The Hillbilly Thomists - Topic

The Hillbilly Thomists are an American bluegrass band comprising friars from the Province of St. Joseph of the Dominican Order. Formed at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., in 2014, the band played music locally as a form of street evangelization before releasing their self-titled first studio album in 2017. The band has released three further albums: Living for the Other Side, Holy Ghost Power, and Marigold, with their first, third, and fourth albums appearing near the top of the Billboard bluegrass chart.
Austin Litke and Thomas Joseph White, both Dominican priests, founded the band and initially played Irish traditional music. The band expanded to comprise Litke, White, and eight Dominican brothers in 2017; Litke and White remain band members with six other Dominicans in 2024.
The band's name references a letter by author Flannery O'Connor. She frequently read Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica and believed that her readers should think of her not as a "hillbilly nihilist" but as a "hillbilly Thomist". The Hillbilly Thomists' music draws upon Appalachian music, Protestant spirituals, and Catholic themes.