Rick Scott and Nico Rhodes ROOTS & Grooves

Veteran dulcimer maverick and young keyboard ace join forces for an inter-generational gumbo of roots, jazz, rhythm and groove! Rick Scott and Nico Rhodes blur all boundaries, in a word, they cook!

Rick and Nico premiered ROOTS & GROOVES in April 2017, recorded a CD in a single day in May,\ and launched the CD at the Nanaimo Jazz Festival in September. From its very first performance this collaboration has been greeted with standing ovations and multiple encores.

In 2017 ROOTS & GROOVES played two dozen shows in venues including Government House Victoria, Rogue Folk Vancouver. In January 2018 they appeared at the Cold Snap Festival in Prince George, in February they will play Sooke, Victoria, Maple Ridge, Whistler, Bowen Island and Brackendale. I

In March they will perform an historic Festival Nanaimo double bill with legendary singer Ann Mortifee. On April 7 they will showcase ROOTS & GROOVES at Pacific Contact in Vancouver, represented by Margot Holmes and Debbie Peters of Caline Artists International/Maverick Cooperative.This summer will play festivals including the Filberg.

ROOTS & GROOVES has been played nationally on CBC and campus radio including CHLY, CITR, CYVR, CKPG, CFRO, CFIS, CFUR and CFUV and on syndicated radio in Germany and California. The CD has been reviewed in BC Musician and Dulcimer Player News and will be featured in the February issue of Inspired Magazine.

RICK SCOTT is an award-winning singer/songwriter and Canada’s leading proponent of Appalachian dulcimer. Over 45 years he’s performed in nine countries and released 19 albums honoured with 3 Juno nominations and Parents’ Choice, WCMA and Canadian Folk Music Awards. He’s Goodwill Ambassador for Down Syndrome Research Foundation and curator of the Protection Island Museum. A founding member of iconic trio PIED PUMKIN, he’s toured the world solo performing for audiences of all ages

Classically trained, equally proficient on horns and keyboards, at age 28 NICO RHODES is one of the youngest and most sought after musical directors in Canada, currently staging his 25th show for theaters across the country when not touring with his own trio or chanteuse Joelle Rabu. He wrote Rick Scott a fan letter when he was 8, was mesmerized by Pied Pumkin at 12, and at 23 orchestrated Rick’s music for the Vancouver Island Symphony. In 2015 the VIS commissioned Nico to orchestrate and play piano for Joelle Rabu’s classic concert ‘Tonight… Piaf’.