Audiences could easily expect a variety show from a band called Sligo Creek Stompers and they would not be far from wrong — especially when the group’s four members each play an assortment of musical of instruments, from a clarinet to a washboard.
“We do a blend of Appalachian, old time, bluegrass, Texas and gypsy swing, traditional jazz, New Orleans ragtime and Irish fiddling,” said Adrian Erlinger one of the Stompers’ string players. “We’re excited to have a really eclectic style of performance. We cover all of our bases.”
The band has been together for two years and is making its Kennedy Center debut on the Millennium Stage on Friday. Along with Erlinger on upright bass, Sarah Foard performs on fiddle,h Chris Ousley on banjo and guitar and Jess Eliot Myhre on clarinet and washboard. The quartet’s goal is to carry the torch of American string band music throughout the Washington D.C. area and beyond.
So far, so good. They are known in many parts of West Virginia for showing up at barn dances and in town they can be found at neighborhood pubs, farmers’ markets and even on the streets.
| Onstage |
| Sligo Creek Stompers |
| Where: Millennium Stage, Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW |
| When: 6 p.m. Friday |
| Info: Free; 800-444-1324; 202-467-4600; kennedycenter.org |
“When we were first getting started, a lot of the way we would perform and contribute to the music community was busking, which is essentially street performing,” noted Myhre, who grew up studying the old records of southern singers like Bessie Smith before heading to New Orleans and eventually to the District. “The spirit of our playing, a great part of our work is performing for free. It’s practice and [we’re] doing something fun and unexpected in the public sphere.”
On the Millennium Stage, the Stompers perform music from their self-titled debut album, a diverse recording drawn from what they call “the lexicon of American roots music — hoots ‘n’ hollers and boot stomping from the contra-dances [placed beside] viper jazz tunes, scrappy Cajun fiddle and layers of instruments inspired by old Decca 78’s.”
A band that defies precise description, the Sligo Creek Stompers (named for the part of suburban D.C. where they would eventually meet and get together as a group) may very well be your grandmothers’ band.
“We really are passionate about this music,” Erlinger said. “We’re inspired by so much great music and we want to put our voice to it.”
