Jayme Stone’s Folklife explores the “Deep River of Song,” performing traditional songs with lush orchestrations by Colorado composer Max Wolpert. The ensemble features Jayme Stone (banjo, guitar, voice), Moira Smiley (voice, accordion), Sumaia Jackson (fiddle, voice), Joe Phillips (bass, voice), and Kevin Mathews (drums). The program debuted in August 2019 with the Breckenridge Music Festival Symphony conducted by Steven Schick alongside works by Aaron Copland.
Jayme Stone’s Folklife treats old field recordings not as time capsules, but as heirloom seeds passed down from a bygone generation. Planting these sturdy seeds in modern soil, this versatile gathering of musicians has cultivated vibrant Sea Island spirituals, Creole calypsos, and stomp-down Appalachian dance tunes for contemporary listeners. Their concerts and educational programs are moving, inventive, and participatory experiences that prove folk songs are indeed perennials for the people.
Jayme Stone is a composer, banjoist, instigator, producer, and educator. Career highlights include winning two Juno Awards, three Canadian Folk Music Awards; being featured on NPR, BBC, and the CBC; and performing thousands of concerts at places like the Lincoln and Kennedy Centers, Library of Congress, Bumbershoot, Rockygrass, Celtic Connections, Vancouver Folk Festival, Lotus Festival, Chicago World Music Festival, Montréal Jazz Festival, and more. Stone performed and recorded a banjo concerto by Canadian composer Andrew Downing and has performed classical crossover programs at the OK Mozart Festival, Estes Park Music Festival, Glenn Gould Symposium, Caramoor Festival, Toronto Music Garden and more.