Fiddler Libby Rodenbough, from the North Carolina folk group Mipso, plays an Bob Kogut fiddle and is creating a new style of Appalachian bluegrass.

What is it about me and Central Oregon of late? After never really more than blasting through on I-5 for most of my six decades, now I’ve been there for long weekends three times in the last couple months. This past weekend a couple friends and I headed over again for the Sisters Folk Festival. (We purchased our tickets months ago — they often sell out out in May.)

Sisters Folk Festival

The drive from our neck of the woods is a long five-plus hours but the terrain is beautiful, especially along the Santiam River. What a marvelous event! I enjoyed it so much more than the put-on zaniness of the Oregon Country Fair. The Sisters festival food was head and shoulders better and the smorgasbord of music, in venues around the small charming town, was spectacular.

The happening place during the festival is the Village Green with the main stage, lots of food and drink options, and plenty of shade for lounging around between performances or resting with your dog under a tree. Part of what makes this festival special is that the whole town of Sisters participates, which might be why it felt so authentic and down-home. Little stages were scattered around downtown Sisters in a four or five block area, tucked away in the backyards of Ageline’s Bakery, The Open Door, a boutique café with spirits, Depot Café, Sister’s Saloon, Mervyn’s Fir Street Market and even the Fire Hall.

Spreading the performance wealth around means that business owners got a direct and positive hit of tourism over the three-day festival because there we are, finding out about their wares and staying to enjoy the music. And, for us hungry or thirsty participants, it means distinctly different and thought-out menus are already in place and priced right. The diversity of the offerings — both musical and gastronomic — are impressive.

We gloried to the sounds of zydeco, bluegrass, acoustic folk, Dixieland, jazz, gospel, blues, rock, and general cross-pollinating Americana. So much dedication and musical talent. But one of my absolutely favorite duos was the combo of Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser and U.S. Julliard-trained cellist Natalie Haas.

Fraser and Haas

Alasdair and Natalie started playing together 17 years ago. “Well, really longer than that,” said Alasdair in his distinctive brogue. “Natalie was 11 when she came to one of my fiddle camps.” Alasdair teaches and performs at fiddle camps in Nevada City and Boulder Creek, CA; the Isle of Skye, Scotland; Arlanzo, Spain; and, the newest, Ashokan, New York. It’s no surprise that these camps are spread around the globe. “There’s not a culture on this planet that doesn’t express itself with an instrument like this one,” said Alasdair holding up his golden fiddle.

No one knows exactly who invented the fiddle or violin though it may have evolved from the bowed lyre sometime around the 10th century. There are differences, of course: a violin playing classical music generally uses sustained notes and more vibrato; whereas a violin played fiddle-style is squarely in the folk music camp, rhythmic and lively — jigs and reels.

It’s not only musicians who travel the globe but fiddle music itself. Natalie and Alasdair played a medley of Spanish fiddle tunes from Galicia. (For so long Franco banned the language and arts of that culture, but now traditions in the regions of Castille, Aragon, Astrias, Navarre, Catalonia, Basque Country are bubbling back.) “These are often accompanied with a tambourine, so I’m going to try my best to replicate that,” Natalie said, then bounced her bow rhythmically and raspingly to begin the piece. They played a second medley, all versions of the same tune — “The Highlander’s Farewell” — illustrating how this tune transmogrified as it crossed the ocean to Appalachia then doubled back.

Music as politics

For Alasdair, music is a political act. “The fiddle is a great litmus test for so many things. Music is in a state of ferment now in Scotland, like so many things. One of the signs of a healthy tradition is that new stuff is being created. In Scotland, in Spain, in so many places, art is flourishing.”

“It used to be that people were scared to ask questions,” says Alasdair, particularly about the changes in Scotland. “It wasn’t even polite to discuss politics over dinner — but we’re over that. Everybody is talking about everything right now. If you don’t have an opinion about how much to question the BBC or any written media, then you’re not keeping up.”

Natalie and Alasdair’s touring schedule looks like a gathering of the United Nations — Denmark, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Australia; and plenty of gigs in the Pacific Northwest. (For their full schedule: www.alasdairfraser.com/performances.html.) They even have a stop-over at the Liberty Theatre on April 20, 2017. If you like foot-tapping, syncopation, counter melodies, and top-notch talent, you might want to be “worked up into a high level of ethnic excitement” with Natalie and Alasdair.

Up-and-Coming

After enjoying two Fraser/Haas sets, we moved over to another intimate venue and listened to the North Carolina folk-group Mipso. These four musicians are reinvigorating Appalachian music; and fiddler Libby Rodenbough is one of the most impressive of the quartet. Libby grew up playing the violin; then studied folk music in Chicago and fiddle in Ireland. Her fiddle playing and eerily evocative voice place her on my “watch-list” of up-and-coming stars.

Libby plays a Bob Kogut violin. Bob, after searching in vain for the perfect violin, decided he would just have to make them himself. He now crafts his fiddles in Happy Valley, North Carolina, where the legendary Tom Dooley lived and died. (There’s a great interview with Kogut at tinyurl.com/hcyqngc.)

Great fiddles and fiddlers were everywhere at the festival. Many younger players are blending styles in exciting ways, creating their own hybrid sounds. But, even after a weekend of phantasmagoric fiddlin’ one of my favorites was still Alasdair’s traditional tunes. When asked where else one might hear good fiddle music, he said, “There are great fiddle gatherings going on everywhere. All and all it’s a pretty healthy system but you’re not going to hear about it in the mainstream press.”

I can certainly confirm that. The news media would like to keep us in its thrall, in a swirl of fear, frenzy and sensationalism. Here’s what I noticed after a weekend in Sisters: there were lots of sunny days and clear skies; and not once did I feel a desire to check-in on either Trump or Hillary. I was completely content watching fiddle bows lose their horse hair, hearing mandola players tune up, and swaying in my chair to three-part harmony.