A fistful of folk

Those who are looking for quality folk and folk-adjacent music in the Lansing area don’t have to venture far, thanks to the Ten Pound Fiddle, which has been hosting shows featuring local, national and even international artists for 49 years. The organization’s home base, East Lansing’s University United Methodist Church, is especially close for Michigan State University students, who just need to cross South Harrison Road on the west side of campus.

“Tickets for students for most shows are $5. So, MSU students can walk across the street and hear a show at the church for $5, and if you really like somebody and want to sit in the front row, just be there by 6:30 p.m. It’s very egalitarian. There aren’t any reserved seats. There aren’t any VIP sections. We open the gate at 6:30 p.m., and the shows are at 7:30 p.m.,” said Sally Potter, the Fiddle’s booking manager.

The organization kicked off the second half of its 49th season Friday (Jan. 12) with a concert by Louisiana blues musicians Cedric Watson and Corey Harris. That was just the beginning of the busy winter and spring schedule, with 15 shows running through April 26 as well as biweekly contra dances at Central United Methodist Church and a couple of children’s concerts for good measure.

This Friday (Jan. 19), dancer Nic Gareiss will perform to live music by Irish fiddler Liz Carroll and banjoist Allison de Groot.

“Nic Gareiss is an internationally known Appalachian/Celtic dancer. He lives in Lansing, but most of the time he’s gone to Denmark, Ireland, Scandinavia or other places in Europe, or all over the country. He runs dance camps,” Potter said. “Liz Carroll is a good friend of his. She’s also an incredible Irish fiddler. She’s sort of the matriarch of Irish fiddling in the United States. And Alison Degroot is a 30-something old-time traditional banjo player. The three of them are going to share the stage and do duets and trios and solos. That will be lovely because both Alison and Liz are at the top of their game.”

The Fiddle will take a week off after Friday’s show to prepare for the Mid-Winter Singing Festival, which runs Feb. 2 through 4 at University United Methodist Church.

“There’s a huge community sing on Friday night; 300 or 400 people will come just to sing,” Potter said. “You can sing the melody, you can sing a harmony, you can make up your own bass notes. There’s Motown, there’s World War II songs, there’s turn of the century, there’s ‘70s and ‘80s pop songs, and we hand out all the lyrics. Everybody sings, and it’s really a whole lot of fun.”

The festival continues at 11 a.m. the following day with a children’s concert featuring Lake Effect, a family roots band from Cadillac, and wraps up with an additional community sing at 12:30 p.m., featuring music from “Rise Up Singing” and “Rise Again,” the two songbooks “that have sustained the community singing movement,” according to the Fiddle’s website.

The Ten Pound Fiddle will offer 15 concerts throughout its winter and spring season, including dancer Nic Gareiss, fiddler Liz Carroll and banjoist …

Another kids’ concert with the Ukulele Kings, a trio of ukulele players Ben Hassenger and Patrick Malloy and bassist Steve Szilagyi, is scheduled for April 13 at the church. Kids are invited to “dance and sing along to songs about cats, dogs, bugs, birds and all the other things that make life wonderful,” the website reads.

Closer to those in Lansing, the Fiddle will co-sponsor four shows at the Robin Theatre in REO Town, including bluegrass group Wilson Thicket on Feb. 8; singer-songwriter Sam Robbins on March 7; multi-instrumentalist Laurel Premo and fiddler Jake Shulman-Ment on March 20; and two string trios, the Tall Poppy String Band and Northern Resonance, on April 24.

“There are some shows we know will draw 50 or 60 people, and we want to put them in a venue that holds 50 or 60 people — and it’s such a gorgeous venue,” Potter said.

A couple of locally beloved out-of-town groups will utilize the stage at UrbanBeat in Old Town as well.

“There used to be a festival in town, the Great Lakes Folk Festival, which hasn’t happened for five or six years, but it was in town for 20 years, and one of the favorite groups was Feufollet. They’re coming on Feb. 23. They’re a younger band out of New Orleans. It’s Cajun, it’s dance music, and it’s gonna be a party,” Potter said. “And then Hot Club of Cowtown on April 5, that group also came to the Great Lakes Folk Festival several times. They’ve been touring for 20 years. They’re basically one of the premier hot jazz and swing trios in the country. She’s a phenomenal fiddler and singer, and the guys just back her up so well. So that was a pretty big booking for us.”

Potter attributes the Fiddle’s ability to book big shows like this to the reputation it’s earned for paying artists “enough money.”

“It’s a great gig, as far as gigs are concerned. The artists end up with anywhere between 50 and 70% of the door sales. That doesn’t happen very often,” she said. “Our ticket prices are low because our expenses are low, so a lot of people come to these concerts, and that gives the performer a much bigger check than they would get at many other places. Through the years, the Fiddle has had a fabulous reputation among artists, and people want to play the Fiddle.”

Potter said the first half of the season saw pre-COVID levels of attendance, if not more, and she has high hopes that the rest of the season will follow suit.

“I think it’s because we never went online,” she said. “We did an archival thing online with just audio, but we never did video online. If you want to see the show, you have to leave your house and see the show. And people did! It was fabulous,” she said. “In fact, there are a couple of artists that we have every fall, and those numbers were up from three years ago. I don’t know whether it’s pent-up demand or just the fact that people know that if you want to see the shows, you have to come to the concert. But people did. It was lovely.”