Fiddles, I love those fiddles. In response to my outreach to Rani Arbo about a feature for Freshgrass I got the following:  Our set will begin with some family material & move into some stuff from our grownup albums (which is mostly what we do). This seems to be an important part of the festival, family, a great atmosphere, a place where creativity can flourish for a crowd that is there to listen and experience, across all boundaries, age included. So I am excited to catch the band and all that they will be offering up!

More on all that below, check it on out!

RLR: So, why are you excited for Freshgrass this year?

Rani: We are psyched to be in the arms of the bluegrass community for the weekend! We started there long ago, and have drifted in many different directions since then. I love the adventurous lineup at Freshgrass — seeing veteran players like Peter Rowan and Jerry Doublas next to young players staking out their own territory. I’m looking forward to exploring Mass MoCA — and, most of all, to playing for the Freshgrass audience on Sunday morning.  Bring the kids, as we’ll start out with some material just for them.

RLR: A big part of what Red Line Roots stands for is collaboration, community and bringing folks together and fostering an environment where artists help each other. How do you feel about that preservation of unity and family sentiment as it applies to a festival like Freshgrass? How does it play into your own music and where you come from?

Rani: A festival like Freshgrass reminds you that we live in a world of human beings who need art to stay alive.  You just feel it in the air. You feel the appreciation, the support, the hallelujah of all these people who have prioritized their lives to either make music on stage — or to pack the sunscreen and the lawn chairs and spend a weekend drinking it in. We don’t get together much as communities. But music is something we can still gather around, no matter our politics, religion, or whatever. We play music because it makes us feel good, and it connects us. I think it does the same for listeners too. We need art and connection to survive. We need to be grounded in tradition and common experience, and we need to find new ways to express ourselves in a changing world. Music does all of that and more. It’s a multivitamin.

RLR: If you could collaborate with anyone (dead or alive) musically, who would it be? How about seeing anyone on stage together or joining you for your set this weekend?

Rani: I would sing Angel Band with Emmy Lou Harris. Sunday at Freshgrass? It already looks perfect. If Jerry Douglas jumped up and played dobro with us, I might faint.

RLR: What is 1 record that shaped you when you first started playing and also, who is 1 ‘lesser known’/independent artist or an album that you are listening to now that you think folks really need to hear about?

Rani: I spent long hours in the geology lab with the Telluride Sessions album as a college student in the 1990s, which is when I started playing fiddle. I can play that album in my head most of the way through. As a songwriter, these days, I am a huge fan of Anais Mitchell, who is one of the best and most emotionally powerful wordsmiths I have ever heard.