Commissions
Scroggins & Rose
Master instrumentalists Tristan Scroggins and Alisa Rose provide a touchstone for experiencing the world in the moment. Scroggins, a mandolinist and second generation bluegrass virtuoso, and Rose, a Grammy-nominated violinist, create an inviting musical atmosphere with their thoughtful, conversational arrangements and startling dynamic and emotional range. The listener is taken on a journey away from the familiar as the duo embark on adventurous improvisations that traverse the convergence of bluegrass and classical genres.
The playful spontaneity of their improvising energizes performers and listeners alike, connecting them to each passing moment. Scroggins & Rose use their technical expertise and expansive knowledge of traditional music to put on world-class performances of highly nuanced and melodic tunes. With two separate lifetimes of dedication to craft, authenticity, and their individual instruments, Scroggins & Rose forge their own path which breathes new life into old traditions.
Album Fund
FreshGrass Album Fund provides funding to artists and bands who are in the creative process of making an album. The funding is in the form of a grant so artists maintain all ownership of their work. These grants offered by FreshGrass Foundation are to inspire and facilitate artist’s and band’s creative freedom. The funds can be used for both production and distribution of new roots songs, music or tracks. Listed below are albums that have been produced with the help of the FreshGrass Album Fund.
“At its heart, our music is an intimate conversation between two instruments,” that’s how Alisa Rose, a Grammy-nominated violinist describes the latest album “Curios” created with her musical partner Tristan Scroggins.
The best conversationalists, like the best musicians excel in listening and in understanding the value of silence. This recording is a beautiful map of musical landscapes with winding roads that cross valleys and mountains of sound on the road to some place familiar and still unexplored.
The word “intimate” is especially appropriate in talking about this music. The sparse nature of two people playing together allows the listener to hear the melodic dance as one sound follows another, reacts, pushes away or dances alongside. Following that musical dance is something unique to this recording. Where a larger band can create a wall of sound that is often powerful, the power here comes from the space between the sounds, the silences woven into the mix by the players. The absence of that wall of sound allows us to hear and appreciate the foundations of the music. Listeners will no doubt hear the influences of bluegrass, classical and jazz.
Scroggins and Rose are indeed following in the footsteps of Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Bela Fleck, David Grisman and others of the modern acoustic sound but there is a significant and important development going on as well. While some tracks like “Marvel” or “Wisconsin Wayside” follow a more conventional, albeit sparse, structure, others like “Stellar Sea” or “French Cowboy” develop more like a musical hide and seek where the destination is a mystery. Chamber Folk Music or Intimate Conversational Music, we may eventually create new names for the path these artists are forging but for now it’s probably enough to use words like “Beautiful, spacious, glorious and often perfect” (Kevin Slick, Colorado Bluegrass Music Society)
