The Old 13 String Bandits is the American roots project of Wisconsin musician Devin Thunhorst, a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose path to the stage winds through cornfields, freight yards, punk clubs, and back again.

Raised in the county outside Des Moines, Iowa, within sight of cornfields and under the crackle of a well-worn stereo, Devin was born into music. His parents—avid Beatles vinyl collectors despite scraping by on very little—filled the house with harmony. His mother sang lullabies at bedtime and taught him to sing harmonies young, while his grandfather, still playing small-town Iowa gatherings well into his eighties, showed him that music was less about spotlight and more about fellowship. By eleven he was secretly dubbing Nirvana tapes in his bedroom, finding language for the ache of divorce, poverty, and feeling like an outsider. Trumpet and trombone came first, but at thirteen, a Fender classical guitar—and six months of lessons that taught him how to practice—set him firmly on his path.

Devin began performing publicly at sixteen, sitting in with his grandfather’s band, and went on to win his high school Battle of the Bands. At eighteen, he became the frontman for metal outfit Twisted Youth, later touring with various bluegrass and old-time projects and leading the punk band Curseword. His twenties were restless and hard-lived. He hitchhiked, busked, rode freight trains, wrestled with addiction, and learned manhood the hard way—through mistakes, near-death scares, homelessness, burned bridges, and hard reckonings. Somewhere between Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly, Django Reinhardt and Dock Boggs, Doc Watson and Western swing, rebellion gave way to something deeper: a longing for the roots of American music and a heritage worth reclaiming.

At twenty-nine, Devin got sober, married, and moved to the country, now based in Port Wing, Wisconsin (an hour outside Duluth on the south shore of Lake Superior). After a 6-year hiatus from music to work on himself and deal with his personal shortcomings and the wreckage of his past, he rebuilt both his life and his sound. Teaching himself old-time fiddle from archival recordings and late-night study sessions, he dove into country blues and Western swing guitar. In the winter of 2025–2026, he made a personal pilgrimage to New Orleans, learning traditional jazz and country blues from street musicians in the French Quarter and absorbing the living pulse of the music at its source.

Performing as The Old 13 String Bandits, his live show can vary from a foot-stomping one-man-band spectacle—resonator guitar, harmonica, kazoo, and foot percussion—to sometimes expanding into a full string-and-horn outfit featuring upright bass and fiddle. Drawing comparisons to Bob Wills, Jimmie Rodgers, Fats Waller, and Tom Waits, his music carries the grit of street performance and the fire of his punk years, but now leans toward redemption, rural life, fatherhood, and hard-won joy.

In support of his 2025 release Barkin’ Up the Wrong Tree, Devin toured a route that cut straight through the middle of America, chasing the Mississippi South to New Orleans—performing in Duluth, St. Paul, Des Moines, Kansas City (opening for Pentagram String Band), Eureka Springs, New Orleans, and Austin. He has also appeared at regional festivals including FiddleFest (Seeley, WI), SoundCheq Music Fest and Dandelion Days (Washburn, WI), opened for Grand Ole Opry performers Vincent & Dailey at The Big Top Chautauqua in Bayfield, WI, and made two appearances on WOJB Radio’s The Afternoon Show with Jeffrey Jones.

These aren’t songs of nostalgia—they’re songs of survival and belonging. From freight yards to cornfields to the streets of New Orleans and back to the Northwoods, The Old 13 String Bandits invites audiences not just to listen, but to dance, take part, and reconnect with the deep well of American roots music.