LOWELL — When Robbie Wulfsohn and his band Ripe were getting off the ground at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, they started as a “house party band” where they charged little for tickets to shows, even selling them by hand outside the venues they would be playing at.
Now, 15 years since the group first got together, they have found success to the point of being able to go on tour, which they first started doing in 2016. In the middle of their current tour, Ripe will perform at Boarding House Park Sunday evening as part of the ongoing Lowell Summer Music Series.
Ripe will be one of three acts performing as part of the series in Lowell this weekend, with solo multi-instrumentalist Iron & Wine performing Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium and blues guitarist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram taking the LMA stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Ripe will perform at Boarding House Park at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, the same venue the other two acts were set to play at before the weather forecast moved them indoors.
In a call with The Sun Wednesday, Wulfsohn said the growth the band has seen since forming in 2011 has been “stunning,” and that where they find themselves now feels like where they had all imagined they could be as kids.
Ripe’s current tour is taking them back and forth across the country. The day before their show in Lowell the group is set to play in Eagle, Colorado, with the Lowell Summer Music Series show kicking off a stretch of New England venues before they head to Delaware, New Jersey, New York and beyond. None of the bandmates were originally from Massachusetts, but the region holds a special place for them because Boston is where it all got started.
“We formed in Boston, and one of the things that led to us making the jump to be able to do this for the rest of our lives was the communities in Massachusetts believing in us,” Wulfsohn said Wednesday. “So when we get the opportunity to play in these rooms, to play in these towns, it feels really nice. They allowed us to crawl our way through to where we are now.”
Ripe’s current lineup consists of Wulfsohn as the lead vocalist, Jon Becker on guitar, Sampson Hellerman on drums, Christian “Yogi” Saint-Louis on bass, Cade Gotthart on the trumpet and Calvin Barthel on the trombone.
Wulfsohn did not name a specific genre the band could be described as, and he said the band’s sound can change even depending on the year. Still, he said there are consistencies.
“We have always had elements of dance. There is a real kinetic energy to our music. The horns are also super crucial for the band,” said Wulfsohn.
While he did not want to say Ripe is firmly a rock band, he said “the umbrella of rock feels more and more like what we are doing.”
“We feel really lucky to be doing this. We are really deeply thrilled to be able to do this in this capacity,” said Wulfsohn.
Tickets for all three shows can be purchased at lowellsummermusic.org.
Several more shows are scheduled into September, including: Watchhouse, Friday, Aug. 14; Pink Talking Fish, Saturday, Aug. 15; The Record Company’s Give It Back To You 10th Anniversary Tour featuring special guest the Charlie Musselwhite Duo, Thursday, Aug. 20; Lotus Land: American Rush Tribute Band, Friday, Aug. 21; Margo Price, Friday, Sept. 4; and Graham Nash — Live on Tour 2026, Sunday, Sept. 13.
Original article
Comments