After twenty-five years of touring, musical risk-taking, and a steady rise from Kalamazoo bar gigs to festival headliner status, Greensky Bluegrass are celebrating the milestone the only way they know how, by reinventing themselves. Their new album, XXV, is far from a greatest hits collection, it’s a living, breathing reimagining of the band’s history. Formed in 2000, Anders Beck (dobro), Michael Arlen Bont (banjo), Dave Bruzza (guitar), Mike Devol (upright bass), and Paul Hoffman (mandolin) have long defied the boundaries of bluegrass. They’ve built their sound and their community from the ground up, turning traditional string music into something meaningful for modern times and unmistakably their own. It’s clear they’ve come to represent the scene for today’s players.

With XXV, Greensky take a well-deserved victory lap, but it’s one that looks forward as much as back. The album gathers reimagined versions of fan favorites from across their discography, each one a visitation between past and present. It’s a nod to the road they’ve traveled and the people who’ve come along with them. And they’ve also brought a few friends along for the ride. Among them are bluegrass royalty Sam Bush, who joins the band on a fiery new version of “Can’t Stop Now.” Originally written and recorded by Bush’s own New Grass Revival and long a staple in Greensky’s live sets, the song now gets a full-circle moment, a passing of the torch between generations of progressive pickers.

“Sam’s influence is woven into everything we do,” says mandolinist Paul Hoffman. “Getting to collaborate with him on this track was more than special—it was grounding. It reminded us why we started playing this music in the first place.”

Other guests include Billy Strings, who brings his trademark lightning-strike guitar work to one of Greensky’s deep cuts, and Lindsay Lou, whose haunting harmonies lend new shades of soul to a longtime fan favorite. Together, they help the band recontextualize 25 years of music through the lens of everything they’ve learned, and lived, along the way.

Despite its reflective nature, XXV never feels lost in the past. There’s a forward momentum baked into these re-recordings, the same spirit that’s driven Greensky Bluegrass since day one. “Can’t Stop Now,” in more ways than one, might as well be their mantra.