Bearfoot (American band)

Bearfoot was a post-bluegrass band that formed in Alaska in 1999 as Bearfoot Bluegrass. The original all-Alaskan band competed in and won the 26th annual Telluride Bluegrass band contest in 2001, and returned in 2002 to perform in the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. They eventually changed their name to Bearfoot as their music evolved including Americana, post-bluegrass, and string instrument based pop. They wrote many songs including (the writing) the Alaskan epic Fishtrap Joe, based on one of the historical struggles in Alaska (between locals and Seattle fish empires over fish traps) and the finding of an old skeleton near Cordova, Alaska by two boys, one of which (Mike Mickelson) became a founding Bearfoot Bluegrass band member.