Meet the Newcomers: Broken Compass Bluegrass
02/17/2026 11:00AM ● By Sophie Dingle
Photo courtesy of Broken Compass Bluegrass.
Meet the newcomers to this year’s WinterWonderGrass: Broken Compass Bluegrass. Hailing from Northern California, the band – made up of Kyle Ledson, Django Ruckrich, Mei Lin Heirendt and Sam Jacobs – emerged in 2021. They may be young, but they are mighty. With a reputation for electric live performances and an ever-expanding fan base, Broken Compass Bluegrass is making a scene in the jamgrass world. Steamboat Magazine spoke with Kyle, Django and Mei Lin ahead of this month’s festival.
Steamboat Magazine: You guys are new to WinterWonderGrass this year – are you ready to play in sub-zero temperatures?
Kyle Ledson: We’re so excited. We play in the Tahoe area a lot and we’ve done the Tahoe WinterWonderGrass twice before, so that’s probably 70% of the cold that we’ll experience in Steamboat. We’re tuning ourselves a little bit because it will definitely be quite the temperature difference. But we’re very excited to get back out to Colorado because we love playing in that state; there’s such a love for our type of music.
Django Ruckrich: I’m gonna go to Goodwill and get a nice winter jacket. The lineup looks stacked and we’re really excited to see some other bands out there.
S.M.: We did an interview with Magoo the other week and they spoke very highly of you guys. Who are you looking forward to seeing at WinterWonderGrass?
Mei Lin Heirendt: Literally the entire lineup! The Dusters, Mountain Grass Unit, Magoo…
S.M.: What do you think that Broken Compass brings to the genre of bluegrass?
K.L.: This genre is so diverse at this point. It's been around for 80-ish years and there's been all these different really cool sub-genres, like New Grass Revival who was breaking boundaries a long time ago. There's so many people who we look up to and take influence from who take the bluegrass genre and flip it on its head. We’re so far away from the bluegrass capital that we tend to have our own interpretation of it which is fun.
S.M.: What is that interpretation? Where do you find inspiration?
K.L.: Well me and Django literally live out in the middle of nowhere, in the mountains. To me, that reminds me a lot of an old mining town or Appalachia. I feel like that brings a lot of natural inspiration. Also finding experiences when we’re on the road and getting what we can out of that.
S.M.: Aside from WinterWonderGrass, what are your plans for 2026?
M.L.H.: We’re heading to MerleFest this spring, which we're really excited about. We've got a full summer of shows coming together and we’re looking forward to putting some miles on our van and getting out there and exploring.
S.M.: Do you have any pre-show rituals as a band?
K.L.: Django, I feel like you have some stuff that you’ve got to take care of.
D.R.: Hmm yeah, I have to make sure I have a full water bottle. Gotta run some arpeggios and, you know ... jump up and down, hype myself up and go ‘woo lets do this!’ And then I sprint on stage, count us down and we’re off to the races.
Meet the newcomers to this year’s WinterWonderGrass: Broken Compass Bluegrass. Hailing from Northern California, the band – made up of Kyle Ledson, Django Ruckrich, Mei Lin Heirendt and Sam Jacobs – emerged in 2021. They may be young, but they are mighty. With a reputation for electric live performances and an ever-expanding fan base, Broken Compass Bluegrass is making a scene in the jamgrass world. Steamboat Magazine spoke with Kyle, Django and Mei Lin ahead of this month’s festival.
Steamboat Magazine: You guys are new to WinterWonderGrass this year – are you ready to play in sub-zero temperatures?
Kyle Ledson: We’re so excited. We play in the Tahoe area a lot and we’ve done the Tahoe WinterWonderGrass twice before, so that’s probably 70% of the cold that we’ll experience in Steamboat. We’re tuning ourselves a little bit because it will definitely be quite the temperature difference. But we’re very excited to get back out to Colorado because we love playing in that state; there’s such a love for our type of music.
Django Ruckrich: I’m gonna go to Goodwill and get a nice winter jacket. The lineup looks stacked and we’re really excited to see some other bands out there.
S.M.: We did an interview with Magoo the other week and they spoke very highly of you guys. Who are you looking forward to seeing at WinterWonderGrass?
Mei Lin Heirendt: Literally the entire lineup! The Dusters, Mountain Grass Unit, Magoo…
S.M.: What do you think that Broken Compass brings to the genre of bluegrass?
K.L.: This genre is so diverse at this point. It's been around for 80-ish years and there's been all these different really cool sub-genres, like New Grass Revival who was breaking boundaries a long time ago. There's so many people who we look up to and take influence from who take the bluegrass genre and flip it on its head. We’re so far away from the bluegrass capital that we tend to have our own interpretation of it which is fun.
S.M.: What is that interpretation? Where do you find inspiration?
K.L.: Well me and Django literally live out in the middle of nowhere, in the mountains. To me, that reminds me a lot of an old mining town or Appalachia. I feel like that brings a lot of natural inspiration. Also finding experiences when we’re on the road and getting what we can out of that.
S.M.: Aside from WinterWonderGrass, what are your plans for 2026?
M.L.H.: We’re heading to MerleFest this spring, which we're really excited about. We've got a full summer of shows coming together and we’re looking forward to putting some miles on our van and getting out there and exploring.
S.M.: Do you have any pre-show rituals as a band?
K.L.: Django, I feel like you have some stuff that you’ve got to take care of.
D.R.: Hmm yeah, I have to make sure I have a full water bottle. Gotta run some arpeggios and, you know ... jump up and down, hype myself up and go ‘woo lets do this!’ And then I sprint on stage, count us down and we’re off to the races.