SPANISH BALLROOM HOSTS ROOTS MUSIC CELEBRATION/VARIETY SHOW

Sunday, March 12, 5 pm, Alaskan Fiddling Poet, Ken Waldman has put together a roots music show that will appeal to anybody who loves fiddle, banjo, exceptional songwriting, and the local roots music community. It's Ken Waldman & The Wild Ones with special guests Mick Radichel of Tacoma's Grit City Pickers, Louis Ledford from Bellingham, Brian Laidlaw from Moab, Utah, and local banjo player, Rich Kuras.

Ken Waldman combines Appalachian-style string-band music, original poetry, and Alaska-set storytelling for a performance uniquely his. He has twenty books (including sixteen full-length poetry collections), twelve CDs, and since 1995 has appeared at the widest range of concert series, festivals, and clubs, from the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage to the famed Dodge Poetry Festival to the Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland, Australia. Reviewers have compared his stage show to John Hartford and Garrison Keillor. He'll be joined by Tacoma banjo player, Rich Kuras, long-time Northwest fixture as both a banjo player and dance caller.

The Denver Post has called Ken Waldman's shows "Renegade Americana" and according to The Austin Chronicle, his appearances are "Like a Ken Burns movie . . . Always recommended." Ken Waldman promises an afternoon that's not only fun, inspiring, and wild—from raucous fiddle and banjo duo pieces to original waltzes to surprise guests—but is also a soundtrack to a journey from Tacoma to the Real Alaska via, really, anywhere the fine singing and fine songs that Mick Radichel, Louis Ledford, and Brian Laidlaw will take you. It's the first day of Daylight Savings. Come and celebrate with us the lengthening light, and the official approach of spring. In Alaska, it may still be cold. For this Tacoma show, anything might happen!

www.kenwaldman.com

Born in the American South, Louis Ledford has carved out a career composing and performing literate Americana roots music. He has produced three solo recordings in association with Waterbug Records and also has collaborated with folk diva Anais Mitchell on several projects including his singing the role of Hades for an early roadshow performing songs that became the bones of her Tony winning Broadway musical Hadestown. Mitchell recorded his song "When You Fall" for her collaborative album Country EP with Rachel Ries released by Ani Difranco's Righteous Babe Records. You will hear echoes of Willie Nelson and Guy Clark in his voice. His arrangements invoke c&w, tin pan alley, Beatles and the blues. "Louis Ledford achieves what Woody Guthrie was so good at--making an instant connection with the listener." - Americana UK.

www.louisledfordmusic.com

Mick Radichel is a multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter in the folk/bluegrass tradition who hails from Milwaukee, WI. His musical journey has led him west via Chicago, Memphis and Portland. Currently residing in Tacoma, he can be seen fronting local bluegrass band the Grit City Pickers. In recent years he's opened for James Taylor, Jeff Tweedy and Old Crow Medicine Show among others. He'll be bringing a friend or two to join him for this show.

www.gritcitypickers.com 

Brian Laidlaw is an author-songwriter who publishes with Milkweed Editions. His newest album This Aster: Adaptations of Emile Nelligan, recorded with his folk orchestra The Family Trade, was released on vinyl by Fonograf Editions this winter. He currently lives in Moab, Utah, and moonlights - often literally - as a rock climber.  

www.brianlaidlaw.com