North Carolina band Mipso have a relationship that, as bassist Wood Robinson puts it, is “way more than friendship, and way different than family.”

Friends since their undergraduate days at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Mipso began touring and recording shortly after graduation. Now, 13 years on with six studio albums and more than 1,200 shows under their belts, the members of Mipso have decided to take an indefinite hiatus purely to focus on other areas of their lives.

In the middle of their Farewell For Now Tour, Mipso made a stop in the Twin Cities, where they found time to make a fourth visit to The Current studio for a Radio Heartland session.

More from The Current

• Studio Session: Mipso perform in the Radio Heartland studio (2015)
• Studio Session: Mipso share three songs from their new album, 'Coming Down the Mountain' (2017)
• Studio Session: Mipso perform in the Radio Heartland studio (2018)

Watch and listen to Mipso’s song performances in the video player above, and take in a conversation with Mipso as they reflect on 13 years of music and friendship in the video below.

Video Transcript

Wood Robinson: Nothing feels quite so centering as being on the soil that you grew up on. And I kind of feel the same way about the band, about Mipso.

Jacob Sharp: I mean, it's crazy. We played around 1,200 concerts together, been on the road years at a time where you're gone much more than you’re home. And the challenge when you hit anything in volume like that is, how does it not blend into this one blob? How do you keep it separate? How do you stay present? And I think at our best, that was one of the things that we collectively saw the most frequently, is you'd go to this town and someone would show you what's beautiful about it. And you might not be predisposed to find, see that same beauty, but if you're willing to listen, then you can find it, too.

Libby Rodenbough: This way of life, if you can figure out an adaptation to make it feel good for you, then you can probably find moments of inner peace in almost any scenario. I wouldn't say that I've achieved perfection in the realm of locating inner peace, but I'm much, much better at it because of having done this for a living and done it with these people all this time.

Wood Robinson: Over the past 15 years, these three that surround me have become — it's an incredibly strange relationship. It's way more than friendship, and way different than family.

Joseph Terrell: Now, as much as ever in my time making music, it seems like there's so many, like, competing motivations and so many ways of desiring attention. You know, check the reasons you're doing it. Not to say I would assume you don't have good ones, but hold on to the good ones, you know?

Jacob Sharp: I think one thing we've done well is ignore some of the industry norms and the quote-unquote good advice and just do what seems like is the right mixture of these four minds and hearts in the moment.

Gallery: Mipso in studio

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Songs performed

00:00:00 People Change
00:04:27 Carolina Rolling By
00:09:01 Singing Song
Song 1 from Mipso’s 2018 album, Edges Run, available on AntiFragile Music; song 2 from their 2023 release, Book of Fools; and song 3 is a 2025 single release.

Musicians

Joseph Terrell – acoustic guitar, vocals
Jacob Sharp – acoustic guitar, mando, vocals
Libby Rodenbough – fiddle, vocals
Wood Robinson – upright bass, vocals

Credits

Guests – Mipso
Host/Producer – Mike Pengra
Producer – Derrick Stevens
Video – Evan Clark
Audio – Eric Xu Romani
Graphics – Natalia Toledo
Digital Production – Reed Fischer, Luke Taylor

External Link

Mipso – official site