NYBG Concert on the Lawn - Mipso

Ben Hider - Event, Food and Portrait Photographer based in New York City and Westchester

Over the years the group has claimed various origins of the word "Mipso." In 2013 guitarist Joseph Terrell stated that the members "just came up with it." In 2013 bassist Wood Robinson claimed that the name referred to a now defunct Japanese appliance manufacturer, crediting Jacob Sharp's thesis research into post-war Japan with unearthing a reference to the company. Sharp confirmed this version of the story in an interview with Bluegrass Today. In a September 2015 interview with Raleigh's News & Observer, however, Terrell revealed a new origin story, claiming to want to dispel previous rumors. “There’s a phrase in Japan,” he explains, “it means something familiar, but there’s something a little bit off. And it roughly translates, or at least we were told, to ‘a little pee in the miso.’ And so we put a little P in the miso: Mipso.” This story has subsequently been published and re-confirmed in various publications.