BRATTLEBORO-The 19th annual Northern Roots Traditional Music Festival returns to the Brattleboro Music Center (BMC) Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 24 and 25.
The weekend festival, directed by Keith Murphy, explores the traditions that have contributed to this region’s rich musical heritage: Irish, English, Scottish, French Canadian, Scandinavian, and New England roots share the spotlight at this annual gathering, which promoters call a “cornerstone of the region’s traditional music calendar.”
This year’s program will include Saturday workshops from noon to 5:30 p.m. at the BMC, highlighting Swedish, Irish, and French Canadian tunes, as well as a full day of traditional song.
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m., the BMC will host the popular Northern Roots Festival Evening Concert, which will include a tribute to the late John Roberts by Traddleboro 2026, with members Andy Davis, Fred Breunig, Arthur Davis, Amanda Witman, and Keith Murphy.
Roberts was well known in traditional music circles. Best known for his work with Tony Barrand, he performed countless times to audiences in New England and beyond.
Pub Sessions are set for Sunday, from 1 to 5:30 p.m. at American Legion Post 5, 32 Linden St. Musicians and audience are all welcome.
Saturday’s Evening Concert will feature Laura Risk, who performs and teaches Québécois and Scottish fiddling internationally and has over a dozen albums to her credit. Her latest album Traverse, with Nicholas Williams and Rachel Aucoin, was awarded Québec’s prestigious OPUS Prize for Album of the Year: Traditional Québécois Music.
“Risk’s distinctive sound and compelling interpretations of traditional tunes are intensely personal, yet grounded in meticulous archival and ethnographic research,” wrote organizers in a news release, noting that the BMC thanks the Délégation du Québec for sponsoring Risk.
Liz Knowles and Kieran O’Hare are part of the trio Open the Door for Three, along with Dublin-born bouzouki player and singer Pat Broaders.
Knowles has established herself “as a dynamic performer and recording artist in Irish traditional music as fiddler for Riverdance, Cherish the Ladies, The String Sisters, and The Martin Hayes Quartet,” organizers said. She is a composer and arranger and was music director and producer for several international stage shows and recording projects.
“O’Hare is a highly respected and sought-after performer of traditional Irish music on the uilleann pipes, concert flute, and tinwhistle,” wrote organizers. “He was educated at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, where he continued the process of learning the tradition of uilleann piping from master pipers.”
lydia ievins is immersed in traditional Swedish music and dance and “is the only fiddler in the U.S. who has earned both a bronze Zorn Medal and a ‘diplom efter bron’ in Sweden for her fiddling in the Upland tradition,” organizers said. “Her fiddle and nyckelharpa classes use great tunes as a medium to also teach rhythmic clarity, sensitive phrasing, and the rich harmonies that make the music irresistibly danceable.”
Sara Grey and Kieron Means perform a wide range of American traditions including old-time songs and ballads from the Appalachians, Ozarks, New England, and the West, blues and gospel music as well as a few of their favorite written songs.
The passage of songs from Great Britain and Ireland to the United States is of particular interest to the duo, organizers said, and a good deal of their material consists of the American versions that have traveled, though a song or two from Great Britain will no doubt be sung.
Workshop tickets are $40 for adults, $15 for youths (14 and under). Combination tickets for workshops and the Saturday evening concert are $55 for adults, $20 for youths. To reserve tickets, contact bmcvt.org, 802-257-4523, or info@bmcvt.org. Admission to Sunday pub sessions free, with donations gratefully accepted.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.