‘The Devil You Don’t’ is the featured performer this Thursday evening, July 12 on the 1885 Courthouse Square, kicking-off this summer’s free Concerts on the Square series. The series will continue each Thursday evening, weather permitting, through the end of August. All concerts begin at 6:30 p.m. and run approximately two hours.
‘The Devil You Don’t,’ is a group comprised of Michigan State University music faculty playing Irish, old-time, Cajun and other roots music. It features Joanna Boss on bass and penny whistle; Steve Rohs on guitar, mandolin and flute; Chris Scales on guitar, mandolin, fiddle and banjo; and Sarah Tyriver on fiddle and mandolin.
Bosse is assistant professor of musicology and ethnomusicology at the MSU College of Music. As an ethnomusicologist and dance ethnographer, she has conducted fieldwork in dancehalls across the Midwest, studying the performance of couple dance genres like salsa, swing, tango and ballroom. Her work on popular culture involves the relationship between music and dance, as well as the dynamics of affinity groups, cross-cultural encounters and amateur performance.
Rohs is associate professor of cultural studies at MSU’s James Madison College. He has specialized in researching Irish music in immigrant communities inNew York City. His most recent work is on traditional participatory music jams, particularly focusing on Irish, Cajun, old time, and country music cultures.
Scales is assistant professor at RCAH at MSU. His research interests include Native American music and the North American popular music industry. As a performing musician, his focus has been on the Appalachian fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin and others.
Tyriver is an instructor of violin and viola at the MSU Community Music School. She has worked with the Jackson Symphony Orchestra Community Music School teaching viola and violin. She has also taught orchestra at the elementary, middle and high school levels in the Lansing area, and is a chamber music coach. She has performed with the Jackson, Battle Creek, Midland and Lansing Symphonies, as well as the Fox Valley Symphony in Wisconsin and the University-Faculty Orchestra at the Interlochen Arts Camp.
For more information about the rest of this summer’s concert series, and the full schedule, click here.
This year’s Summer Concerts on the Square begin July 12 with The Devil You Don’t.
