ALLISON DE GROOT
banjo
Allison de Groot has become a big voice on the North American traditional music scene, exploring the role and dimensions of clawhammer banjo. Collaboration is at the centre of Allison's music, and her duo with fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves has been described by Bandcamp Daily as “one living, breathing organism” while No Depression posits that they “transform the listener to a different plane.” Allison's collaborations with Hargreaves, percussive dancer Nic Gareiss, and grammy artist Bruce Molsky provide spaces for deep musical connection and exploration. She has performed at events such as Newport Folk Festival, Celtic Connections, Rockygrass, Hardly Strictly
and the Winnipeg Folk Festival.
Allison hold a Bachelor of Music in Performance from Berklee College of Music in Boston where she attended on the Slaight Family Scholarship, and has been awarded the Joseph S. Stauffer Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Eisenson Family Prize for Excellence in American Roots Music. Her albums with Tatiana Hargreaves have been nominated for the Canadian Folk Music Awards and has won "Best Bluegrass Album" from the Independent Music Awards and was nominated for 'Liner Notes of the Year' at the International Bluegrass Music Association awards.
"One of Canada's finest folk musicians"
-CBC Q
"Allison has it all.....great clawhammer technique, exquisite tone, timing, taste. She has deep roots in the old time tradition and yet she's fearless when it comes to breaking new ground. It's a thrill whenever I get a chance to play with her. As Twyla Tharp once said, “Before you can think out of the box, you have to start with a box” . -Tony Trishka
"Allison de Groot is the kind of artist who's virtuosity is built on her strength as a player, performer, composer, and on her appetite for new (and old) ideas. She's transforming the banjo in a beautiful way, both for herself and for others who enter her musical space." -Bruce Molsky
“Allison is musically intuitive and technically brilliant and she is in touch and in love with the old time music genre. Some people are just born to their instrument and she is one of those people. We banjoists are grateful that this is true.”
-Mitch Podolack