The Black Twig Pickers work in the same classic template of the Appalachian string bands of the early 20th century, reproducing and reinterpreting the timeless traditional mountain catalog on banjo, guitar, fiddle, and washboard. After releasing their first album, North Fork Flyer, in 2001, they went on to record for labels including VHF and Thrill Jockey, and collaborated with the likes of Jack Rose (2009's Jack Rose the Black Twig Pickers), Charlie Parr (2010's Glory in the Meeting House), and Steve Gunn (2015's Seasonal Hire). Their 2021 album, Friend's Peace, coincided with the 20-year anniversary of the band's debut.

Formed in Appalachia in the late 1990s, the core of the Black Twig Pickers (they often work with guests sitting in) is Mike Gangloff (vocals, guitar, fiddle), Isak Howell (guitar, harmonica), and Nathan Bowles (washboard, banjo, percussion), Virginia and West Virginia natives who shared a love of old-time mountain folk and blues. The group launched a series of independent albums, usually recorded in living rooms or on back porches, with North Fork Flyer on VHF Records in 2001. Big Banjo Blues followed on Klang Records a year later. They returned to VHF for Soon One Morning in 2003 and remained with the label for the rest of the decade, issuing Midnight Has Come and Gone in 2005 and Hobo Handshake in 2008. A collaborative album with Jack Rose, Jack Rose the Black Twig Pickers, saw release in mid-2009.with the 20-year anniversary of the band's debut.

The group next teamed up with like-minded Minnesota singer/songwriter Charlie Parr for the 2010 House of Mercy Recordings release Glory in the Meeting House. That same year, the Black Twig Pickers signed with Thrill Jockey, which issued the full-length Ironto Special. A split-LP with Glenn Jones, Even to Win Is to Fail/Eastmont Syrup (with Parr), followed in 2011. The group returned with an EP, Whompyjawed, a year later before 2013's Rough Carpenters saw them joined by bassist Joseph DeJarnette and fiddler/vocalist Sally Anne Morgan. Morgan stayed on with the group for 2015's Seasonal Hire, a live-in-the-studio set with guitarist Steve Gunn that included four original tunes and one traditional song. The Black Twig Pickers parted ways with Thrill Jockey and returned to VHF for 2021's Friend's Peace. ~ Marcy Donelson & Steve Leggett, Rovi