5 Song Demo, 442kb Mp3
Wild Goose Nation Performance History
Wild Goose Nation descended from a group called Little City String Band, which performed from 1983 until it disbanded in 1996. Little City String Band was at various times a quartet,quintet, and trio, and performed throughout the northeast at folk festivals (Eisteddfedd,Connecticut Family Folk Festival,GottaGetGon,New England Folk Festival, Cajun and Bluegrass Festival, etc.),concerts, weddings, dances, coffeehouses, libraries, and schools. They were for a time on the Connecticut Commission on the Arts Touring Artists Program (CONNTOURS). Founding member Craig Edwards and Dirck Westervelt, two members of the last incarnation of Little City,continued performing together and occasionally as a trio with Rhode Island musician Mike Fischman. They adopted the name Wild Goose Nation from a phrase in African-American and Irish work songs referring to a sort of frontier utopia, a secret wildernes community of many races and cultures serving as a refuge from mainstream society. As was true of Little City String Band, Wild Goose Nation plays a range of traditional American styles. The band plays a good deal of social music at dances, weddings, and house parties because social gatherings form the natural environment for the styles we play. We also play at folk festivals and give concerts, and are presently developing programs for schools.
Wild Goose Nation Artistic and Educational Mission Statement
As educators, the members of Wild Goose Nation are dedicated to playing and promoting awareness of Americas rich heritage of traditional music. By striving to master the diverse but historically connected music of various folk communities, we hope to present the elements in our shared musical heritage that reflect our common humanity. Our aim is also to demonstrate the vitality and character of music based in traditional communities. As artists, we hope to show the freedom with which individuals express themselves through the mask of tradition. Paradoxically, the more an artist cultivates the conventions and forms of traditional style, the more individuality is expressed in the performance.