BLUEGRASS band Trampled By Turtles like to go their own way.

The popular roots act return to Glasgow tonight for a gig at the Art School, having recently released their eighth album, Wild Animals.

Like all the Minnesota five-piece's previous work, it's a record they've released through their own label, BanjoDad Records, despite the fact their popularity has risen so much that they could easily sign for a major record company.

That's not the way the band like to operate, though.

"Thirty years ago it might have been a crazy business move but in 2014 I don't see any reason to work with a major label," says Erik Berry, their mandolin player.

"All they seem to be doing is trying to scramble around grabbing other sources of income besides selling recorded music."

Wild Animals does mark some changes for the group, who've now been going for over a decade.

They first made their name with fast covers of pop and rock songs and a selection of rapid-fire originals.

The pace was more punk than folk, but their last couple of records have featured slower elements coming into the mix, with the folksy Wild Animals their most mellow, thoughtful album yet.

Such a change has inevitably met a mixed response, with some fans demanding a return to the style of the helter-skelter older material.

"To be honest, it's easy to get frustrated when someone complains about that because I feel very strongly that this record is one of our best pieces of work," says Erik.

"That said, I try to remind myself that no band ever receives zero criticism and if our band ever released a record to universal praise I wonder what sort of music would be on it.

"Over the years it seems that people who wish we were doing something different assume there's something else motivating us besides us.

"We still just make the music we want to play, but in 11 years the music we want to play has changed a little. It's only natural."

The album involves other changes, too. For the first time the band worked with an outside producer, in the shape of Alan Sparhawk, from fellow Minnesota band Low, while they also took longer over the record.

Usually they've worked on their albums in their own studio, a log cabin near their home, and wrapped the album up in a couple of days.

Bringing a producer on board changed that approach.

"We wanted to go with an outside producer to attempt to push us into some different spaces," explains Erik.

"We've made most of our records with more or less the same approach and we wanted to see if there was a different way to do it.

"We chose Alan for a handful of reasons, but probably the most important of them would be that we are all fans of his work and close enough to him personally to consider him a friend, which put him in a very trusted position."

One thing that has always boosted the quintet has been the local arts scene in Duluth, the Minnesota city where the band formed.

Erik reckons the city provided a huge amount of inspiration as the group came together.

"It's my firmly held opinion that the close proximity to Lake Superior fosters creativity," he adds.

"The place is a hotbed of musicians, poets, artists, potters and other craftspeople. There are three iron forges within 5 miles of my house!

"Specific to music, when we were coming up it seemed like all the bands knew each other because the town and the scene isn't big enough to splinter into genres.

"It has a handful of venues that everybody plays.

"It isn't cliquey so there were lots of shows with punk bands, reggae DJs, singer-songwriters, etc.

"I loved it. Nowadays I'm married with two kids so when I'm home I don't get to experience the local music scene like I used to. I miss it."

He does still enjoy life on the road, though, including their second Glasgow visit this year, after a Celtic Connections gig in January.

"At Celtic Connections I got to watch a wonderful Elephant Revival show and then took a long walk back to the hotel admiring the architecture," he says.

"What I like best about coming to Europe and the UK is, since we don't come here that often we are playing smaller, more intimate venues than we usually get to in the US."

l Trampled By Turtles, Art School, tonight, £15, 7.30pm