Evie Ladin w/ Squirrel Butter
Tickets: $13 advance, $15 door
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Evie Ladin is a banjo player, step-dancer, singer, songwriter and square-dance caller with a lifetime of experience in traditional American cultural arts. She grew up in a trad folk scene up and down the Eastern Seaboard of the US, travels the world, and calls the rich arts scene in Oakland, California home. The new project, the Evie Ladin Band, debuts her original songs in an expansive stringband led by gutsy clawhammer banjo and rich vocals. A natural performer, Evie loves rolling the music, dance and stories up in one dynamic package, with one foot rooted in traditional forms, and one foot striding on ahead. With Dina Maccabee – violin (Real Vocal String Quartet, Japonize Elephants) Erik Pearson - guitar, Dobro (Crooked Jades, Mushroom), and Keith Terry – bass & percussion (Slammin, Crosspulse).
With The Stairwell Sisters, all-gal old-time teardown, Evie performs traditional and original material on clawhammer banjo, vocals, clogging and hambone. With Keith Terry & Crosspulse, she performs rhythm-based multi-cultural music & dance works, bringing her Appalachian skills to collaborations with a variety of other cultural arts, including other styles with roots in the African Diaspora. Evie calls rowdy community square dances, performs for extremely diverse populations of school-kids, tears it up at clubs and festivals, and slogs away in the office, keeping all the plates spinning.
Very excited to see Float Downstream break free, Evie is writing songs for the next record, choreographing rhythm dance, working on a book for banjo called “Making the Leap” and playing swing chords on the guitar. She teaches banjo, singing and dance at home in Oakland when you can find her there, or on Skype!
Appearing with Evie Ladin is Squirrel Butter, the duo of Charlie Beck and Charmaine Li-Lei Slaven. Charlie and Charmaine began performing together in 2005 after meeting at the Portland Old Time Gathering and discovering that they lived merely blocks away from each other in Seattle. The pair began busking, and soon realized that their individual styles, sense of rhythm, and tendency towards the quirky and obscure blended well together. It wasn’t long before they began performing at venues off the street.
Charlie Beck, hailing from Indianapolis, Indiana, is a highly accomplished musician. His mastery of guitar and banjo come from years of consistent study. He is well versed in jazz and swing, is an avid enthusiast of old American blues and string band music. His repertoire includes a bushel of traditional folk tunes along with many jazz numbers. A talented songwriter, Charlie’s original compositions combine modern approaches with traditional styles, giving his songs a unique sound. Charlie is an outstanding vocalist, and also plays brilliantly on fiddle.
Charmaine “Lady Li-Lei” Slaven, from Stevensville, Montana, is a gifted dancer, and her skill at traditional percussive buckdancing is phenomenal. She is also an adept rhythm guitarist, ukulele player, and vocalist. Her clear, strong singing style is reminiscent of the Carter family. She brings a fine repertoire of traditional ballads to the duet, along with several of her original works.
