Bluegrass Baroque with Brittany

One of my favorite young musicians will be back in the Bay Area soon, playing a gig in Mountain View. Brittany Haas, a Princeton student hailing from Menlo Park, is a pro in the world of old-time fiddling. When I interviewed her a couple years back, I also found her to be sweet, articulate and totally unpretentious.

Now this sounds like quite a show: Brittany will play on Dec. 16 with bluegrass guitarist Scott Nygaard, sisters Chris and Cassie Webster (Chris is a soul/country singer, and Cassie is a Baroque opera soprano), and jazz bassist Cindy Browne.

The folks at Redwood Bluegrass Associates, who are organizing the shindig, say Brittany and Scott will open the show with a set of fiddle-guitar duets.

Go here to hear "Dry and Dusty," my favorite of Brittany's recordings. It's rare that a song can be mournful and uplifting at the same time, but this one simply soars.

Pictured: Brittany Haas. Photo courtesy of her website.