Organic farmers Johanna Davis and Adam Nordell spend their off season playing folk shows and contra dances across the country as the Sassafras Stomp. This winter the couple started their tour in late November and traveled across the country to Montana where Nordell grew up. The duo will play shows across the the state during the month of January. Here they are pictured on a snowy road in Missoula, Montana, January 4, 2015.
CONCERT : SASSAFRAS STOMP (Old-time, Folk, Americana)
DATE : Thursday, January 5, 2017
TIME : 7:00 pm (doors 6:30)
PLACE : Verge Theater, 2304 N. 7th Avenue, Bozeman
TICKETS : $10.00 ($2.00 discount to BFS members)
ADVANCE TICKETS: None (All tickets ONLY at the door, opening at 6:30 p.m.
SPONSOR: The Bozeman Folklore Society Concert Series
On Thursday, January 5, The Bozeman Folklore Society invites you to get the New Year off to a lively good musical footing with the enchanting duo who are called Sassafras Stomp. Adam Nordell and Johanna Davis will perform an evening of their original music at Bozeman’s Verge Theatre, 2304 N. 7th Avenue.
The concert will begin at 7:00 p.m. Genearal Admission is $10, and tickets will only be available at the door, which open at 6:30 p.m. The evening is also billed as a CD release party, celebrating and featuring music from their latest release, “Walk These Fields,” which was recorded here in Bozeman, at Chris Cunningham’s Basecamp Studio. Sassafras Stomp is a high-energy folk music duo with one foot in Maine and one foot in western Montana. Weaving together diverse fiddle traditions and evocative songwriting, fiddler Johanna Davis and guitarist Adam Nordell build a rich, dynamic traditional roots sound marked by driving foot percussion and sweet harmony vocals. Davis and Nordell’s collaboration began during a month-long musical residency in a tiny Montana town a stone’s throw away from the continental divide. After a debut performance at Seattle’s Northwest Folklife Festival, the duo established themselves as regular performers across Montana. In 2010, they relocated to Davis’ home-state of Maine to start an organic farm and participate in the New England contradance community.
They have since performed for a widening circle of dances, concerts and festivals across the country. In May of 2012 Sassafras Stomp was one of six bands featured at the Catapult! National Contradance Showcase in Atlanta, Georgia, which has led to a string of festival appearances including Ooh La La (Richmond, QC), Balance the Bay (San Francisco), Foot Fall (West Virginia), Mountain Madness (Jonesborough TN), The Dawn Dance (Brattleboro, VT) and Wintergreen (Bozeman, MT). Sassafras Stomp recorded a debut, self titled EP in 2012, which they followed up with their 2014, full length release, “Cornstalk Fiddle.” Their brand new release is “Walk These Fields,” which marks a departure from the traditional-folk orientation of the previous two albums, with an original collection of songs and fiddle tunes, and an Americana / folk rock studio production approach. Walk These Fields reflects on Nordell & Davis’ work as organic vegetable and grain farmers, and celebrates the the beauty and stillness of rural landscapes, the struggle to make due with limited resources, and the forever surprising resilience of hope. The new recording was recorded, engineered and mastered by Chris Cunningham, of Basecamp Studios, here in Bozeman. Cunningham adds some harmony on the album, and Mike Gillian played drums on some of the tracks. The BFS concert series is unique in our area,
The Bozeman Folklore Society (BFS) is an all volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, preserving, enjoying and sharing the music, dance, arts, crafts, and skills of traditional cultures. The BFS is an associate group of the Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS). And we invite you to join and become involved with our effort to continue to present live music and promote dancing in our community. Volunteers are needed, as well as your support to continue to share our love for all the richness in the folk traditions. Visit the BFS website at WWW.BOZEMANFOLKLORE.ORG. As an underwriting supporter of radio KGLT-FM, BFS invites community members to listen to KGLT and other listener supported radio for more news about BFS sponsored events.
