LPR Presents: Rising Appalachia — live event on Nov 22, 2026

LPR Presents: Rising Appalachia

Rising Appalachia live at National Sawdust on Sun, Nov 22, 7:30 PM. Free entry. Lineup, start time and tickets on Ckord.

Sisters Leah Song and Chloe Smith were raised in Atlanta in a blue collar bohemian family. Their mom was a fiddler, their dad a sculptor. They went to contra dances, wandered the neighborhood forests and had a childhood filled with banjos, harmony singing and other folkways. In her early twenties, while studying art and Indigenous activism in Chiapas, Mexico, Leah returned to her love of folk music. The two sisters then began a wildly creative and successful career that has included busking in New Orleans, traveling with a circus from Southern Italy to Northern Sweden, and collecting songs in Ireland, Bulgaria and Colombia. Rising Appalachia also features the creative musicianship of Duncan Wickel (fiddle, cello), David Brown (upright bass, baritone guitar) and Biko Casini (drums, percussion) — each tradition keepers in their own right. The band has released ten eclectic albums. Leylines (named after the earth energies that connect sacred sites) was produced by Joe Henry and features special guests Ani DiFranco and Trevor Hall. Live from New Orleans at Preservation Hall is a homecoming for the sisters, who lived in New Orleans for seven years and cut their teeth playing on the street in the French Quarter. The album is a pilgrimage to the homeplace of jazz and features eminent local musicians Aurora Nealand and Branden Lewis from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Folk and Anchor is a curated collection of cover songs by everyone from Bob Dylan to James Blake, Erykah Badu to Beyoncé. Their highly improvised and hypnotic album, The Lost Mystique of Being in the Know, was recorded a single day and features occasional bandmate Arouna Diarra from Burkina Faso on ngoni who amplifies the African roots of American folk traditions. Rising Appalachia’s forthcoming album, Trade My Troubles, is a soft light glowing from a quieter, more introspective time. It features songs that celebrate rest, restoring your spirit after burnout, and replenishing yourself in the wilds and in tradition. The generous 16-song record is bookended by a traditional Irish traveller song and an Appalachian fiddle tune, both nods to their ancestral lineages. In between, there are songs about motherhood, moonlight, heartbreak and birdsong. “The album tilts towards our inner experiences,” Chloe reflects. “I wanted to write about love and how it expanded and broke open in new ways after I became a mother.” Due out in October 2026, Trade My Troubles features special guests Aoife O’Donovan, Ayla Nereo, Bonnie Paine, and Brittany Haas. Sisters Leah and Chloe have long been involved in movement building, direct action, and advocacy work. They've partnered with national organizations like the Prison Yoga Project and Honor the Earth, been invited to perform at the Hopi Reservation and Standing Rock, and have used their music and platform to make the world a better place. Rising Appalachia pioneered the “Slow Music Movement,” an effort to create sustainable touring practices that included making handmade merch and welcoming local nonprofits, herbalists, farmers and poets to their shows. When Hurricane Helene hit their home in Western NC, they volunteered for months — helping with supply drops, rescue efforts, and water deliveries. Some days, they’d gather under a lean-to and plug their banjos and fiddles into a generator to share their songs and uplift everyone’s spirits. Rising Appalachia bring their full humanity to the stage. Audiences are entranced by their honey-hued voices and moved by the deep yearnings, fierce questions, and unshakable hope that courses through their music. Their shows are communal gatherings where people remember their connection to the earth, each other, and the old songs that have carried us through every season of being human.

Starts: Sun, Nov 22, 7:30 PM

Ends: Mon, Nov 23, 12:00 PM

Where: 80 North 6th Street, New York 11249, United States

Price: $0.0

Lineup

Venue: National Sawdust

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View LPR Presents: Rising Appalachia on Ckord