The Devil Makes Three play upright bass, tenor banjo and acoustic guitar with no drum kit, yet their shows feel like basement punk gigs. This episode follows how childhood friends Pete Bernhard and Cooper McBean went from punk bands around Brattleboro, Vermont, through Nashville and Olympia, Washington, to Santa Cruz, California, where they reconnected with Lucia Turino and formed the trio in 2001.

We trace the self-released 2002 debut, the live album A Little Bit Faster and a Little Bit Worse, the surprising signing to film-score label Milan Records, the 2010 split across Vermont, California and Texas, chart success with I’m a Stranger Here, Redemption and Ruin and Chains Are Broken on New West Records, Turino’s 2019 departure, Morgan Eve Swain joining on bass and vocals, and the 2025 album Spirits.

• How slap bass and driving banjo replace a drummer
• Why a soundtrack label heard something cinematic in a string band
• How living in three states fed new regional influences into the music
• Why the trio took seven years between studio albums
• Treating old-time and blues music as something to rebuild rather than preserve