Allison de Groot & Nic Gareiss
- Old Time
Nic Gareiss (he/they) and Allison de Groot (she/her) sound and move together, engaging tunes and steps from Appalachia, Ireland, as well as original compositions through banjo, voice, and percussive dance. The duo meshes gestures, sounds, and improvisations which are both historically-informed and simultaneously responsive to their shared contemporary creative impulses. Named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” Nic Gareiss has been hailed by the New York Times for his “dexterous melding of Irish and Appalachian dance” and called “the most inventive and expressive step dancer on the scene” by the Boston Herald. A resident of Lansing, Michigan, Gareiss received the 2021 Michigan Heritage Award, the state’s highest honor bestowed on traditional artists. Allison de Groot has won the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo, been nominated for ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ from the Americana Music Association, and been recognized by the JUNO’s and the Canadian Folk Music Awards for her collaboration with Tatiana Hargreaves. After a decade of creating performances together, the duo released their first recording: The Thrill, a visual album inspired by the music of Appalachian musician Hobart Smith in October 2022. The project made NPR’s Best Roots Music of 2022 and can be purchased, viewed, and streamed on the platform Bandcamp. Fifty percent of the proceeds benefit Lonesome Pine Mutual Aid, a Black, Indigenous, queer- and women-led organization which distributes flood relief including food, drinking water, and other community care across southwest Virginia where Hobart Smith lived and learned his music. https://nicandallison.bandcamp.com/album/the-thrill
Allison de Groot
- Bluegrass
- Folk
- Old Time
- Trad
Allison de Groot combines love for old-time music, technical skill and a creative approach to the banjo forming her own sound – unique and full of personality. Although firmly rooted in old-time and music, she has shown her ability to collaborate and create outside this genre, pushing the boundaries of the clawhammer banjo.
Allison has toured all over the world with various groups, performing at venues such as Newport Folk Festival, Stockholm Folk Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival and Tønder Festival in Denmark. The music scene in her hometown of Winnipeg, Canada, immersion in Appalachian old-time communities, a performance degree at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and touring extensively throughout North America and Europe have all had a great impact on her playing. She is dedicated to honoring old-time music, the community that music creates and exploring the clawhammer banjo style. She is currently performing with Bruce Molsky’s new project Molsky’s Mountain Drifters and The Goodbye Girls, among others.
Nic Gareiss
- Celtic
- Dance
- Old Time
Named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” dancer and musician Nic Gareiss has been hailed by the New York Times for his “dexterous melding of Irish and Appalachian dance” and called “the most inventive and expressive step dancer on the scene” by the Boston Herald.
Gareiss draws from his deep love of sound and gesture from across the North Atlantic: from a capella percussive dance pieces, simultaneous song and flatfoot numbers following the legacy of fellow Midwestern singer and dancer John Hartford, and virtuosic improvisations interpreting traditional Irish and Scottish tunes, Gareiss offers warmth, finesse, and do-it-yourself folk inventiveness through the medium of dance as music.
Nic received the Michigan Heritage Award, his state’s highest distinction bestowed on traditional artists and a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination for traditional singer of the year. He has performed in sixteen countries with artists including The Chieftains, Bruce Molsky, Liz Carroll, The Gloaming, Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas, Bill Frisell, and Phil Wiggins at venues such as London’s Barbican Centre, the Munich Philharmonic, the Kennedy Center, and Steve Reich’s 75th birthday at the Cork Opera House. Always jubilant, often puckishly queer, Nic Gareiss is swiftly becoming recognized as a singular artistic presence in traditional dance and music.
