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UMS 101: Roots of Red, White, and Bluegrass
American Folk Music & Storytelling
$49 includes 12/14 workshop + 12/16 performance ticket
$15 workshop-only ticket also available
(details below)
Learn about the origins of American roots music known as bluegrass, and get to know some of the instruments and artists that make this uniquely American genre so soulful.
Join us for this 90-minute workshop that complements UMS’s presentation of Béla Fleck My Bluegrass Heart and Punch Brothers on Friday, December 16. Familiarize yourself with and deepen your understanding of bluegrass. Facilitated by professional, community-based practicing artists/educators, UMS 101 workshops offer background and contextual learning, live demonstrations, and participatory activities in a fun, casual environment.
$49 registration includes the 90-minute workshop, plus a ticket to the December 16 performance of Béla Fleck My Bluegrass Heart and Punch Brothers. (Please note, the performance is on a different day/time/location than the workshop. Sorry, no ticket exchanges or refunds for previously purchased tickets.)
$15 workshop-only ticket also available.
UMS 101 is presented in partnership with Ann Arbor Recreation & Education.
Keith Billik is the creator and host of The Picky Fingers Banjo Podcast, launched in early 2018, which is listened to by banjo enthusiasts worldwide, and documents the biographies and playing styles of the top banjo professionals in the industry. As a player, Keith is best known for his recordings and performances with Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellys, Mark Lavengood’s Bluegrass Bonanza, and many other groups in his nearly twenty years playing banjo. He currently plays with the Southeast Michigan-based band Wilson Thicket. Keith has been a faculty member for the Midwest Banjo Camp and the Great Lakes Music Camp and worked for 10 years as showroom manager of the world-famous Elderly Instruments.
A native of Michigan, Rochelle Clark’s music has been described as raw, honest, and beautifully vulnerable. She writes and sings about real life, joy, struggle and human tragedy – you can’t help but feel for the characters in her songs. Leaning heavily on personal experience, she connects on an intimate level that resonates with her audience. As one-half of the acclaimed Americana duo, The Potter’s Field, Rochelle’s powerful vocals have been captivating audiences in Michigan and throughout the Midwest for years. Drawing on her roots in folk, americana, and country, Rochelle has found a sound that is uniquely her own.
For the past two decades, Jason Dennie’s varied instrumental and vocal gifts have enriched Michigan’s music scene in uncountable ways. The list of work is widely centered on acoustic music and the landscape that developed his ears was put in place by his father and maternal grandparents. Family connections to Bill Monroe and Jimmy Martin embedded a love and respect for Bluegrass that runs deep. Regardless of what musical style, there is always a trace of those Bluegrass roots and flavors. That love has also led to teaching guitar and mandolin in the 20 years that Michigan has been called home. Accolades include 3 CAMMY Awards for Best Folk/Bluegrass Instrumentalist, the 2001 Gamble Rogers Fingerstyle Championship, and 10 Nominations for Detroit Music Awards. Jason can be seen live all over Michigan with several projects including Thunderwude, Wilson Thicket, Annie & Rod Capps, and with long-time partner Rochelle Clark.