Hillbilly concertos; Appalachian grooves!

Veteran folk artist Rick Scott joins forces with young keyboard ace Nico Rhodes for an inter-generational smorgasbord of roots, blues and humour. What do you get when you combine an infamous dulcimer player with a rising jazz star, old school groove with Broadway chops? Scott and Rhodes blur all boundaries: in a word, they cook!

Roots & Grooves is a lively alchemy of songs, stories and musical mastery garnished with mischief and joie de vivre. In their first year as a duo they played 30 concerts to ovations around B.C. and released a Roots & Grooves CD recorded live from the floor in a single day.

Since pioneering rogue folk with iconic B.C. trio Pied Pumkin, Scott has performed in nine countries and released 19 recordings honoured with three Juno nominations, Parents’ Choice, WCMA and Canadian Folk Music Awards. He’s Canada’s leading proponent of Appalachian mountain dulcimer.

“Nico Rhodes is on fire! Not since the Pumkin have I experienced such unfettered creativity,” Scott said.

At 29, Nico Rhodes is in constant demand as arranger and musical director for long run stage shows, when not touring with his own jazz trio or his mother, Joelle Rabu. His childhood soundtrack was Bach, Piaf and Rick Scott. Age eight he wrote Rick a fan letter and age 23 he arranged Rick’s music for symphony. “Playing with my childhood hero is more fun than I ever could imagine, we shake each other up and the audience gets to come along for the ride,” Rhodes said.

Individually Rick Scott and Nico Rhodes are highly entertaining, gifted musicians. Together they are a force of nature.

Roots & Grooves is a musical gift for any audience: talent, chemistry, stories, songs and humour that will be the feel-good concert of the year, coming to Key City Theatre in Cranbrook on Wednesday, January 30 at 7:30 p.m.

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