Songs from In Lieu of Flowers: Whittled Down to Nothing

Join Dave Englund, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and founder of Warwick Americana band In Lieu of Flowers, for a track-by-track look at the band’s self-titled, debut album.

Discover the story behind a song, and listen to the complete tune.

Today, hear about the song Whittled Down to Nothing.

Visit the In Lieu of Flowers ⁠website⁠.

In April 2021, singer-songwriter Dave Englund called his longtime friend, bassist and songwriter Steve Wolfe and asked if he'd be interested in creating an acoustic/electric Americana band, leaving the loud guitars in the rearview and opting for a more vocal-driven, vintage, thumping sound. Steve agreed.

After running a series of specific ads tailored to each musician's seat, the phone calls started coming in. Drummer, percussionist and vocalist Mark Vadnais showed up to play on Dave's back deck. Immediately the snaky soulful grooves started happening. Two weeks later, Chris Taylor answered the ad, jumped on deck, opened his Gretsch case, and delivered his unique guitar vibe, insuring his ticket in.

In November, an old acquaintance of Dave and Steve's, violinist and mandolin player Ernie Lau got the phone call asking him to come jam and see if he'd be a good fit for this new group. His focus on classical violin as opposed to bluegrass fiddle brought a new and needed color, and he joined in November.

Rounding out the band a month later in December was pedal steel guitarist Jim Wishart who answered the final ad, having been a guitarist for many years but only recently started playing the steel guitar, his musicality and playing coated every song he played on. Jim was in and In Lieu of Flowers was complete!