Ace of Cups
2619 N. HIGH ST. 614-262-6001, www.aceofcupsbar.com Frances Litterski will debut new music. 7 p.m. Thursday
$5; $3 surcharge for age 20 and younger
Her latest album, “Cage Tropical,” contains sci-fi elements. 7 p.m. Wednesday $10, or $12 day of show; $3 surcharge for age 20 and younger www.promowestlive.com
He ended the David Crowder Band but continued performing his “folktronica” music.
6 p.m. Thursday $25 Tuesday
$10, or $12 at the door; $2 surcharge for age 20 and younger
Five years ago, stepbrothers Jake Loew and Sean Fen wandered through Europe with their five-piece Sandy Tar String Band.
“No one invited us to Europe; we just went where we went and did whatever we wanted and (ate) all the free food we could,” Loew said.
They entered Torsaker, a Swedish bluegrass festival whose attendees wore 10-gallon hats, and busked on the streets of Leipzig, Germany.
When the band lost its other members a year later, Loew and Fen absorbed the change, updated the band name to the Sandy Tar Brothers and relocated to Columbus from Athens.
Both 26, Loew and Fen (and sometimes bass player Nathan Zangmeister) lend their array of instruments — fiddle, banjo, mandolin and guitar — to updated arrangements of old-school jams such as “Monkey in the Dogcart” and “Belle of Lexington.”
The brothers spoke with The Dispatch in advance of a performance tonight at the Grandview Heights 614-486-2951, www.ghpl.org bluegrass 7 p.m. Thursday free
Public Library.
How long have you been playing together?
Our stepdad, Rick, was a connoisseur of bluegrass. He sort of showed us the way to pick. We went to college together, and we were in this band that was sort of like a bluegrass band, not very traditional. We sort of developed our taste of what we liked and learned how to play over the years by visiting folks and listening and watching other people perform. And Rick was always there. It was like he was looking over our shoulder.
There in the spirit. He would sit down with us and make Jake play that Don Reno banjo run and if Jake missed a note he would yell at us and go on and on.
It was good for us, though.
What drew you to bluegrass?
My family is from West Virginia and east Tennessee, so there’s definitely some influence from being around it. It’s pretty wholesome stuff. It’s fun music. It’s fast.
What’s something you would change about the tradition?
I wish it was more accessible to everybody. It’s just not something that’s available on anything other than public radio once a week. There’s a lot of imposters out there. If somebody sees a banjo, they don’t know what to do other than call it bluegrass. There’s a lot of misrepresentation. When you really hear somebody play threefinger on the banjo the right way, something good inside me happens.