynecological cancers, Let Every Woman Know kicks off with a First Friday event from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Georgia Blue Art Gallery (3555 Arctic Blvd.), and Saturday and Sunday will see the Foundation for Women’s Cancer Survivor Course, a free, 2-day gynecologic cancer educational course put on by the Foundation for Women’s Cancer and open to survivors, the medical community, friends and family, taking place at Providence hospital conference rooms.

For Sharp, the fundraising aspect of the Saturday show, titled ‘Dance Like Barb Rhythm Heals Benefit Concert’, is particularly meaningful.

“It’s a cause that’s super close to me because my mom died of ovarian cancer,” Sharp said. “We did a similar event six years ago that’s now turned into an annual festival, so we are super-appreciative of the people who do that work and support people.”

Sharp says the latest album gives Mipso an opportunity to look back on just how much they’ve matured.

“None of us were intending on making a career in music; we kind of learned on the fly,” Sharp said. “Especially when we were younger, a lot of people would try to imprint on us what type of band we should be. It took a couple of years together to discover what kind of music we make best — and it’s the sensitive side of classic stories of loss and love and learning something new. Now we’re telling stories in a sensitive emotional way — we’re less like a high-flying bluegrass band than others wanted us to be.”

Given today’s explosive political environment, Sharp sees the value of folk music with its inclusive and diverse tradition, as priceless as ever.

“As turbulent a time as we’re living in now, if you weren’t political, in some way, you’re not paying attention in the way I’d like you to,” Sharp said. “We’re not protesting in every song, but the experiences in our own lives or or someone else’s life is the fabric of society today.”

Sharp lists his favorite songs on ‘Edges Run’ as ‘All Behind Me Now’ and ‘People Change’, with Libby Rodenborough on lead vocals.

“I think those songs show the far ranges of what we do,” Sharp explained. “‘People Change’, which is a somber, emotional ballad about the loss of a friend, when you have something you thought that was irreplaceable becoming replaced. They’re really textured, moody songs, but the themes are universally shared. ‘All Behind Me Now’ is kind of on our pop side.”

Doors open to Saturday’s show at 6 p.m. at Koot’s and the show runs until 11 p.m. Tickets are $25 and all proceeds go toward gynecological cancer awareness, education and support in Alaska.