Devil Makes Three brings energy to live shows

The Devil Makes Three takes its name from the lyrics of a song titled “Didn’t Leave Nobody But the Baby,” which you might remember from the Grammy-winning “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack. That record is often credited with reigniting mainstream interest in bluegrass and old-timey folk, and the Devil Makes Three continues that trend.

The band, which returns to Spokane for a Friday night show at the Knitting Factory, takes honky-tonk, rockabilly, traditional roots music and Southern gospel and ties them all together with an irrepressible energy inspired by early punk rock.

The group’s origins are as all over the place as its stylistic influences: All three members – primary songwriter and guitarist Pete Bernhard, upright bassist Lucia Turino and banjo player Cooper McBean – are originally from Vermont, but Bernhard and McBean met and started making music in Olympia,; they eventually become a trio in Santa Cruz, California.

“Early on, we wanted to play the kind of music that we loved, and most of that was pretty old music,” Bernhard said. “But we also wanted to try and take that sound and make it relevant, at least lyrically relevant, to now. We didn’t want to write songs that seemed like they were from a different time.”

The Devil Makes Three has released four studio albums since forming in 2002, and two of those (2009’s “Do Wrong Right” and 2013’s “I’m a Stranger Here”) cracked the Top 10 on Billboard’s bluegrass charts. The band’s next album won’t hit the shelves until spring, but Bernhard said it’s going to be a collection of obscure folk songs that he re-arranged to fit the group’s distinctive style.

“With most of the songs, I don’t think anyone will have heard them before,” Bernhard said. “It’s sort of a nod to our inspirations. … We changed things a lot, so it was almost like rewriting the songs. It’s almost like a study in how other people write.”

The recording process on the upcoming record was as old school as its material: To best capture the raucous, unpredictable energy of a live performance, they crowd everyone into a room and play around the same microphone.

“We take the Sun Records approach,” Bernard said, referring to the legendary Memphis studio where much of Elvis Presley’s earliest work was created. “Even if we’re going to have drums or pedal steel on a song, we get everybody in the same room, we count off the song and we play it. That’s what our records are like because that’s how we play best.”

Although its primarily known as a trio, the Devil Makes Three is touring as a five-piece: Along with the regular three-person lineup, there will be a percussionist and a fiddle player at the Knitting Factory show.

“It’s always the three of us, but we add and subtract depending,” Bernhard said. “We like to keep it that way. It’s nice to be the three of us and play a small, intimate gig, or trying to bring on other musicians to mess around and experiment for a much bigger gig. We always like to keep it interesting, make sure there are some surprises. At this point, we’re sort of like a big family, so touring is pretty fun and pretty easy.”

Bernhard said his band’s music is best experienced in a live setting, where the Devil Makes Three’s punk influences are a bit more apparent.

“We’ve always been a live band,” Bernhard said. “I think we’re at our best when we’re onstage. Some bands really love the studio and hate being on the road, and we’re the exact opposite.”