The Wire Jays, a newgrass quintet formed at the Frost School of Music last year, have developed a quirky niche: covering pop songs as bluegrass. And while they play mostly originals, they’ve had great responses to covers of songs by Chappell Roan, Maroon 5, and most of all Justin Bieber. Their cover of his 2010 hit “Baby” went viral on Instagram, garnering millions of views and nearly 600,000 likes.
“That really put us on the map,” said mandolinist Fritz Sullivan. “Our singer Vivienne [Frederick] does a great Bieber vocal impression, and I do the Ludacris rap. It’s crazy. I go home, and people tell me, ‘Oh my God, I saw your band on Instagram, it was amazing!’”
All five Wire Jays are Modern Artist Development and Entrepreneurship majors, who formed the group with the help of faculty member Brian Russell to earn a required ensemble credit. Tucker Motyka is primarily a pianist, but he also played enough banjo to own one. And Sullivan came to the Frost School as a guitarist who played a little mandolin.
“We’re all scrambling to get as good as possible on these instruments,” Sullivan said. “But it’s working out.”
While Wire Jays didn’t earn any direct payment for the viral song, the exposure brought them some windfalls, including better bookings and festival dates this summer. A club in Louisiana even flew them in to play two shows.
“We would not be getting gigs like that without the online success,” said Sullivan. “Clubs can look us up and see we have a solid following. It’s been very helpful getting us into higher-profile venues that pay well.”
Frederick, Motyka, and guitarist Benji Dienstfrey will all graduate this semester. But they plan to remain in Miami until juniors Sullivan and bassist Nick Grande graduate next year, keeping the band together and eventually relocating to Nashville.
Meanwhile, Sullivan is still playing the occasional solo gig. One of his more notable non-band performances was at last December’s Winter Wonderful fundraising gala, performing an original song he wrote in honor of departing Frost School Dean Shelton G. “Shelly” Berg. The inspiration came from a trip to Napa Valley, California, for Frost School songwriting students, where Sullivan met Berg.
“That helped me write a send-off tribute for him, with lyrics about how much he’s done for the school and how much we’ll miss him,” said Sullivan. “It was a cool honor. I didn’t realize ahead of time how big it would be.”
