Evie Ladin’s polyrhythmic clawhammer banjo style, resonant voice, and percussive dance have been heard from A Prairie Home Companion to Celtic Connections, Lincoln Center to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Known as a driving force behind San Francisco’s Stairwell Sisters, Evie has four solo CDs that feature her banjo playing and songwriting: Float Downstream, Evie Ladin Band, Jump the Fire, and Caught on a Wire. She recently recorded a traditional banjo and fiddle duet album with some of her favorite fiddlers (Riding the Rooster).
Evie grew up in a trad folk scene up and down the Eastern US and now travels the world, while calling Oakland, California home. Her childhood home was a hostel for folk revival artists touring the East Coast; John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers first put a banjo in her hands at age eight, and she got her first lessons from Bob Carlin. Raised on fiddlers’ conventions and square dances, Evie’s playing is firmly grounded in tradition, while taking the instrument into new territory. She is also a crackerjack percussive dancer and incorporates that rhythmic work into her playing and singing. A popular instructor at many music camps, as well as Berkeley, California’s Freight and Salvage when she is home, Evie tours frequently with her partner Keith Terry and the Evie Ladin band.
“Evie Ladin is a natural entertainer with a gift for infusing folk practices with contemporary verve.” —San Francisco Chronicle
www.evieladin.com
Evie Ladin teaches:
