On a recent visit to the Washington, D.C. area, Bluegrasscountry.org’s Jay Newell caught up with the band for a quick interview. Combining the kick and exuberance of youth with the finesse and style of musicians twice their ages, King Wilkie is fast becoming a major force in the Americana/roots music sweepstakes.

With Broke–their second disc and first for premier bluegrass imprint Rebel Records–they continue to display a hard-charging mix of genre standards, sublime, overlooked chestnuts and a half-dozen jaw-dropping, in-the-tradition originals.

Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, King Wilkie is a sextet of young Turks (ages 21 to 26) who inject beyond-their-years chops and the knowing interplay of savvy veterans with vibrant, electrifying energy that spikes the punch of the form’s time-honored recipes.

Lead vocals are shared by Reid Burgess (mandolin) and John McDonald (guitar), Ted Pitney provides lead guitar and harmony vocals, and Abe Spear (banjo), Nick Reeb (fiddle) and Drew Breakey (upright bass) round out the band.

And no, King Wilkie is NOT another one of those tired aggregations of cynical dilettantes who’ve littered the scene of late with plugged-in, cranked-up novelty takes on bluegrass; their love of and respect for the music is deep and unmistakable.

But–at the other end of the spectrum– love and respect in Americana too often turn into the dreaded ‘reverence,’ taking the joy, the life–even the AIR–out of the music, reducing it to some kind of dusty museum relic. And it’s hard to believe that the likes of Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley or Charlie and Ira Louvin ever dreamed that embalming the music in order to save it would in any way be preferable to reducing it to low comedy.

The sweet spot, of course, lies in between those extremes, and that’s exactly where King Wilkie lives. Taking their name from Bill Monroe’s favorite steed, the boys in King Wilkie eschew needless showboating and stylistic tweaking, instead allowing their razor-sharp musicianship, and edgy, passionate harmonies to inject timeless themes of love (won and lost), loneliness, spirituality (and crippling lack thereof) and death with a freshness and energy that’s as vital and relevant as any cutting-edge indie rockers could deliver.

The seeds of the band were germinated in Ohio in 2000. College pals Ted Pitney and Reid Burgess took in a bluegrass festival and, transported by what they saw and heard, they immediately thereafter set about immersing themselves in all things bluegrass. Upon graduating in 2001, the duo moved to a farmhouse outside Charlottesville and began recruiting musicians from across the country.

The resulting band is firmly planted in bluegrass soil, but the boys don’t live in a vacuum–their take on traditional music is seasoned by the dynamism of the various members’ outside influences, with favorites including such disparate acts as The White Stripes, Gillian Welch, Wilco, The Byrds, and even some paint-stripping hard rockers.

King Wilkie cut their “live” indie debut, True Sons, as a quintet in 2003. That homemade biscuit, along with a series of live performances that repeatedly underscored the band’s ability to grab and take over diverse audiences (jam, rock, pop AND trad-’grass), caught the ear and attention of Rebel Records.

Recorded at Overdub Lane Studios in Raleigh, NC by veteran producer Bob Carlin (John Hartford), Broke is bracketed by high-stepping instrumental takes on Ralph Lewis’ “40 West.” In between, there are knockout covers of Jimmie Rodgers’ “Blue Yodel #7,” Governor Jimmie Davis’ “Where The Old Red River Flows,” “Sparkling Brown Eyes” (a hit for Wanda Jackson AND Webb Pierce), the Monroe Brothers’ “Some Glad Day” and the ageless traditional, “Little Birdie.”

Each of the above is a gem-cut beauty, but it’s the stunning originals that serve clear notice that these boys have something truly special going on. Finely-drawn, honest, humble and shamelessly irony-free, the four tunes by Ted Pitney and two by Reid Burgess are sparkling examples of down-home tunesmithing that are sure to have even the sharpest musicologists scratching their heads and scurrying for their reference tomes.

Classic, evocative themes are wed to quicksilver melodies on the prodigal homecoming of “It’s Been A Long Time,” the heartbreak of “Brokedown and Lonesome” and “All Night Blues,” the tender, aching Gothic tragedy of “Lee and Paige,” the gospel-flavored, bittersweet “Drifting Away” and the brutal, yet darkly comic send-off “Goodbye So Long.”

There you have it, folks: clearwater picking and high lonesome singing–all presented with grace, flair and enough juice to launch one of them rocket ships. King Wilkie may be Broke, but these boys sure don’t need fixing…