Appalachian Roots
with Ira Bernstein & Riley Baugus (USA)
Fiddles and Feet: Banjos and Ballads from North Carolina and Beyond.
November 2012
Download press pic
Website: www.appalachianroots.com
An old-time music and dance variety show chock full
of humor and skill.
Appalachian dance combined with the music from O
Brother and Cold Mountain.
"A really fantastic night last night! We had a pretty full house and everyone thoroughly enjoyed thehigh energy dancing and playing. A great couple of guys, so friendly and warm." - - Madeline Lees, Diss Corn Hall (who immediately booked them back)
Appalachian Roots is a dynamic mix of traditional dance, song, and
instrumental music from the southern Appalachian region of the United
States, with a few international twists thrown in. Performed by
internationally renowned percussive step dancer Ira Bernstein of
Asheville, NC, and virtuoso old-time musician, singer, and raconteur Riley Baugus of Walkertown, NC, concerts include: percussive
flatfooting and buckdancing, rhythm tap dancing, French-Canadian step
dancing, English clogging, South African boot dancing, hambone, fiddle
tunes, and fiddle sticks by IRA; southern Appalachian songs and
ballads, old-time banjo and fiddle tunes, and mountain preaching by
RILEY; and a good dose of fiddle and banjo, and double fiddle duets by
the duo.
Their last three tours have been hugely successful with bumper audiences at all venues including sell-out gigs at The Square Chapel, Halifax and Reeth Memorial Hall and excellent audience figures at venues such as The Platform at Morecambe, Huntingdon Hall in Worcester and Queen's Hall Hexham, Mill Arts, Banbury, The Corn Hall, Diss - all well exceeding the box office expectations. Their Village Hall shows were packed to capacity with halls reporting the biggest audiences they've ever had.
See Ira dance: 13 Video Dance Samples: Flatfooting, Tap, and more.
Ira and Riley have performed at major festivals in the US, and toured England and Ireland extensively. A few featured performances include MerleFest in Wilkesboro, NC, the Wheatland Music Festival in Remus, MI, the Open House Festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival in Longford, Ireland and The Appalachian Hootenanny Festival in Lisbon, Portugal in 2009. In the UK they've played at venues such as Huntingdon Hall (Worcester), The Square Chapel (Halifax), The Queen's Hall (Hexham), Mill Arts, Banbury, The Corn Hall, Diss, Greenham Common Arts Centre, and The Platform (Morecambe), all within the last couple of years. Collectively, they have over 60 years of music and dance experience.
Their show visits arts centres, small theatres and village halls where the audience is close enough to see the whites of their eyes, the tips of their fiddles and the toes of their boots. Their UK audiences are enthusiastic and many halls and venues report full houses, with people in both the folk community, the dance community and from amongst the organisation known as FOAOTMAD - Friends of American Old Time Music and Dance
Ira Bernstein is regarded as one of the most versatile and
accomplished performers of percussive step dancing in America, and in
particular, as one of the foremost southern Appalachian flatfooters in
the world. His repertoire is a wide array of dances that all share a
common thread: the production of rhythmic, percussive sounds. The
dances are more than movements accompanied by music; they are
movements that make music, and as such, they are part of the music.
In a very literal sense, IRA is a drummer: his feet are the sticks and
the floor is the drum, which is why he refers to his art as Ten Toe
Percussion. IRA'S earliest group experiences were as a member of the
Mill Creek Cloggers, and then the Marlboro Morris and Sword team. He
later went on to perform with the highly influential, professional
companies the Fiddle Puppets, and the American Tap Dance Orchestra.
IRA was also the lead soloist in Rhythms of the Celts, which ran for six
weeks at the prestigious Waterfront Theatre in Belfast, as well as a
guest soloist with Rhythm in Shoes, and the Vanaver Caravan.
Ira has performed in concerts and at festivals all across the US and Canada, as well as in 17 other countries around Europe, Asia, and the Mideast. He has shared the stage with many of the world's greatest tap and step dancers, including Gregory Hines, Savion Glover, Honi Coles, Jimmy Slyde, and Chuck Green, and has appeared numerous times on television and in theatrical productions. He was also one of the artistic creators and featured soloists in Mountain Legacy, and is the director of the Ten Toe Percussion Ensemble. IRA has also repeatedly won first place in the Mount Airy Fiddler's Convention old-time flatfooting competition
Riley Baugus appears on the multi-million selling, Grammy Award-winning
(Album of the Year!), Robert Plant / Alison Krauss collaboration "Raising
Sand."He is also the singing voice of Pangle in the Academy Award-winning film "Cold Mountain", and was a featured musician on the live tour featuring
select musicians from the soundtrack of the film.
Most recently Riley has recorded (yet to be released) and has been
performing with Willie Nelson. He was also recorded and filmed by Mike Seeger, just before Mike's recent death , for a DVD project of contemporary
American masters of old-time banjo.
Riley is a North Carolina native who began singing and playing music in his childhood. Raised in a household full of old-time music, he developed a love and appreciation for traditional, southern Appalachian tunes and songs. He began honing his musical skills with close friend and neighbor, well known fiddler / banjo player Kirk Sutphin, and by visiting elder traditional musicians in and around Grayson County in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia. He played with, and learned from fiddlers Tommy Jarrell (National Heritage Award) Robert Sykes, and banjo player Dix Freeman as well as many other traditional musicians of the area.
In addition to Appalachian Roots, Riley also plays with the Dirk Powell Band and Polecat Creek, and has played with numerous other old-time stringbands, including The Red Hots, Backstep, and the Old Hollow Stringband. He has also taught banjo, guitar, and fiddle at music camps throughout the US and England, and has toured in Europe with Ira Bernstein, Dirk Powell and Tim O'Brien, The Konnarock Critters, and The Farmers Daughters.
Tourdates building now-
November 2012
16th Reeth Memorial Hall
17th Cockermouth Kirkgate Ctr
22nd Sage Gateshead TBC
23rd or 24th Otley Courthouse TBC