This week, renowned California bluegrass and roots singer-songwriter, traditional dancer, and multi-instrumentalist Evie Ladin and her band recorded live at Ozark Folk Center State Park. Also, interviews with Evie.

“The neo-trad kinetic-folk of the Evie Ladin Band is a mingling of the deep Appalachian sound of clawhammer banjo, guitar, bass and percussive dance, with contemporary storytelling and original, conversational interplay among the band members. Some of their adventurousness comes from early hip hop in the high school cafeteria, some from Evie’s early attraction to, and study of, the African roots in Appalachian music and dance. She created an African Studies In Dance major at Brown University, then studied dance in Eastern Nigeria on a Fulbright Fellowship. While myriad world and contemporary music influences permeate the band’s choices, they never reach too far, remaining seamless and true to the stories they tell.

Precisely because Evie was raised to know that music, dance and singing are what humans do together, she is an avid educator and community facilitator, at all ages and levels, in diverse communities.  An electric and entertaining live performer, balancing performing with hands on teaching has proven extremely satisfying.  Music is meant to move. Music is to do. In listening, live or on record, Evie keeps bringing you back to these basics, while savoring the real stuff of life.” - https://evieladin.com/bio/

In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, musician, educator, and country music legacy Mark Jones offers a 1978 archival recording of Ozark original Bob Strayer performing on a mouth harp the traditional song “Turkey in the Straw,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.

Writer, musician, and traditional dancer Aubrey Atwater discusses the tradition of “work songs” in folk music with musical examples and her own cultivated insight.