Full Band Bio

Clover and the Bee brings together acclaimed Minnesota songwriters Becky Schlegel, Anthony Ihrig, Eric Christopher, and Kevin Rowe, blending their bluegrass pedigree with indie-folk sensibilities to craft American roots music as free and expansive as the Upper Midwest.

The project began as a semi-regular song swap among three friends, songwriters and musical co-conspirators (Becky, Anthony and Eric) at Christopher’s house in the West 7th neighborhood of Saint Paul. 

The three dug into their songwriting back catalogs to show off songs that were either not bluegrass enough (in the case of Ihrig and Christopher’s band The High 48s), not country enough (in the case of Becky Schlegel’s solo project) or just plan too weird or idiosyncratic for any other project. 

It was at this open house for misfit songs that the three got the idea to start a new band, one whose sound showed Christopher, Ihrig and Schlegel’s country and bluegrass roots but wasn’t bound by tradition.     

With the addition of bassist and songwriter Kevin Rowe (Buffalo Gospel, Adam Greuel), who had recently moved to the Twin Cities from Madison, WI, Clover the Bee was born.

The name Clover and the Bee is inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poem “To Make a Prairie,” which captures the band’s vision to dream-up new, original music rooted in their experience of life on the urban prairie land of the Upper Midwest.