Michael Prewitt

Michael Prewitt grew up on traditional bluegrass, took a long detour through graduate school in North Dakota, and came back to music by way of a voicemail from Greg Cahill. Now he leads a band named after a fast food order.

A bluegrass kid in southeastern Kentucky

Michael grew up in the Cumberland Mountain foothills of southeastern Kentucky. His dad was a big bluegrass fan, and the house ran on cassette tapes of J.D. Crowe and Flatt & Scruggs. His middle and high school had an after-school bluegrass band sponsored by the school district, and every year the band went to IBMA.

He was a self-described little bluegrass nerd. He called in to Chris Jones's show on SiriusXM and once left a voicemail in his best Lester Flatt voice, a memory that still haunts him. He met Jones at IBMA and kept in touch for years.

As a teenager he found the Grateful Dead and John Hartford online, and his taste ran from traditional toward the experimental. Old time came later, in his mid-twenties.

The North Dakota detour

Michael earned a degree in English literature. Late in his senior year, a professor asked if he had ever thought about grad school. He had not. Then the University of North Dakota sent him an invitation, and the far north had always pulled at him. He moved there two months later, earned his graduate degree, and taught at UND for a couple of years. He spent most of his twenties in North Dakota and Minnesota.

He had mostly quit bluegrass by then. The problem, as he saw it, was that no middle ground seemed to exist.

"Growing up, I didn't realize that there was anything in between somebody who jammed every Friday at the cabin and Ricky Skaggs. You could either be a superstar or you could jam."

In his mid-twenties he found that middle ground in the Twin Cities, which has a strong bluegrass and roots scene. He played with a regional band, Back Up and Push, and started building a working life in music.

The call from Greg Cahill

Around 2018 or 2019, Chris Jones put Michael on the list of fill-in mandolin players for Special Consensus. COVID canceled the tour he was booked for. Then, in 2021, band leader Greg Cahill asked Jones for a mandolin player, and Jones gave him Michael's name.

Michael did not pick up the unknown number. His phone transcribed the voicemail and spelled the name with a K. He thought it was a joke until he listened. It really was Greg Cahill, asking if he wanted the gig. Michael was working full time as a mail clerk and playing a lot of gigs on the side.

"It didn't take me two seconds to be like, yes, I'd love this gig."

He joined in the fall of 2021. For the next three years he toured with a band that, in his words, tours as much as anyone.

Two records, back to back

On a Special Consensus flight, Michael was listening to the Kentucky Colonels' live records. The sound was rough and the mics buzzed, and he loved it anyway.

"Here I am, 50 years later, listening to it on an airplane, and loving it. This is exactly what I needed to be hearing at this moment."

That became The Peerless Mountain Sessions: a trio record of mandolin, banjo and bass, with no guitar, to leave room in the middle. Brady Wallen, a friend since high school, played banjo. Dan Eubanks, his Special Consensus bandmate, played bass. They cut it live in one day with few microphones and next to no arranging. The tunes ranged from Métis fiddle tunes to old-time Kentucky tunes and Bill Monroe. It came out in 2024 on Common Loon Records, a small label out of Dothan, Alabama. His take on "Tombstone Junction" is still his most-streamed track.

That record did better than he expected, and it gave him the confidence for a bigger one. Something He Can Handle, a full-band album of mostly original songs, followed in the fall of 2024 and has earned steady SiriusXM play.

CrunchGrass Supreme

Michael left Special Consensus at the end of 2024, after giving a year's notice. He wanted a break from the road and more control over when, where and how he works. He moved back to Kentucky, where he teaches English online at the university in Williamsburg.

The band name goes back a few years earlier. After a pickup gig at a bluegrass bar on Lower Broadway in Nashville, Michael walked past the Taco Bell on Broadway, which has its own stage and drum kit. He announced that his life goal was to play there. He would need a band for that, and a name. "CrunchGrass Supreme" came out on the spot, and he told his friends not to steal it. When dates started coming in for 2025, he never came up with anything better.

"It's not maybe the best thing in the world, but at 2:00 AM sometimes it's as good as you can get."

The band was an official showcase artist at IBMA in Chattanooga in 2025. At a late-night showcase that same week, he ate a Crunchwrap Supreme on stage in the middle of a song. There is video.

Next up

Next is his first album of all original songs, recorded by the band itself with no session players, with a fall 2026 release in view. His website lists the new collection as Poor Ol' Pitiful Human. The band has festival dates from Colorado to Missouri to Alberta to North Dakota. Michael also plays solo shows, house concerts and duo shows with bandmate Aaron Bibelhauser, and planned a three-week solo tour of England.

"I'm never happier than when I'm playing music and on the road."

Off stage, he collects vintage trucker hats, including a 1987 Minnesota Twins World Series cap. The Cincinnati Reds are his National League team. He also collects vinyl, CDs and cassettes, and is working through the whole Flying Fish Records catalog in order of release. Lately that means Buddy Emmons' Steel Guitar.