Last Saturday night, Conor Byrne Pub in Old Town Ballard hosted a record release party for Seattle bluegrass band Creeping Time. The album, Cheap American Lager, is chock full of fiery fiddle-driven bluegrass and country rockin' jams. I sat down with bassist Ken Nottingham, drummer Dave Forrester, guitarist Michael Spaly and fiddle player Kjell Anderson on the eve of the show and got a little better acquainted with this up and coming band.

JRO: You're having your record release party at the same place you recorded your live album in 2003, Conor Byrne. Any special connection to that pub?

Dave: We started playing there about four years ago, and every time we'd play there, they'd book us for another show six weeks later, that night. So we got right into the habit of playing there. Good crowd, good bar.

Ken: It's kinda like our home field. Home base.

Michael: They've been totally supportive, especially of the local music scene.

JRO: Do you think there's a resurgence of this type of music? Old time music, country and bluegrass seems to be on the rise.

Dave: The O Brother, Where Art Thou movie came out and that helped, but younger kids have been getting into bluegrass because it's just great, happy music.

Michael: And when you throw Steve Earle and Johnny Cash in there, it gives it an edge, shows that it's not just stodgy old music.

Kjell: Even if you listen to hip hop, I think you still at least respect bluegrass. We all lived through the MTV Unplugged era, and it showed that you were kinda good if you could do the rock music, but also be unplugged, and still sound good and have some passion for it.

JRO: You've been getting some really good press lately. Great reviews, and you were even listed on folkmusic.about.com's "Best Folk Artists You've Never Heard Of" feature. Is now the time for Creeping Time's world domination?

Ken: [laughs] That'd be great...

Dave: ...as long as we can accommodate all the mortgages, right?

Kjell: We've made a real push for promotion, we're proud of this record...

Dave: Michael was pretty instrumental in producing the album, mixing it...

Ken: ...obsessive/compulsive...

Michael: I work from home, so I have the extra time...

Kjell: ...and he plays every instrument that's ever been invented, which helps.

JRO: How does the creative process work for Creeping Time? How does a song come to be?

Ken: Well, for example, one song that's on the album that Kjell wrote, he started it when we were on the road, down in Arizona...

Kjell: ...we were driving, and we were drinking beer in the back of this RV...

Ken: ...and he came up with this riff, and we kinda jumped on it...

Michael: ...and we were like, let's put this here, and then we're like, hey, we'll slow it down, and then throw in a chord progression and then 'hey Dave, take a solo!'

Kjell: It's kind of organic.

JRO: Do you have any cover songs you like to do live?

Ken: We do a few. A favorite lately is a Greg Brown tune called "If I'd Known." We do "Wagon Wheel" by Old Crow Medicine Show.

Dave: We do Neil Young's "Powderfinger," that works good.

Michael: We'll throw a Phish song right in the middle of one of the songs.

Ken: We do the Gourds' version of "Gin n' Juice," it's a great bluegrass/country version of the song, the crowd always loves that one, you can't go wrong with that song.

Kjell: Mike did a version of "Genie in a Bottle"...

Ken: ...by Christina Aguilera! Actually, it came off really well! Sometimes they just come out spontaneously.

Check out Creeping Time at the Folklife Festival on Memorial Day weekend, and playing with The Tallboys July 7th at Jules Mae's in Georgetown.