Presented by Windsor Art Center in partnership with the Windsor Historical Society in collaboration with the CT Bluegrass Society & others
CT River and Roots Festival is made possible with support from The Town of Windsor, Roberts Foundation for the Arts, Euphoria Event Solutions, Windsor Federal Bank, The Fredette Family, Dan Gillian of Edward Jones Financial, Jim & Liz Burke, Sam & Marcy Hinckley, Joyce & Dick Armstrong, Windsor Jaycees, and donations from individuals like you.
Free On The Green: Music, Culture, Food, Story Telling, Crafts & more!
Join us on the Windsor Town Green from 12 PM to 6 PM on Sunday, September 1, for the inaugural CT River and Roots Festival! Headliner Jake Blount, an award-winning interpreter of Black folk music, joins a cast of other roots & folk performers for a day of music, dance, culture, food, crafts, and more! Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $10.
Audience members of all ages are invited to attend, shop at the vendor market, enjoy a diverse array of food trucks, and bring your own picnic blanket to enjoy the phenomenal staged performances.
Donors of $10 and above will be entered into a raffle. Winners will be announced during the event!
Performances
Headliner: Jake Blount
A powerfully gifted musician and a scholar of Black American music, Jake Blount speaks ardently about the African roots of the banjo and the subtle, yet profound ways African Americans have shaped and defined the amorphous categories of roots music and Americana. His 2020 album Spider Tales (named one of the year’s best albums by NPR and The New Yorker, earned a 5-star review from The Guardian) highlighted the Black and Indigenous histories of popular American folk tunes, as well as revived songs unjustly forgotten in the whitewashing of the canon. Jake Blount’s music is rooted in care and confrontation. On stage, each song he and his band play is chosen for a reason - because it highlights important elements about the stories we tell ourselves of our shared history and our endlessly complicated present moment. The more we learn about where we’ve been, the better equipped we are to face the future.
Jake Blount (pronounced: blunt) is an award-winning musician and scholar based in Providence, RI. He is half of the internationally touring duo Tui, a 2020 recipient of the Steve Martin Banjo Prize, and a two-time winner of the Appalachian String Band Music Festival (better known as Clifftop). A specialist in the early folk music of Black Americans, Blount is a skilled performer of spirituals, blues and string band repertoire. Blount has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Newport Folk Festival, NPR's Tiny Desk, and numerous other venues across and beyond the United States. He has presented his scholarly work at museums and universities including the Smithsonian Institution, Berklee College of Music and Yale University. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, No Depression, and NPR. His most recent album, The New Faith, is the latest installment of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings' African American Legacy Series.
Blount enrolled at Hamilton College in 2013. He received his first banjo lessons from Dr. Lydia Hamessley the same fall, and started to structure a course of study around the early traditional music of Black communities in the United States. An electric guitarist since age twelve, Blount shifted his focus to string band music after taking up the banjo and fiddle. In the years that followed, Blount studied under modern masters of old-time music: Bruce Molsky, Judy Hyman (of the Horse Flies), and Rhiannon Giddens and Hubby Jenkins (of the GRAMMY-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops).
Blount first achieved widespread recognition within the old-time scene when his band, The Moose Whisperers, claimed first place in the traditional band contest at Clifftop. Blount was the first Black person to make the finals in any category, and he has repeated the feat multiple times since. He launched his career in earnest in the summer of 2017: he received his B.A. in ethnomusicology and released his debut EP, Reparations, with Tatiana Hargreaves. The next three years saw the release of Tui’s Pretty Little Mister, Blount’s victory in the Clifftop banjo competition, and his selection both as a 2020 Strathmore Artist in Residence, and as a member of the International Bluegrass Music Association's Leadership Bluegrass Class of 2020.
Blount released his debut solo album, Spider Tales, on May 29, 2020 through Free Dirt Records. Produced by Jeff Claus and Judy Hyman (of the Horse Flies) and featuring Tatiana Hargreaves, Nic Gareiss, Rachel Eddy and Haselden Ciaccio, the album debuted at #2 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart and received widespread critical praise. The Guardian declared it an "instant classic" and awarded it five out of five stars. Bandcamp selected it as Album of the Day, and it received positive coverage in NPR, Rolling Stone Country, Billboard Pride and AV Club. Spider Tales later appeared on "Best of 2020" lists from NPR, Bandcamp, The New Yorker, The Guardian, and elsewhere. It was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2021 International Folk Music Awards, and received "Best of the Americas" at the Songlines Music Awards in the same year.
Blount's latest record, The New Faith, was released on September 23, 2022 as part of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings' African American Legacy Series, in collaboration with the National Museum of African American History and Culture. An Afrofuturist concept album, The New Faith explores traditional Black religious music as it might exist post-climate crisis. The album represents a significant progression in Blount's sound, utilizing his formidable skills as an acoustic musician as well as newfound affinities for electric guitar, looping, and digital processing. The album received widespread critical acclaim, garnering five-star reviews from The Telegraph, Songlines and Financial Times and receiving positive coverage from outlets including NPR, Bandcamp, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times and more. It appeared on "Best of 2022" lists from Rolling Stone, NPR, PopMatters, Songlines, Folk Alley, The Guardian and more. He also released an NPR Tiny Desk Concert in January of 2023.
Most recently, Blount has been nominated for Artist of the Year at the 2023 International Folk Music Awards.
Blount has appeared on podcasts including Radiolab and Soundcheck. He regularly teaches fiddle and banjo at camps like the Augusta Heritage Center’s Old-Time Week, the Ashokan Center’s Old-Time Rollick, and Earful of Fiddle Music and Dance Camp.
Jake Blount plays a five-string Nathaniel Rowan fiddle and banjos made by Seeders Instruments and Renan Banjos.
“Blount is a virtuosic multi-instrumentalist... with a hauntingly gorgeous voice and a bottomless, scholarly knowledge of American musical history.” - Katherine Proctor
Jennifer Kreisberg
Jennifer (Tuscarora, North Carolina) comes from four generations of Seven Singing Sisters through the maternal line. She is known for fierce vocals, soaring range and lilting, breath-taking harmonies.
Mother, Singer, Composer, and Teacher - Jennifer (Tuscarora, North Carolina) comes from four generations of Seven Singing Sisters through the maternal line. She is known for fierce vocals, soaring range and lilting, breath-taking harmonies.
Singing since she was a child, she joined the critically acclaimed Native women's Trio ULALI at age 17. Her voice perfectly wove the high strand of Ulali's renowned harmony with incomparable skill and grace for over twenty years. Together, they created a new sound in Indian Country. Jennifer's sharp wit and stage presence infused Ulali’s shows with strong vocals, humor and camaraderie with the audience.
Jennifer is frequently called upon to guest lecture and conduct vocal workshops at universities, schools, in Native communities and at festivals throughout the United States and Canada. She has worked in film and television and has toured with renowned musicians throughout the world. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and New Orleans Jazz Festival among others. Learn More
Aaron Athey
Cedric Watson Trio
J.M. Clifford
J.M. Clifford is a singer-songwriter and music educator whose music draws on Bluegrass, Folk and Americana. Clifford will be joined on stage by Sam Brown on guitar and vocals and Cesar Moreno on mandolin and vocals.
In 2023, Clifford was an Official Showcase Artist at the IBMA Business Conference in Raleigh, NC. His single "Slow Rolling Train" earned him a spot in the final round of the 2023 Rocky Mountain Songwriting Festival. He also performed at the IBMA Songwriter Showcase in 2022 and 2023. Clifford has toured nationally, opening for Ron Pope in the winter of 2024, and playing at venues and festivals such as The Outpost in North Carolina, The Highlands Bluegrass Festival in New York, and the Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival in Maine. His 2024 Summer Tour includes performances at the Podunk Bluegrass band competition and headlining slots at the Jalopy Theater in Brooklyn, NY, Lilly P's in Cambridge, MA, and Nick-A-Nees in Providence, RI. Learn More
Clifford will be joined on stage by Sam Brown on guitar and vocals and Cesar Moreno on mandolin and vocals.
Tang Sauce & TTQM
Tang Sauce with the TTQM is bringing Soul Roots to the CT River & Roots Festival! Unlock the power of music, connection, and positivity with Tang Sauce. It's time to immerse yourself in a musical adventure that will leave you inspired and uplifted. Learn More
Dance
Island Reflections Dance Theatre
Island Reflections Dance Theatre is dedicated to societal improvement and cross-cultural education through diverse dance styles, including Caribbean Folk, Ballet, Modern/Contemporary, and African dance.
Island Reflections Dance Theatre (IRDT) is a professional dance company led by Artistic Director Stephen D. Hankey. The company is dedicated to the improvement of society through the exploration of diversity and physical movement. The Company continues to flourish and educate the community cross-culturally about Caribbean Folk, Ballet, Modern/Contemporary, African, and other world dance styles. Mr. Hankey’s choreography is an extraction of the African experience with indigenous Indian, European and Asian influences, representative of a microcosm of the social history of the Caribbean and the world at large. The company has performed around the New England area creating partnerships with community-based organizations in various locales. The performances of IRDT beautifully depict stories that pay homage to ancestors and cultures worldwide through dance.
Mistress of Ceremonies
Calida Jones
Calida N. Jones is a distinguished musician, social justice advocate, and educator with over 25 years of experience.
Calida N. Jones is an accomplished musician, social justice advocate, entrepreneur, and educator with more than 25 years of experience in performance planning, workshop and curriculum development, volunteerism, project management, and teaching in private and public institutions. Working with arts and cultural organizations across the nation, she has led efforts in advancing equity, diversity, inclusion, and access. She has built and supported several social change music programs both in Connecticut and around the country. Passionate about intentional purposeful teaching and community engagement, her personal mission is to ensure that children with limited resources have access to musical opportunities and activities. She is also deeply committed to correlating the art of teaching to life skills and community building through the lenses of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility.
Calida previously worked as a Vice President of Planning and Capacity Building at Arts Consulting Group, a national arts consulting firm. She continues to be a regularly-sought after International Speaker, Coach, Violinist, Conductor, and Music Educator. Calida activates her philosophy of community building, inspiration, actionable solutions, and hope through motivational speeches, workshops, and coaching individuals all over the globe. Most notably, she recently had the opportunity to speak to over 500k individuals in Amravati, India. There, she shared the “Impact of Kindness”. A TEDx speaker in San Jose, CA, Calida has had the privilege of speaking at prestigious institutions such as Yale University, Yale School of Music, Duke University, The Connecticut State Capitol, and The Hartt School. She has received numerous honors during her career, including a scholar fellowship at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Elizabeth L. Mahaffey Fellowship, Grammy Music Educator Award nomination, the Connecticut Arts Hero Award for the Waterbury region, and the Father Thomas H. Dwyer Humanitarian Award for her work in Waterbury, Connecticut.
In addition to being the Founder of CNJ Associates, she also recently co-founded an arts ecosystem called Creative Evolutions, a Human-Centered Adaptive Ecosystem that Creatives Actionable Solutions for Creative Individuals and Organizations. Learn More @cnjassociates
Land Acknowledgement
Rachel Sayet
Rachel Beth Sayet (Mohegan) has an MA in anthropology from Harvard University. She is an anthropologist, meditation coach, and an Indigenous food educator. She presents on Indigenous history, food, and culture throughout new England, and will be teaching a Native Studies course at UMASS Boston this fall.
Rachel Beth Sayet or Akitusut (She Who Reads) is a member of the Mohegan nation. Raised with the spirits of her ancestors, she grew up learning traditional stories and teachings and participating in tribal events.
Rachel has always been passionate about and proud of her Mohegan heritage and identity as well as an avid studier and learner about other cultures, indigenous and beyond. History has always been her favorite subject.
Rachel’s other main passion throughout her life has been food. As a child, she grew up cooking with her grandmother and mother. Rachel’s grandmother Phyllis is a Russian American Jew who always been ahead of the curve when it came to food. In the 1980s she taught Chinese cooking classes. Phyllis inspired Rachel to always try different foods and learn to cook cultural cuisines.
Rachel has a BS in Restaurant Management from Cornell University. In her time at Cornell, she worked in kitchens, ran events for industry representatives, and was a personal chef. She was also a teaching assistant for the class Introduction to Wines.
During her senior year at Cornell, Rachel was able to take an American Indian Studies course with Mohawk professor Audra Simpson. This course was eye-opening to her, and it was then that she was inspired to teach about Native culture and history.
Rachel then went to graduate school at Harvard University for anthropology and museum studies and received her masters degree in 2012. While at Harvard, Rachel worked at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology for three years and had the opportunity of being a curator for the exhibit “Digging Veritas: the archaeology and history of the Harvard Indian college and 17th century life”.
Her thesis entitled: Moshups Continuance: sovereignty and the literature of the land of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Nation won the award for best thesis in the behavioral sciences at the Harvard University Extension School.
However she has never stopped working with food.
In 2013 Rachel wrote a paper entitled “A Celebration of Land and Sea: modern indigenous cuisine in New England” which she presented at many conferences. This led her to start working on ground efforts at her own community and revitalizing traditional foods.
Through her trainings and passions in history, food and culture, she now gives guest lectures, presentations and cooking demos throughout New England to students of all ages. Beginning this fall, Rachel will be teaching the course “Native American Women” at UMASS Boston
Storytellers
Robert Peters
Robert Peters is a Mashpee Wampanoag Artist, Poet, and Author.
Robert Peters is a Mashpee Wampanoag Artist, Poet, and Author. He published his first book “Da Goodie Monsta” in the fall of 2009. He released Thirteen Moons Calendar A Meditation on Indigenous Life in 2015 and again in 2020. “Thirteen Moons” is accompanied by poetry, essays and thoughts - written over a span of twenty years. It was created to promote understanding and healing among indigenous people everywhere.
Robert’s family moved to the Wampanoag home land of Mashpee when he was ten. Here his father Russell entered a life-long battle to regain land and sovereignty for the Mashpee Wampanoag People. As a child, Robert witnessed the 1976 Wampanoag Indian land claim, trial and the tribe’s quest for Federal Recognition. Robert retired from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority after 24 years of service. During this period, he observed the culture of Boston’s subway system working as a motorman, union steward and at times a civil rights activist on the MBTA’s Orange Line. He drew pictures, took notes and made commentary.
Today Robert continues writing, painting, and working with youth. He is a fire keeper and a keeper of oral tradition.
Lee Mixashawn Rozie
Mixashawn offers musical performance and educational workshops on Indigenous music traditional and contemporary, as well as original, workshops that utilize his extensive experience as performer, Indigenous artist and educator to inspire creativity and natural expression for all ages.
Lee Mixashawn Rozie has been a practicing multi-disciplinary and internationally acclaimed Jazz artist for the past three decades. Mr. Rozie holds a degree in History and Ethnomusicology from Trinity College and is equally at home in academic and cultural settings. Beginning from the point of Indigenous artist, using ancient cultural principles, maritime arts and historical data, both written and oral, he has developed a system of "Hemispheric Principles" to inform and guide his artform, more directly referred to as "Wave Art" : sonic, aquatic percussive and harmonic. Mixashawn offers musical performance and educational workshops on Indigenous music traditional and contemporary, as well as original, workshops that utilize his extensive experience as performer, Indigenous artist and educator to inspire creativity and natural expression for all ages.
Pop Up Exhibit
Stop by Windsor Historical Society’s new traveling exhibition, “Bridges and Belonging: Stories of Windsor’s Black History” to learn about the many Black residents, both enslaved and free, that shaped the town’s history over the past 350 years. Learn More
Demonstrations
Justin Scott- Wampum Making
Justin Scott is a drummer, wampum maker and traditional artist from Mohegan nation. Festival attendees can find this demonstration next to the Windsor Historical Society Exhibition tent.
CHECK BACK IN TO STAY TUNED FOR INFORMATION ON OTHER PERFORMANCES & PROGRAM SCHEDULE!
More Information
Vendors
Local Brews
Access to Beer & Wine Garden only for those ages 21+. ID required.
Wine Tent
Supported by the Windsor Chamber of Commerce.
Access to Beer & Wine Garden only for those ages 21+. ID required.
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Getting There
Parking
Windsor center is full of free, public parking (blue)! We also have parking available for volunteers, vendors, and performers (pink), very close to festival grounds (green).
Windsor Train Station is only a few blocks away!
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL:
The CT River and Roots Festival presents internationally recognized musicians alongside regional CT performers & storytellers highlighting the origins of our shared cultures and delving into the deep history of roots music.
This inaugural CT River and Roots Festival will feature the internationally recognized and award-winning musician and scholar Jake Blount, who seamlessly merges centuries-old traditional songs with the elements and techniques of modern Black genres. Headliner Jake Blount is an award-winning interpreter of Black folk music, recognized among the best of 2020 by outlets including Bandcamp, The New Yorker, NPR, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and more.
Hosted on the Town Green under a saddlespan tent, this event will showcase a diverse array of roots music ranging from bluegrass & folk to soul roots by both regional and nationally recognized musicians. Vendors, including artisans, food trucks, and beer and wine tents, will help bring this festival to life.
Engaging storytelling coordinated by the Windsor Historical Society will be interwoven into staged performances. Featured storytellers, vocalists, and drumming, are members of indigenous communities. A pop-up exhibit display will be part of the offerings, connecting this cultural celebration to its historical roots.
As our first annual festival, we aim to grow the CT River and Roots Festival and build a tradition of celebrating cultural richness year after year. We seek to develop a sense of ownership among participants and community stakeholders. We believe in the power of collaboration, adhering to the mentality that “it takes a village.” By fostering strong partnerships that grow and evolve alongside the event, we ensure impact from this event can reach the broadest audience. Central to our strategy for success is uplifting others.
We look forward to seeing you at CT River & Roots Fest!
Thank you to our supporters for their continued commitment to ensuring that the arts thrive in our community!
We are grateful for the many volunteers, civic organizations, and CT River & Roots Fest planning committee.
CT River & Roots Fest Planning Committee:
Mayela Aguirre
James Burke
Carol Engelmann
Jenny Hawran
Michelle Hawran
Renee Lockhart
Xarea Lockhart
Sarah McKay
Terese Newman
Neill Sachdev
Rachel Sayet
Austin Scelzo
Doug Shipman
Sponsors:
Town of Windsor
Roberts Foundation for the Arts
Euphoria Event Solutions
Windsor Federal Savings
The Fredette Family
Jim & Liz Burke
Sam & Marcy Hinckley
Dan Gillian, Edward Jones Financial
Windsor Jaycees
Joyce & Dick Armstrong
Presenting Partners:
Windsor Art Center
Windsor Historical Society
Collaborators:
CT Bluegrass Association
First Town Downtown
Windsor Chamber of Commerce
Win TV
Windsor Art Center's programs and exhibits are made possible in part through the generous support of people like you. Visit our About Us page to learn more about our leadership and supporters. Consider becoming a donor today!
For more information, please email info@windsorartcenter.org.
