If you trace back the tradition of stringband music (guitar, banjo, fiddle, bass; sometimes mandolin and/or dobro), you'll find folk, country, bluegrass, ragtime, and several other styles. Nowadays, some of the most remarkable stringbands are pulling not only from those rich traditions, but also modern rock, soul, gospel, jazz and r&b. In the wrong hands, this amalgamated music style could sound and feel like chaos. But, a handful of hugely artful stringbands seem to have the whole thing nailed, pulling stringband music into the 21st Century.

Here's a look at five of those bands, to serve as an introductory primer...

•Sankofa Strings/Carolina Chocolate Drops

Sankofa Strings is a North Carolina-based African-American stringband. Though they're currently on hiatus, their spinoff band, Carolina Chocolate Drops (an impressive modern jugband) have been working hard off their most recent release, Genuine Negro Jig. Both Sankofa and the Chocolate Drops are firmly rooted and influenced deeply by traditional music. However, they take the styles informed by the past and apply them to modern music (see Chocolate Drops' fiddle-and-beat-box version of Blu Cantrell's "Hit Em Up Style). More »

•Crooked Still

Crooked Still is another band who started their career on the bluegrass festival circuit, hailed as one of the most promising up-and-coming bluegrass stringbands. However, with the release of their latest album, Some Strange Country, Crooked Still took a decisive step toward a more non-traditional musical style. The sound created on this disc can only be described as "Crooked Still-ish," which is in line with this recent genre-nonspecific stringband trend. While it's informed by tradition, Crooked Still's music is decidedly an expression of their own creation. More »

•Dave Rawlings Machine

Known chiefly as being the remarkable guitar player support system for Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings launched the first album from his own band (which includes Welch) in 2009. Through that disc and the ensuing Dave Rawlings Machine tour, the troupe proved to be a fierce and undeniable machine of stringband music. While they throw some more traditional songs into the mix, there are also tunes by more modern folks like Ryan Adams. More »

•Infamous Stringdusters

Rooted in bluegrass, the Infamous Stringdusters burst on the scene a few years back with their celebrated debut Fork in the Road. Over the past few years since that release, though, the troupe have shown themselves to be open and influenced by a number of different styles. Their latest release, Things That Fly, veers from that bluegrass tradition to incorporate all their other influences.  More »

•Punch Brothers

Ask most folk fans who the most innovative stringband is right now, and chances are they'll mention Punch Brothers without having to think about it too much. Frontman Chris Thile seems to have tossed out the notion of trying to make any specific style of music long ago and, as a result, Punch Brothers are a band who simply plays the kind of music they make, whatever that is. More »