Alumni News

Students and Recent Alums Garner Musical Acclaim

The Late Show with David Letterman, Rolling Stone magazine, NPR, and Spinner.com are just a few of the news and entertainment outlets that have featured music by Bennington students or alumni in the past month.

Mountain Man

Free Energy, a Philadelphia-based pop-rock band featuring guitarist Geoff Bucknum '01, was named one of the Best New Bands of 2010 by Rolling Stone after the release of their critically acclaimed debut albumStuck on Nothing in March. On March 17, the band performed the album's title track on Late Show with David Letterman, marking their network television debut. Later that week, the band travelled to Austin, Texas, to perform at the South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival (SXSW), which earned them interviews by Spinner.com and Rolling Stone.

Also interviewed by Spinner for their SXSW performances were Mountain Man—the harmonizing trio of Amelia Meath '10, Molly Sarle '12, and Alex Sauser-Monnig '09—and Real Estate, featuring bassist Alex Bleeker ‘08.

According to public radio station KUT in Austin, "Mountain Man delivered a stunning performance that ranks among the best of the fest ... South By Southwest attracts many noteworthy acts, but none are as immediately refreshing as Mountain Man. With so much noise and hype swirling around, there's brilliance to be found in simplicity and quietness."

Meanwhile, on March 25, singer/songwriter Will Stratton '09 (pictured above) was featured in an hour-long in-studio session on New York Public Radio's Spinning on Air. NPR ran the segment as one of its "Favorite Sessions," which can be streamed or downloaded here. Stratton, 22, released his second full-length album, No Wonder, last November.