Jake Blount, Nic Gareiss & Laurel Premo

Jake Blount (Providence, RI) is a singer and multi-instrumentalist described by NPR as “an Afrofuturist in roots-music garb.” A winner of the 2021 Steve Martin Banjo Prize and a Smithsonian Folkways recording artist, American Songwriter has dubbed Jake Blount the “King of Roots.” Percussive dancer Nic Gareiss (Lansing, MI) has been named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” and has been hailed by the New York Times for their “dexterous melding of Irish and Appalachian dance.” In 2020, Gareiss received the Michigan Heritage Award, the highest honor his home state bestows on traditional artists. Laurel Premo (Traverse City, MI) has spent her life immersed in American and Nordic folk traditions. As a composer, performing artist, and dance musician, Premo has developed a deep relation with fiddle, banjo, and vocal roots, and recent work reveals this experience through finger style electric guitar. MTV described her sound as “subtle but dazzling and rich in texture,” and her live performance as “pure hypnosis.”

Blount, Gareiss and Premo are not only skilled performers, but researchers with degrees in ethnomusicology, ethnochoreology and performing arts technology. Their years of experience as performers, educators and scholars in their respective traditions have drawn them close to the creative force at the heart of music-making. The trio has brought the power of those deep bonds to bear in a new performance: a paean to their deepest roots written in wood, flesh, and lightning.

Stream this show live at caffelena.tv. Enjoy one week of access with your $5 live stream ticket.