Masterful Swedish fiddler Lena Jonsson unites with mandolin wizard Dominick Leslie and National Fiddle Champion & rhythmic cellist Tristan Clarridge (of The Bee Eaters, Crooked Still), bridging the Atlantic with strong roots of Swedish and American traditional music. Though their roots are in far-flung corners of the world, their shared connections in the language of music are strong: a deep respect for the traditional tunes, ears that are open to exploring new sounds, and a sense of playfulness and spontaneous joy in making music together.
Collectively, these three have studied with many of acoustic music's greatest legends; Lena from members of the Swedish folk supergroup Väsen and a host of Sweden's most revered traditional masters, Tristan from Darol Anger, Alasdair Fraser & Mark O'Connor, and Dominick from mandolin icons David Grisman, Mike Marshall and Chris Thile, to name a few.
Here's a little preview from our rehearsal week!
Lena Jonsson is a curious and exuberant musician. She was brought up in Hälsingland, a region in Sweden with a rich tradition of folk music and culture, in a family where everyone plays the fiddle.
Lena began her musical journey at age 6, continuing on to study Swedish folk music performance at the Royal Music Academy in Stockholm. Active in Sweden's progressive and creative youth folk music community, she has recorded on over twenty albums, received numerous performance and composing grants, and tours Sweden, Europe, and the US with her bands Duo Jonsson Coudroy, The Goodbye Girls, Skenet, Limbohofvet, and in duo with Brittany Haas. She also composes new tunes in the Swedish folk tradition, and plays for traditional dances.
Tristan Clarridge is a 5-time Grand National Fiddle Champion who began music studies at the age of two. He has toured the world as the cellist with folk-grass sensation Crooked Still, The Bee Eaters, and Darol Anger's seminal Republic of Strings, and performed with Mike Marshall, Bruce Molsky, and Cape Breton fiddle star Natalie MacMaster. Inspired by revolutionaries such as Darol Anger, Rushad Eggleston, Edgar Meyer and Bela Fleck, Tristan has found himself amidst a cello revolution, synthesizing traditional folk and fiddle influences along with rhythmic vocabulary from jazz, classical, and popular music.
Dominick Leslie Though only 26 years old, mandolinist Dominick Leslie has spent every one of those years immersed in bluegrass and acoustic music, and his innovative style and musical curiosity are informed by these deep roots. He has studied with mandolin masters David Grisman, Mike Marshall and Chris Thile, won numerous mandolin championships, and performed in France as a member of Mike Marshall's Young American Mandolin Ensemble. He has toured with The Brotet, The Bee Eaters, The Grant Gordy Quartet, Noam Pikelny, and The Deadly Gentlemen.