The Seven Hills Pickers - First Album

Hello, we are The Seven Hills Pickers, an acoustic instrumental trio, and we are looking for your support to release our first album.

We are an acoustic trio dedicated to spreading Bluegrass in Portugal. We are about to release our debut album, which is also the first instrumental bluegrass album played entirely by Portuguese musicians, and we would love to have your support for this project!

• The project

The Seven Hills Pickers emerged from the common interest of three friends in playing and promoting Bluegrass, a style that is underrepresented in Portugal.

Our first album will consist of ten adaptations of songs from the traditional repertoire of the style, with songs composed by the creator of Bluegrass (Bill Monroe) and other musicians of the genre, as well as traditional songs reimagined in the Bluegrass style, specifically:

1. New Camptown Races (Frank Wakefield)
2. Cheyenne (Bill Monroe)
3. Bluegrass Stomp (Bill Monroe)
4. Black Mountain Rag (Leslie Keith)
5. Southern Flavor (Bill Monroe)
6. Alabama Jubilee (George L. Cobb)
7. Lonesome Moonlight Waltz (Bill Monroe)
8. Beaumont Rag (author unknown - traditional)
9. Big Sciota (author unknown - traditional)
10. Cherokee Shuffle (author unknown - traditional)

• Bluegrass

Bluegrass is a style of American popular/traditional music, created in the 1940s by Bill Monroe, with roots in the music of the Appalachian Mountains and influenced by blues, jazz, folk , Irish , and country.

The name comes from its creator: "Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys," with Bluegrass being a reference to the state of Kentucky (known as the "Bluegrass State"), where Bill Monroe was born.

It is characterized by a purely acoustic instrumentation with mostly of stringed instruments, such as banjo, mandolin, guitar, violin, and double bass. Although it typically features harmony singing, it is common for all bands to include instrumental pieces in their repertoires.   

About the author

Hailing directly from the city of seven hills, The Seven Hills Pickers are an instrumental trio with roots in American Bluegrass music. Through André Dal's banjo rolls, Bernardo Fazenda's mandolin double stops, and Tomás Alcaso's flatpicking, The Seven Hills Pickers bring the roots of instrumental Bluegrass music to the Portuguese scene, where the traditional music of the Appalachian mountains intersects with jazz, blues, swing, and Irish music.

The group is dedicated to promoting the Bluegrass style, a traditional American music genre. This project holds particular cultural relevance in the national landscape, due to the rarity of the genre in Portugal and Europe, and the desire to showcase versions of the traditional repertoire of reference (such as Bill Monroe, Frank Wakefield, among others).

Budget and due dates

Budget:

1. Studio, editing, mixing and mastering - €2 100
2. Graphic design - 500 €
3. Industrial replication of CDs – €460
4. Licenses - €110
5. Audiovisual – €200 (estimated value)
6. T-shirts and other promotional material - €450
7. Subtotal - 3 820 €
8. Commission + VAT PPL (7.5%) (23%) = € 138.38
   1. Over the amount requested in the crowdfunding campaign: €1,500 (approximately 37.5% of the total cost)
9. Total: €3,958.38

Timeline:

• Crowdfunding campaign: March 13th to April 30th, 2026.
• Rewards will be sent out in May 2026.
• Album release date: June 27, 2026

Images