Hosted by Tristan & Tashina Clarridge

String fans of all stripes should run, not walk, to the Freight for tonight’s Shasta String Celebration! Over the past 12 years, the event has earned a reputation as an epic show, uniting a staggering array of the most influential and innovative performers from the worlds of bluegrass, jazz, Celtic, old time, and pop for an outpouring of music that takes the audience on a stunning cross-genre journey, with many special guests and spontaneous collaborations. You won’t find a lineup like this anywhere else in the world!

The contemporary torch bearer of the Mewati Gharana, Kala Ramnath belongs to a violin dynasty from India- a unique musical lineage of seven generations which straddles both the classical systems of the subcontinent. Born into a family of prodigious musical talent which has given Indian music such violin legends as Prof. T.N. Krishnan and Dr. N. Rajam, Kala began violin studies at age 3, under the strict tutelage of her grandfather Vidwan. NARAYAN IYER. Simultaneously she received training from her aunt Dr. Smt. N. RAJAM. For fifteen years she put herself under the training of Mewati vocal maestro, Sangeet Martand PANDIT JASRAJ. This has brought a rare vocal emotionalism to her art. She has performed at all the major music festivals in India, and dozens of music festivals worldwide, such as North Sea Jazz Festival in Cape Town, South Africa, Celebrations of India's fiftieth year of Independence in Europe, Festival of India presented by Government of India in Dhaka Bangladesh,and the South Asian Heritage Festival in Toronto, Canada. She has extensively toured the United States, Canada, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy, France, Belgium, Greece, Russia, South Africa, Seychelles, Middle East, Trinidad, Kenya, Tanzania, Australia, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Mauritius etc. 

From drums to symphonic works - Roy [Futureman] Wooten is a modern day renaissance man, a groundbreaking drummer, an inventor, composer, and a five-time Grammy Award winning member of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. Audiences first became curious when he appeared in 1988 playing a "Drumitar" – his own invention, using a unique hand drumming technique which allows him to play the drum set electronically with his hands and fingers instead of drum sticks... Futureman's rhythmic, melodic, harmonic and symphonic explorations led him to compose a new kind of music and a series of large musical works. Young Roy Wooten remembers "I used to keep a quote in my wallet by Miles Davis that said "the melody would be found again in the rhythm of the drums and the bass". With this new approach to melody, Futureman created his own original ballet dedicated to the many stages of Matriarchy, entitled "Evolution d' Amour" along with a prequel Symphonic work dedicated to Le Comte de Saint Germain, "the Secret of Kings". He composed an " Aesthetic Mathematics" translation of Pi and the golden ratio into a rhythmic and symphonic musical message and also an 8 movement symphonic work and a screenplay for his passion project "CHEVALIER - To Play & To Fight" ... A story celebrating the extraordinary life and times of a mix-raced 18th century composer, conductor, virtuoso violinist and sword fighter who rose from slavery to legendary status. "It's no accident" Futureman says "especially now that I have realized my own way to melody, harmony and rhythm, that I now see the drumset as a piano and the piano as a drumset". FuturemanLive.com – Flecktones.com 

For the past half century Jody Stecher's deep and vivid music has inspired four generations of musicians and music lovers on five continents. A renowned singer and multi-instrumentalist regarded as one of America's leading traditional folk artists, Jody has collaborated with David Grisman, Jerry Garcia, Peter Rowan, Alasdair Fraser, Krishna Bhatt and Kate Brislin to name a few. His Grammy nominated, Indy Award winning recordings span bluegrass, traditional old-time and Indian classical. Jody is known for his "ability to capture the essence and core of traditional music" and "to crystalize the spiritual essence of a song while making it his own". Accolades include " a creative master", "achingly expressive" and "a national treasure". David Bromberg said, "Jody Stecher was basically my teacher. He opened my ears to more beautiful music than anyone else ever did... more than I ever knew existed. He is also one of my favorite musicians on Earth to play with. I have never known anyone so intensely and completely enveloped in music. It's my suspicion that if you drained all the music out of Jody, you could carry what was left around in an eye dropper." "A high, hotly honed voice, sometimes cutting through melodies like a scythe, sometimes unfolding like fine old velvet, warm and worn just right, beyond his years. His guitar, fiddle and mandolin playing are the stuff for which the critical cliches "soulful" and "masterful" were invented. Singing like the ghost of himself, lost in the foggy ruins of time and dreams, Stecher lands the most elusive catch of all – the truth." -No Depression  

Scott Nygaard is highly regarded as one of the most inventive and original guitarists in bluegrass and acoustic music. His solos, a seamless amalgam of bluegrass, folk, and jazz influences, shift easily from breathtaking virtuosity to soulful melodic musings and his accompaniment is always intriguing, supportive, and propulsive. “As adept at creating magnetic rhythms as he is knocking off stunning solos, Nygaard is possibly the best acoustic guitarist to come along in bluegrass music since Tony Rice.”—Edmonton (Alberta) Journal “Nygaard’s flatpicking is so fluid and clever the crowd keeps squinting at his hands, checking to make sure there are only two.” (Oakland Tribune) 

Ben Krakauer is a phenomenal banjoist and composer with a strikingly original style, drawing on his deep love of bluegrass, new acoustic music (he toured with David Grisman), jazz, and most recently, traditional Bengali folk music.

Dave Cory is a leading exponent of Irish tenor banjo, known for his driving impeccable rhythm, innovative variations, and abounding virtuosity coupled with profound understanding of the traditional idiom.  

6 time Grand National Fiddle Champion siblings Tristan and Tashina Clarridge join hammer dulcimer wizard Simon Chrisman to form The Bee Eaters. Steeped their whole lives in musical traditions of Bluegrass, Baroque, Jazz, Irish, and Appalachian mountain music, the trio is known for their uniquely blended tapestry of sound, which The Boston Globe described as “chamber music's finely calibrated arrangements with bluegrass's playful virtuosity and pop music's melodic resourcefulness". At the forefront of a folk-cello revolution, Tristan Clarridge is a member of internationally acclaimed Crooked Still, and has toured with Natalie MacMaster, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, and Bruce Molsky. Tashina Clarridge performed at Carnegie Hall with renowned bassist Edgar Meyer, and has toured with Mark O'Connor, Laurie Lewis, Tony Trischka and others. Hammer dulcimer virtuoso Simon Chrisman brings a whole new approach to an instrument previously thought to have limited range and technique. His inventive touch and highly sophisticated rhythmic sensibilities are redefining his instrument, and earning the attention of musicians from all over the world. 

Hosted by brother and sister Tristan and Tashina Clarridge, both of them Grand National Fiddle Champions, the performance spotlights some of the brightest stars in acoustic music, fresh from a week of musical exploration at the Shasta String Summit. For an evening of cross-genre collaborations and dazzling musical fireworks, don’t miss this string extravaganza!

Listen to a track from Kala Ramnath:

Listen to a track from Jody Stecher:

Listen to a track from David Cory & Eliot Grasso:

Listen to a track from The Bee Eaters:

visit the Kala Ramnath website

visit the Roy [Futureman] Wooten website

visit the Scott Nygaard website

visit The Bee Eaters website

visit the Shasta Music Summit website