Northern Lights, the Northeast's superlative veteran string band, doesn't qualify as typical traditionalist. But over a three-decade career, the band has created its own tradition - a constant exploration of new musical territory without ever losing its acoustic and vocal bearings. From 1990's "Take You to the Sky," to 2005's "New Moon" (Fifty-Fifty Music), the band has fused an eclectic mix of traditional roots music, rock, country, soul and gospel with the high, lonesome vocal sound and instruments of bluegrass.
The group, now a quintet, has performed at festivals and concert halls from coast to coast and abroad, including the Newport Folk Festival, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, American Folklife Center, Barns at Wolf Trap, Strawberry Music Festival, Walnut Valley Festival, Smithsonian Institute, Festival Sur la Route de Tullins (France), Bumbershoot Festival and the Winnipeg Folk Festival.
They have recorded 10 albums, including “Three August Nights”, a live CD with the late legendary Nashville fiddler Vassar Clements, who often performed with them, and three of their CDs reached the top ten of Bluegrass Unlimited’s National Bluegrass Survey.
Northern Lights performs regularly at arts council events, including series that present a wide range of musical styles, including jazz and classical, and double bills with renowned artists such as Jonathan Edwards. Check out the band history.
Playing as I do so often with Northern Lights has enabled me to explore new and different facets of my "live" concert experience, like the added power and deeper dimension that extra instrumentation and vocal harmony of their caliber can bring to the utter enjoyment of the kind of stuff we do. I thank them for so graciously learning a bunch of my favorite songs and making it so easy for me to just jump up on stage and know that the people are in for a real collaborative treat. I always look forward so much to when our schedules coincide and we can share our collective love of playing live acoustic music together. They continue to evolve and improve with every concert I see them do over these many years and it's always a pleasant surprise to see what they've come up with since the last time our paths crossed. So, keep it up guys, and thanks again for all the music we've played for each other and for the people. See you next time!
Jonathan Edwards
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