Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Traditional Folk”
The Celtic brilliance of Cassie and Maggie charmed a full Fiddle house four years ago. They are back for a special Sunday afternoon show. “Be it their foot percussion accompanying driving Nova Scotian sets, their perfect blend of sibling harmonies, added to a stunning interplay on various instruments, a musical evening spent with Cassie and Maggie is a great night, altogether” – Irish Music Magazine.
Co-sponsored with the Robin Theatre. Buckle up for a night of fun and intrigue with Grand Rapids – based Futuretime String Band and Lansing’s Own Super Secret Cult Band. Both groups present traditional folk music with a twist from the future, adding diverse sounds and musical elements from other cultures and genres. Be prepared!
Following a Jan., 2025 sold-out show at the Robin Theatre, Larry and Joe return to Greater Lansing with a ‘Latingrass’ show at the Fiddle’s larger venue, the University Lutheran Church, East Lansing. “People that come to see our show can expect a mix of music, storytelling and dance, and that’s a powerful cocktail for healing and for joy.” – Joe Troop
The second performer to give a concert for the Ten Pound Fiddle, long-time supporter Joel Mabus gives his annual fall show to his many fans, friends and this, his folk music community. A very talented singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, and political and music historian, Mabus is often mentioned as one of the finest folk music artists in the country.
Grammy-nominated, described as “an absolute master” (No Depression), Molsky transports audiences to another time and place, with his authentic and personal interpretations of rarities from the Southern Appalachian songbook and other musical traditions from around the globe. Best known for his work on the fiddle, Bruce’s banjo, guitar and his distinctive, powerful vocals also resonate with listeners. His combination of technical virtuosity and relaxed conversational wit makes a concert hall feel like an intimate front porch gathering.
David Roth is well-known to folk music enthusiasts as the author of ‘May the Light of Love,’ ‘Manuel Garcia,’ ‘The Armor Song,’ ‘Last Day on Earth,’ ‘Is It Too Much to Ask,’ and ‘Some People Say,’ among countless other songs.
“David has reached our hearts. With voices like his still singing, there’s a certainty that the candle will remain lit, the hope reasserted and the dream still sung…” – Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul, & Mary)
From 6:30-9pm on Friday and 11 am – 9 pm Saturday, it will be your last opportunity to sift through thousands of classic folk, blues and Americana CDs and LPs, most for $1 each. All proceeds go to fund Fiddle Scouts, a program where musicians play music with children.
Le Vent du Nord was last here seven years ago, a last minute, mid-week booking held at the Robin Theatre. The night proved to be incredibly memorable for those in the quickly sold out house.
Grosse Isle is one of a few Celtic bands that features the uilleann pipes – often called the Union pipes or Irish pipes – a complex set of bellows, reeds, a chanter, drones and regulators. Uilleann pipes are quieter than other pipes, and usually played sitting down. The drones found in haunting Irish melodies often originate from uilleann pipes. Grosse Isle sings and play a wide variety of instruments. We welcome them to the Ten Pound Fiddle.
Local fans may remember Jerron from his visits to East Lansing’s Great Lakes Folk Festival. He returns with fellow NYC all-around musician Dennis Lichtman to brilliantly present tunes and songs from the 1920s and beyond.
One of the most popular acts on the traditional folk music circuit, Alisdair and Natalie return to the Fiddle to present an extended conversation between a fiddle and cello.
Is there a better song leader than Dan Chouinard? After a beautiful evening of community singing at the 2025 Singing Festival, the Fiddle invited Dan back to share his magic once again.
Garnet has been a fixture on the Fiddle schedule for long time. Billed as his ‘Last US Tour,’ be sure not to miss this chance to hear from one of Canada’s finest performers.
From 11 am – 9 pm, it will be your last opportunity to sift through thousands of classic folk, blues and Americana CDs and LPs, most for $1 each. All proceeds go to fund Fiddle Scouts, a program where musicians play music with children.
Seasonal Songs led by Sally Potter with Special guests: Doug Austin, Doug Berch, Ruelaine Stokes. Every year, Potter sculpts two sets of seasonal and holiday selections, inviting everyone to sing along. Lyric booklet are provided.
Windborne has taken traditional singing to a whole new level, combining four part a cappella with unique arrangements to present a dynamic range of material – from classic labor songs to haunting 17th century ballads. This is their fourth visit to the Fiddle.
In January, 1975, Joel gave the Fiddle’s second show, held in Old College Hall at the MSU Union. This will be Joel’s 45th solo concert in the Fiddle’s 51 seasons of producing shows. Each year, Joel shares his newly penned pieces along with old favorites.
Co-Produced with the Robin Theatre. Banjoist extraordinaire Chris Coole teams with fiddler John Showman to present both new material along with creative renditions of old-time music classics.
Continuing the Fiddle tradition of presenting premier musicians, Cecilia features three of Canada’s finest interpreters of both Celtic and Quebecois traditions
Co-Produced with the Robin Theatre. This twin bill is a way to feature both Lansing’s Jen Sygit and Detroit-based Mike Ward, together in an intimate concert at the gorgeous Robin Theatre, Lansing.
Sara Pajunen was one half of a Finnish duo that stole people’s musical hearts at a past East Lansing Great Lakes Folk Festival. Now based in Minneapolis, Sara has only enhanced her concert repertoire adding songs and commentary to her stunning Finnish fiddle pieces. Sara will share the stage with special guest and fellow Minnesotan, fiddler / pianist Frances Olson.
Do you love to sing holiday music? Would it be too much fun to sing along with terrific pianist Doug Austin as he rolls the keys on a huge grand piano? Have you ever experienced an expert play gorgeous holiday music on the hammered dulcimer (Doug Berch)? During a few singing breaks, Greater Lansing Poet Laureate Ruelaine Stokes will recite a few spoken word pieces. You are invited to join song leader Sally Potter and sing wonderful songs with your community, all evening long. Lyric sheets provided.
Two performers with deep Michigan roots combine to share songs and stories, and to celebrate the Ten Pound Fiddle’s 50th season! Claudia has given over twenty Fiddle shows, as a soloist, with Sally Rogers for over ten Mother’s Day weekend concerts, and as a song leader at the Mid-Winter Singing Festival. Rachael is right behind, either performing solo, as one third of the Sweet Water Warblers, or as part of the Mid-Winter Singing Festival. The Fiddle is billing this show: Two Voices: One Terrific Night of Music
“Last Thing On My MInd,” “Marvelous Toy,” “Rambling Boy,” “Whose Garden Is This?,” “Home To Me (Is Anywhere You Are), “Peace Will Come,” “Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound,” “Bottle of Wine,” are only a fraction of Tom Paxton’s countless additions to the Great American Songbook. Traveling with Tom are the DonJuans, providing musical back-up and a few great songs of their own.
On his way to the Great Lakes Music Camp (greatlakesmusic.org), Bruce makes a stop at Lansing’s Robin Theatre for an intimate night of songs and tunes on the banjo, guitar and fiddle. An instructor at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, Bruce travels all around the world almost every day school is not in session. This Fiddle production is an opportunity to hear from one of Old Time Music’s finest working musicians.
Author of familiar songs “Christmas in the Trenches,” “Calling All the Children Home,” “Cut the Cake,” and “The Night That John Prine Died,” and interpreter of many more songs by Si Kahn, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and many others, folk music’s renaissance man John McCutcheon will visit the Fiddle for a very special SUNDAY NIGHT concert at our new location.
“It’s hard to imagine another artist on the folk scene who combines the same concise, deceptively understated, lyrical insight and sometimes devastating wit with such world-class instrumental prowess.” -MUSICHOUND FOLK
Co-presented with the Robin Theatre. Lone Piñon is a New Mexican string band, or “orquesta típica”, whose music celebrates the integrity and diversity of their region’s cultural roots.
Your last opportunity to sift through thousands of classic folk, blues and Americana CDs and LPs, most for $1 each. All proceeds go to fund Fiddle Scouts, a program where musicians play music with children.
“It’s hard to imagine another artist on the folk scene who combines the same concise, deceptively understated, lyrical insight and sometimes devastating wit with such world-class instrumental prowess.” -MUSICHOUND FOLK
Chicago Irish fiddler Liz Carroll joins Old Time banjoist Allison De Groot and percussive dancer extraordinaire Nic Gareiss for a night of music and dance exploration.
“One of Canada’s best loved troubadours” –Toronto Star, “The closest thing [Canada] has to Woody Guthrie” –The Georgia Straight
Annual Ten Pound Fiddle Membership Meeting, 6 pm – 7 pm. All are welcome. (Only) Fiddle members vote on any issues. Meet the Fiddle Board of Directors. Held at the UUMC before the concert.
A forty-year anniversary celebration with special guests Doug Berch, Kay Rinker-O’Neil, Dave Langdon, John Mikelsavage, and Mike Ross
Ruby John has been captivating audiences with her driving fiddle style. She with John Warstler will present a night full of a variety of fiddle tunes, sing some songs, and tell stories of Ruby’s life in her journey to blend her fiddling with her Native heritage.
“With songs ranging from heartbreakingly beautiful and soft to loud and boisterous, Cassie and Maggie’s sisterly voices blend in such a way that you automatically know it is genetic… theirs are voices that wrap themselves around each other more than others.” -No Depression
The Fiddle welcomes a world-class duo of virtuosic fiddle, dance, banjo & song from the Ottawa Valley to the Hills of Appalachia.
Co-produced with The Robin Theatre, in Lansing´s REO Town.
The Smoke Rise, GA-based musician, whom Johnny Cash once referred to as “the most impressive instrumentalist I’ve ever heard” is greatly looking forward to sharing his new music as well as beloved favorites with the Ten Pound Fiddle audience.
In Sound an Echo, Rachael Kilgour and Sara Pajunen bridge their distinct yet complementary musical histories within traditional music from their European heritages. What happens when a Finnish fiddler extraordinaire teams up with a veteran singer songwriter? Magic. These Minnesota natives match energy, speed and intonation and deliver an evening of solid sound and song.
Co-produced with The Robin Theatre, in Lansing’s REO Town. Already leaders in the young generation of roots musicians, de Groot has become known for her intricate clawhammer banjo work with Molsky’s Mountain Drifters, while Hargreaves has brought her powerhouse fiddling to the stage with Gillian Welch and Laurie Lewis. Together they create a sound that is adventurous, masterful, and original, as they expand on the eccentricities of these old songs, while never losing sight of what makes them endure.
POSTPONED UNTIL WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2022
Feb. 10, 2012 performance
Madcat’s Midnight Blues Journey (Nov. 6, 2015) and Dennis Stroughmatt et L’Esprit Creole (March 6, 2009; March 22, 2013) performances.
February 1, 2019 performance. Joshua Davis was raised in the folk tradition: the music, the social movements, the land.
Tom Paxton April 19, 2013 performance.
Various performances including Mark Dvorak, Pat Madden, Frank Youngman, and Joel Mabus. Also featured is Rachel Alexander and the All-Comers Festival Choir.
September 27, 2013 performance.
Archie Fisher (April 16, 2010); Jez Lowe and James Keelaghan (Oct. 4, 2013); Garnet Rogers and Archie Fisher (April 1, 2011)
February 28, 2014 performance. “…quirky, often wickedly funny.” -Regina Leader-Post
Dec. 4, 2015 and Jan. 16, 2009 performances. “It’s hard to imagine another artist on the folk scene who combines the same concise, deceptively understated, lyrical insight and sometimes devastating wit with such world-class instrumental prowess.” -MUSICHOUND FOLK
Emma’s Revolution is the dynamic, award-winning activist duo of Pat Humphries & Sandy O, whose songs have been sung for the Dalai Lama, praised by Pete Seeger, and covered by Holly Near. With beautiful harmonies and genre-defying eclecticism, Emma’s Revolution delivers an uprising of truth and hope for these tumultuous times.
“[Low Lily has] an incredible knack for putting a little pop twist on a traditional folk/Americana sound… it’s a blend that works beautifully.”PopMatters
JOSHUA DAVIS WAS RAISED IN THE FOLK TRADITION: THE MUSIC, THE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, THE LAND.
The music of Lynn Miles is truly one of a kind. Not only is she one of Canada’s best singer-songwriters, she’s one of the best, period.
Molsky’s Mountain Drifters – a laser-tight trio with an ear for lovely, lilting traditional melodies. The grace and wisdom of Grammy nominated fiddler Bruce Molsky, Berklee College of Music’s Visiting Scholar melds with the electricity of guitarist Stash Wyslouch and banjoist Allison de Groot’s to bring new ideas to traditional music.
Playing the tunes and ditties of the 1920’s and more.
With lyrics supplied, Chouinard lets fly with inventive, often playful, accompaniments, rarely glancing at the keyboard — a feat that one regular considers magic. “It’s kind of his calling,” said the man who’s attended these singalongs for ten years. “I mean, you know he could be playing with anyone, but here he is with us.”
A highlight of the festival, 8 afternoon workshops provide another opportunity for our community to sing and play music – together. One $10 wristband is good for the all of the sessions. Students are free!
Chicago’s premier Irish fiddler Liz Carroll is joined by harpist Maeve Gilchrist, and Lansing’s own dance phenom Nic Gareiss. Opening the night will be intricate, unpredictable arrangements of traditional songs and fiddle tunes; compelling and catchy original songs and completely unexpected covers, by Philadelphia’s House of Hamill.
Following two nights at the venerable Hugh’s Room in Toronto, these two highly acclaimed veterans of Canadian folk music will stop by The Fiddle as part of a rare, short Midwest tour. The Fiddle has hosted each of them several times before. Now, both on one night! Do not miss this!
Co-produced with the Peace Education Center in conjunction with it’s Alternative Holiday sale. Internationally acclaimed vocal group Windborne is known for the power and innovation of their arrangements, as well as their unrivaled mastery of polyphonic music from around the world. Currently Windborne is touring a project called Song on the Times, songs of social struggle from movements over the past 400 years.
Highlights from the 2009 and 2011 Holiday Sings feature Sally Potter, Doug Berch, Kitty Donohoe, Wanda Degen, Linda Abar and poet Robert Rentchler.
“They perform their spectacular harmonies and scatting with percussive rhythm accompaniment. (…) When they sing traditional songs these women demonstrate their real vocal prowess.” – Songlines
The septet Heartland Klezmorim will take listeners on a narrated musical journey, starting in Eastern Europe, through world historical events, including emigration to the United States. You are invited to bear witness to this very special presentation tracing the road of Jewish migration through music.
From Newfoundland, Matthew Byrne is a stellar interpreter of traditional songs. One of this younger generation’s superstars, Byrne fit this special Sunday night show into his very crowded tour schedule. The Fiddle is delighted to present this ‘old soul’ in a very intimate Robin Theater show.
Seamus Egan (Solas, Shanachie Records) teams up with composer and guitarist Kyle Sanna, and multi-instrumentalist Owen Marshall (The Press Gang, Haas, Walsh and Marshall) to present an incredible evening of world-class music, steeped in the Celtic tradition.
Come enjoy a night of music from folks who sell instruments by day, and then play them after hours. “Strangers in the Night,” is just one of the evening’s five bands which features employees and friends of Lansing’s world-renowned music store, Elderly Instruments.
Based in Old-Time music, two incredibly talented and charming duos will share the stage in this exciting twin bill.
The Matchsellers: “The first song I listened to was the one about the Pigeon and the Dove and I said “you’re hired.” -Larry Groce, NPR’s Mountain Stage
Red Tail Ring: “The very best of the 21st century’s minimalist and highly original folk music . . . a peerless duo.” – American Roots UK.
Long-time musical partners, Watroba and Jones will present music that reflects history, social change, migration, hopes and dreams. This is music that is rich and diverse, direct and powerful. This is a musical seminar – not to be missed!
Hear one of the world’s best on mandolin, backed by familiar, stellar Michigan musicians, in the intimate Robin Theater for this very special Thursday night show with Don Julin on mandolin, Joe Wilson on dobro, Kevin Gills on bass and David Collini on cajon.
