Alive in the Root

Alive in the Root is a show filled with poetic original music and great harmonies. We also play songs with a variety of tempo and energy. We have several strong instrumentalists to showcase the beauty of string music. We have been asked back to play every venue we've done and people really enjoy seeing us.

We are also sensitive to the audience and can custom tailor our show to suit a specific event, both in volume and tone of the performance. We are also happy to learn specific songs in advance of a given show. We love new material ideas!

Alive in the Root is an acoustic 4-piece that performs a mix of original music and interesting covers which can best be described as a mix of jazz, bluegrass, acoustic roots, and blues. We are all vocalists and spend a lot of time developing this part of our sound both in our original music and when interpreting cover songs. We are a mix of acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, upright bass, and 4 part harmonies.

Alive in the Root first formed as a quartet called Lost Tribe of Modern Folk, but changed direction to branch out into genres with greater diversity. Both Dan and Jessie are prolific songwriters and constantly have too few hours in the day to develop all their material in a full band format. But they try. A typical show will be about three quarters original music and the rest cover songs, the latter of which we try to choose songs rarely covered, but that people will typically know. Rarely have we heard someone play a B side Ozzy Osbourne song in a 4 part harmony acoustic arrangement with mandolin. But why not. Live a little.

We are there to have a good time and people usually have a good time watching us have a good time.

We have a PA/sound setup enough to amplify our group for about 200 people to hear easily. Our music is less party music and more listening music, so it is not typically required to be loud.

If a show is much larger than that then we work with clients to procure or provide additional sound reinforcement and personnel, as we typically run all our own sound from the stage and without a dedicated sound person.