Fiddler & Guitarist Offer Folk Concert Dec. 12 in Summit

NJ folksinger-guitarist Andy Roth and Nashville-based fiddler Sage Snider perform a benefit folk music concert on Wednesday, December 12, at Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Summit, 4 Waldron Ave. (at Springfield Ave.)

The 7:30 p.m. show will benefit Better Angels, a not-for-profit organization that works to overcome our nation’s current red-blue political divide through respectful civic discourse.

Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. To reserve a free ticket, go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/better-angels-benefit-tour-summit-nj-registration-50971821089.

A psychologist who lives in South Orange, Roth says he woke up in despair the day after the 2016 election, sick about the polarization in the country. “I felt ill inside that people were so angry with each other. I had experience with couples therapy, and I wanted to do something to get people to want to talk to each other.”

Then he learned about Better Angels, a bipartisan movement determined to bring conservatives and liberals together to build new ways to talk to each other. In July 2017, Roth organized a red/blue Better Angels workshop, a moderator-facilitated discussion with an equal number of participants from each political party. This local red/blue alliance has continued to the present, with participants meeting regularly at Beacon to discuss the issues and work to find common ground.

Roth met Snider last summer at Better Angels’ first annual convention in Harrisonburg, Virginia. “I had been tagged to do a sing-along one night, and Sage heard about it and ended up participating. I then heard her perform at the final night’s concert with Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary.”

On her website, Sage Snider calls herself a fiddling historian who “fiddles, sings and tap dances—yes, at the same time.” Besides acoustic violin, her instruments include mandolin, banjo and electric violin. She studied music history and museum education at Yale and Brown, led a program on Civil War music at the Smithsonian in 2012 and teaches violin and fiddling privately in Nashville.

Strongly committed to ending political polarization, Snider decided to tour the northeast as a way of supporting Better Angels. When Roth heard about the road trip, he offered to join her, and so the Better Angels Benefit Tour was born. The program will include solos and five duets, including a song dedicated to Better Angels with lyrics by Roth.

For further information, visit www.sagesnider.com/projects/its-about-u-s/