The Bear @ Central Square Records

The Bear is the brainchild of husband and wife singer/songwriters Louisa Murray and Nathan Pitts.  Based in the Shoals area of North Alabama, the couple began The Bear as a duo, but gradually added an ensemble of multi-instrumentalists. Kyle Minckler, Ben Stedman, Daniel Stoddard, and Ben Tanner accompany Murray and Pitts, rotating on drums, upright and electric basses, guitar, pedal steel, banjo, ukulele, flute, and a variety of keyboards and percussion instruments.  The result is a widely varied sound that is difficult to pigeonhole but consistently surprising and exciting.