Nic Gareiss and Maeve Gilchrist

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 him 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. Blount and Gareiss are not only skilled performers, but researchers with degrees in ethnomusicology and ethnochoreology. 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.