Wintergrass 2024 Performers – Le Vent du Nord

The award winning and highly acclaimed band Le Vent du Nord are a leading force in Québec’s exciting and progressive Francophone folk movement. The group’s vast repertoire draws from both traditional sources and original compositions, while their highly rhythmic and soulful music, rooted in the Celtic diaspora, is enhanced with a broad range of global influences.

Since first launching in August 2002, Le Vent du Nord have enjoyed meteoric success, performing well over 2,000 concerts over 4 continents and racking up several prestigious awards, including a Grand Prix du Disque Charles Cros, two Junos (Canada’s Grammys), a Félix at ADISQ, a Canadian Folk Music Award, and “Artist of the Year” at Folk Alliance Annual Gala.

The group regularly appear on Canadian, American, French, and UK television and radio and have participated in a wide variety of special musical projects that exhibit their great finesse and flexibility. They’ve collaborated and performed with a diverse range of artists including: Harry Manx, Väsen, Dervish, The Chieftains, Breton musical pioneer Yann-Fañch Kemener, Québécois roots legend and master storyteller Michel Faubert, the Scottish folk band Breabach, Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis, and the trans-Mediterranean ensemble Constantinople.

Le Vent du Nord look beyond the standard approaches to tradition in their collaborations and they’ve also created a symphonic concert that, according to Voir Montreal, “puts all traditional folk naysayers to shame.”

On stage these five friends create intense, joyful and dynamic live performances that expand the bounds of tradition in striking global directions. This is the modern sound of tradition, a music of the here and now.

Wintergrass 2024 Performers – Jake Blount / Simon Chrisman / Nic Gareiss

Jake Blount (pronounced: blunt) is an award-winning interpreter of Black folk music based in Providence, RI. Initially recognized for his skill as a string band musician, Blount has charted an unprecedented, Afrofuturist course on his pilgrimage through sound archives and song collections. In his hands, the banjo, fiddle, electric guitar and synthesizer become ceremonial objects used to channel the insurgent creativity of his forebears. From transfixing solo sets to full-band festival appearances complete with crowd-surfing and ecstatic chants, Blount’s performances – like his recent Smithsonian Folkways release, The New Faith – seamlessly merge centuries-old traditional songs with the trappings and techniques of modern Black genres.

Blount is also a skilled educator. In addition to his on-stage offerings, his engagements frequently include lectures and presentations pertaining to both his original research and the history of Black string band music. He has shared this work at Yale University, Berklee College of Music, the Smithsonian Institution and elsewhere. He also makes regular appearances at music camps, most notably Earful of Fiddle Music & Dance Camp, offering hands-on instruction in fiddle and banjo. In the fall of 2023, Blount will begin working toward a Ph.D. in Musicology and Ethnomusicology from Brown University.

Composer and hammer dulcimer virtuoso Simon Chrisman brings an unusual style to an instrument that has previously been thought to have limited range and technique, combining “chamber music’s finely calibrated arrangements with bluegrass’s playful virtuosity and pop music’s melodic resourcefulness.” (The Boston Herald) His touch and sophisticated rhythmic sensibilities are redefining the instrument and earning the attention of musicians from all over the world. Based in Oregon, he tours with Grammy-nominated Kittel and Co, the Bee Eaters, and Wes Corbett.

One of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” Nic Gareiss (he/they) is swiftly becoming recognized for his singular voice in the realm of dance, music, and the traditional arts. Informed by 25 years of ethnographic study and performance, Gareiss’ work draws from many percussive dance practices to weave together a technique facilitating his love of improvisation; clog, flatfoot, and step dance vocabulary; and musical collaboration. He has concertized in sixteen countries with many of the luminaries of roots music and folk dance including Alasdair Fraser, Natalie Haas, Bruce Molsky, The Chieftains, Colin Dunne, Darol Anger, The Gloaming, Ira Bernstein, Liz Carroll, Phil Wiggins, and Sandy Silva. Gareiss has performed at London’s Barbican Centre, the Irish National Concert Hall, the Munich Philharmonic, and the Kennedy Center. In addition to his two solo shows The Art of Treepling and Solo Square Dance, Nic collaborates in duo projects with Allison de Groot, Caleb Teicher, Cleek Schrey, Jake Blount, Laurel Premo, Maeve Gilchrist, Simon Chrisman, Ultan O’Brien, and as a member of the quartet This is How we Fly.

Wintergrass 2024 Performers-Cathy Fink/Marcy Marxer/Chao Tian: From China To Appalachia

GRAMMY Award winning American Roots artists Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer join with Chinese classical hammered dulcimer player Chao Tian in a show that combines music from China to Appalachia and beyond. Instrumentation includes yangqin (Chinese hammered dulcimer), gourd banjo, five-string banjo, ukulele, guitars, dumbek, cello-banjo and mandolin.

The group’s repertoire includes traditional Chinese and Appalachian music as well as contemporary and traditional music from around the world. Unusual combinations explore new arrangements to old music, such as “Dark Eyes.” Ukulele, yangqin and guitar create a new pallet for this Russian folk song turned jazz manouche tune. Cathy and Marcy join Chao in singing a Chinese lullaby, “Nani Wan” and Chao easily adds her love of American Old-Time music to fiddle tunes and songs.

From China to Appalachia was borne of a friendship and mutual love of musical exploration experienced in jam sessions that inspired a show speaking to the power of music to connect cultures. The trio’s inaugural performances include the Music Center at Strathmore (N. Bethesda, MD) and the Ashe Civic Center (Ashe Co., NC). On their own, these awesome artists have performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Metropolitan Museum of Art, on PBS and National Public Radio.

Classically trained since the age of five, Chao Tian spent years working as an instructor and the director of the Arts Education Center at Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU). She is a founding member of BLCU Arts College’s music department and has been appointed as an officer of the International Culture Exchange Program in 2019. Chao has performed in over 30 different countries and regions across the globe and collaborated with numerous talented musicians in many unprecedented projects. In 2015, she was accepted into the prestigious Artist in Residence program at the Music Center at Strathmore, where she met Cathy Fink. Cathy has served as a mentor-in-residence in that program for fifteen years.

TWO-TIME GRAMMY® Award Winners, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer are master musicians with a career spanning 40 years. Their superb harmonies are backed by instrumental virtuosity on the guitar, five-string banjo, ukulele, mandolin, cello-banjo, and more. Their repertoire ranges from classic country to western swing, gypsy jazz to bluegrass, and oldtime string band to contemporary folk (including some original gems). Cathy & Marcy have performed at hundreds of bluegrass and folk festivals and taught at close to 100 music camps worldwide. Happily known as “social music conductors” ready to start a jam session, a community sing, or create a music camp helping others learn to play and sing, the duo’s past students include Kaki King and Rhiannon Giddens.

Wintergrass 2024 Performers – Vasen + Hawktail

Väsen + Hawktail is the culmination of decades of influence and musical relation. Brittany, Jordan and Paul met while in college on the east coast, jamming on Väsen tunes and seeing their concerts whenever possible. These experiences proved highly formative to their musical identities and Vasen continues to inspire their direction. “Their music was highly relatable, yet also felt strange and new. It was exciting getting into their albums, and fun to play their tunes together.” says bassist, Paul Kowert. “Meeting someone else who also knew their tunes was exciting. Playing them together: that was even more exciting.”

There’s a strong tie between their respective fiddle traditions and each band’s respective approach to tune-writing that makes this collaboration a natural fit. The opportunity to perform together is something that both bands have been looking forward to for years.

“The members of Hawktail are brilliant musicians I met when they were teenagers coming to Väsen-gigs on our US tours.” says Väsen Nyckelharpa player, Olov Johansson. “It’s been amazing to follow their path and now we get to create new Hawktail-Väsen music together!”

Wintergrass 2024 Perfomers – Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road

Rapidly rising on the bluegrass scene, Billboard-charting artists Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road perform internationally and stateside winning both industry awards and the hearts of fans who turn out to see them at some of the industry’s most iconic venues.

Growing up just down the road from Doc Watson, Liam Purcell leads Cane Mill Road as they rock the traditional bluegrass standards they were raised on, yet boldly write original music with roots in the fertile grounds of bluegrass, old-time, and Americana. Their powerful arrangements and high energy sets are balanced out by a down-home stage presence, making lasting connections with the folks they meet out on the road.

Named Momentum Band of the Year by IBMA in 2019, Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road have been recognized as one of the fastest growing bands in the industry. Their latest release “Roots” debuted at #6 on the Billboard Bluegrass Album Charts, joining their three previous albums for a total of 12 weeks in the Top 10. In 2022, bandleader Liam Purcell turned heads by sweeping the Rockygrass Instrumental Championships on Guitar, Mandolin, and Banjo, becoming the first person in history to do so. 

Liam is joined by band members: Jacob Smith on bass, Ella Jordan on fiddle, Colton Kerchner on banjo, and Rob McCormac on guitar. 

Wintergrass 2024 Performers – The Deslondes

Bringing their own style of down-home, rootsy twang to the home of the blues, the Deslondes are a band of rough but tuneful troubadours who found their voice when they settled in New Orleans, Louisiana. The story of the Deslondes began when singer and guitarist Sam Doores and percussionist and singer Cameron Snyder met while the two were college students in the Pacific Northwest. Both were interested in music, and Doores found a potent source of fresh inspiration when he read Woody Guthrie’s memoirs, Bound for Glory. Doores and Snyder decided to quit school and hit the road, doing some hard traveling with their band the Broken Wing Routine, and they even landed a gig at Woodyfest, also known as the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, an annual event in Okemah, Oklahoma. 

While in Okemah, Doores and Snyder met some like-minded musicians, including singer and guitarist Riley Downing and bassist Dan Cutler. When the Broken Wing Routine splintered, Doores and Cutler headed to New Orleans and formed a country-influenced band called the Tumbleweeds; Snyder, meanwhile, was playing with the Longtime Goners when he met John James Tourville, who played fiddle and pedal steel. In time, Snyder, Tourville, and Downing all made their way to New Orleans, and began jamming with the Tumbleweeds at their practice spot, an abandoned high school in the Lower Ninth Ward that had been empty since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. The five musicians adopted a new band name, the Deslondes, taken from a street in the Lower Ninth’s Holy Cross neighborhood, and they found kindred spirits in another New Orleans outfit, Hurray for the Riff Raff, with Doores and Cutler performing in both groups for a while. Between developing a loyal following at home and impressing audiences on the road opening for Hurray for the Riff Raff, word began to spread about the Deslondes, and New West Records signed them to a recording contract, releasing their self-titled debut album in June 2015. After supporting their eponymous first album with a tour, the Deslondes returned in the summer of 2017 with Hurry Home.  

We shed old skin in order to evolve and move forward. We let go of who we were in the past and embrace who we’re meant to be now. The Deslondes have taken such steps as not only bandmates, but as brothers. The New Orleans quintet—Dan Cutler, Sam Doores, Riley Downing, Howe Pearson, and John James Tourville—have weathered ups, downs, and everything in between only to strengthen the bond between them.

Infusing everything from saxophone, flute, and synth to string arrangements and a full drum kit for the first time, the group naturally progress and evolve in real-time on their third full-length offering, Ways & Means [New West Records, 2022].

Wintergrass 2024 Performers – Biribá Union

Mike Block (Cello, Vocals), Christylez Bacon (Beatbox, Guitar, Rhymes), and Edward Perez (Electric Bass) form a dynamic trio, blending original music with global influences to form a fresh sound that highlights their improvisational spontaneity and high energy stage presentation.

Mike Block is a Grammy Award-winning cello player, singer and composer passionate about cross-cultural collaboration through music, and committed to inspiring individuals and connecting communities. Acclaimed by the New York Times for his “vital rich-hued solo playing, and by Salt Lake City Desert News as a true artist… a sight to behold, Mike Block is one of the bravest, most intriguing musicians on the American fusion scene. (Gramophone).  Mike Blocks shows offer a rich mixture of classical repertoire, folk music, original compositions and songs that draw inspiration from his diverse collaborations.
https://www.mikeblockmusic.com
https://www.instagram.com/blockcello/

Christylez Bacon was born and grew up in Washington, DC and attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. He has been featured on Morning Edition, National Public Radio, performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and founded the Washington Sound Museum, a regular concert series at the Atlas Performing Arts center in Washington’s H Street NE. The Washington Post notes that he is a beatboxer and progressive hip hop artist. He also played with the National Symphony Orchestra. Bacon classifies his largely diverse music as progressive hip hop.
http://christylez.com/
https://www.instagram.com/christylezbacon/

Edward Perez resides in the cultural crossroads of Queens, New York, where he leads parallel careers as a composer, arranger, and bassist. His works have been performed by the likes of The Silkroad Ensemble, Yo-Yo Ma, Alan Gilbert, Galician gaita powerhouse Cristina Pato, Latin-jazz legend Ignacio Berroa, Latin-grammy nominated Peruvian singer Jorge Pardo, and oud phenom Kenan Adnawi. His music has been played in venues ranging from the smallest nightclubs in New York to the Kennedy Center, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, Massey Hall, Chicago Symphony Center, El Gran Teatro Nacional de Lima, Damascus Opera House, and Boston Symphony Hall. 
https://www.edwardperez.com/

Wintergrass 2024 Performers – The Tim O’brien Band

Born in Wheeling, West Virginia in 1954, Grammy winning singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Brien grew up singing in church and in school. After seeing Doc Watson on TV, he became a lifelong devotee of old time and bluegrass music. Tim started touring nationally in 1978 with Colorado bluegrass band Hot Rize. His songs “Walk the Way the Wind Blows” and “Untold Stories” were bluegrass hits for Hot Rize, and country hits for Kathy Mattea. Soon more artists like Nickel Creek, Garth Brooks, and The Dixie Chicks covered his songs. Over the years, Tim has collaborated with his sister Mollie O’Brien, songwriter Darrell Scott, and noted old-time musician Dirk Powell, as well as with Steve Earle, Mark Knopfler, Dan Auerbach and Sturgill Simpson.

Living in Nashville since 1996, O’Brien’s skills on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and banjo make him an in-demand session player.  The International Bluegrass Music Association awarded him song of the year in 2006 and named him best male vocalist in 1993 and 2006. He was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2013 and into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame in 2022.

Notable O’Brien recordings include the bluegrass Dylan covers of “Red on Blonde”, the Celtic-Appalachian fusion of “The Crossing”, and the Grammy winning folk of “Fiddler’s Green”. His duet recording “Real Time” with Darrell Scott is a cult favorite, and he won a bluegrass Grammy as part of “The Earls of Leicester”. 2021’s “He Walked On” wove historical and socially conscious themes into songs about ordinary and not so ordinary people just trying to “keep it between the ditches”.

O’Brien’s newest, “Cup of Sugar”, drops June 16. A feel-good summertime release with humor on top and deeper meaning just below the surface, it includes 13 new originals about a bear, a fish, lambs, horses, and some people too – a grave digger, a neighbor, and even Walter Cronkite. Backed by his loyal bandmates Mike Bub (bass), Shad Cobb (fiddle), his wife Jan Fabricius (mandolin and vocals) and Cory Walker (banjo) and other ace sidemen, “Cup of Sugar” features a special guest spot from old friend Del McCoury.  “Cup of Sugar” co-writers include Ronnie Bowman, Jonathon Byrd, Shawn Camp, Jan Fabricius, and Thomm Jutz.

Wintergrass 2024 Performers – Tony Trischka’s Earljam: A Tribute to Earl Scruggs

Tony Trischka will be honoring the music of Earl Scruggs, pioneer of the three-finger banjo style and one of the two most important musicians in bluegrass. 

Trischka recently came into possession of extremely rare recordings of jam sessions with Scruggs and John Hartford, and he’s transcribed and recorded Scruggs’s note-for-note solos from many of these. Many songs that Earl had never recorded.

An album of this music is in production with a new label formed by some of the founders of Rounder Records and includes a number of bluegrass luminaries.

Together with his ace band—Michael Daves on vocals and guitar, bassist Jared Engel, fiddler Brittany Haas, and mandolinist Maddie Witler— they will trace the story of Scruggs from his childhood to his final years. They debuted at Joe’s Pub in New York City which drew lots of interest including an appearance on the Opry, a rarity for a banjo player these days.

“Earl is my North Star, a lifetime pathway. And I’m not alone,” says Trischka, a banjo innovator and educator who has influenced everyone from Béla Fleck to Steve Martin. “Through his music, this shy kid from Flint Hill, North Carolina went on to enrich countless thousands of lives.  At the age of 13, when I first heard 16 notes of Scruggs style banjo playing, I put down my folk guitar and mercilessly pestered my parents to buy me a banjo. Once in my hands, that 5-string became my obsession and has been for close to 60 years.”

He adds, “The depth of his genius becomes ever more apparent when I transcribe his solos, which I’ve been doing my entire musical life and with renewed vigor.  Discovering new twists and turns in his playing is pure joy and in fact the inspiration for this tribute show and the album.”

Friends of Wintergrass – 2023 Midwinter Celebration

Bluegrass from the Forest

Join us for the 9th Annual Midwinter Celebration

Friday, December 29th, 2023 6:00 PM 9:00 PM at Shelton High School Performing Arts Center 3737 North Shelton Springs Road Shelton, WA, 98584 United States (Click here to see Google map)

Our 2023 band lineup features 3 bands: our host band Runaway Train Bluegrass Band, along with the Union City Council, and The Ranks Strangers. Tickets are $20 and available online or at the door. Kids 15 and under get in free! Refreshments are provided by donation.
This event is hosted by the Kristmas Town Kiwanis.

Featured Bands

Runaway Train, based in the South Puget Sound area, came to be in the year 2000 and has evolved throughout the years. They’ve performed through the Northwest for festivals, concerts and private events including all of the major area bluegrass festivals. They have a traditional sound but are not afraid to push the limits. They are host band for Shelton’s Bluegrass from the Forest.
Greg Linder – guitar, Kent Powell – bass, John White – mandolin, Doug Wenzen – banjo and special guest River Scheuerell on fiddle.

The Rank Strangers
The band is named after the song “Rank Stranger,” which was recorded by Ralph Stanley in the southern gospel tradition. The oldtime meaning of rank stranger meant someone who was a complete stranger. In this tradition, our Rank Strangers band members are made up from a group of eighteen people from the Puget Sound area to form a five piece band. The members play in other popular regional bands and a different mix of five plays every Wednesday at the Pig Bar in Olympia. We’re honored to have these five pickers at our Midwinter event. Barb Collins – fiddle, John Pyles – bass, Tye Menser – banjo, Leif Halverson – guitar, Larry Gilliam – mandolin

Union City Council Bluegrass Band 
Union City Council Bluegrass Band 
Based in Union,Wa area of Hood Canal, this band was recently created out of their love of traditional bluegrass and is sure to delight all! 
Guy Demartino – guitar 
Gwendolyn Taylor – fiddle 
Donald Strand – Dobro (resonator guitar) 
Martin Strand – bass 
Greg Linder – guitar