Sunday, April 19, 5 PM (Doors at 4:30 PM)
Tickets: $35 in advance, $40 at the door
Jacob’s Ladder blends bluegrass and Jewish music, creating a unique sound that brings community, energy, and reimagined tradition to performances.
Jacob’s Ladder is an internationally touring band pushing the boundaries of contemporary Jewish music and traditional American Roots music through Jewish communal singing and prayer. In melding these two musical worlds, they tell their story through Eastern European Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jewish traditions, but also through their American heritage and its influence on their unique musical style. Their debut album, “Beit El”, explores genre-bending across choral and cantorial traditions, finding its way into communal prayer, rock, West African styles, bluegrass, and American folk song. Jacob’s Ladder has been performing coast to coast, highlighted by their 2024 appearance at Ashkenazfest, 2023 Bay Area tour, Nashville’s 2nd Annual NashFest, and has headlined for 3 years in a row at Portsmouth’s Jewish Arts and Music Fest. They have performed and offered residencies to dozens of Jewish communities nationwide and continue to shed light on the conversation about identity, particularly what it means to be an American Jew.
Their early inspirations were drawn from bluegrass icons such as Tony Rice, The Bluegrass Album Band, and Bill Monroe, as well as original “Jewgrass” musicians from the 70’s and 80’s, including Andy Statman, David Grisman, and Stacy Phillips. Their recent record, “Beit El”, takes a step away from the more traditional bluegrass path and taps into multiple genres, including rock, gospel, and klezmer, and is packed with diverse, eclectic vocal and instrumental arrangements.
With roots music as the bedrock of their expression and instrumentation, their melodies and songs are inspired by Shlomo Carlebach, Eitan Katz, Zusha, the Moshav Band, Joey Weisenberg, and the Hadar Ensemble, to name a few.
Jacob’s Ladder is rooted in the traditional liturgy that one might find in an Orthodox, Conservative, Reform or Traditional Jewish setting. They believe that Jewish liturgical music can expand beyond traditional melodies while maintaining its essence in a traditional prayer structure. Additionally, they believe in the power of these prayers to hold meaning and purpose beyond a prayer setting. These age-old lyrics are at the heart of their music and have been at the forefront of our Jewish story for centuries.
Their creative process incorporates different approaches and techniques. While all of their core band members are rooted in their own idiosyncratic musical styles and approaches, they joyfully embrace the challenge of weaving their stylistic differences into the fabric of new arrangements. Together, they strive to highlight each of their sources of inspiration in their ever-evolving sound. At heart, Jacob’s Ladder is comprised of bluegrass musicians, and they center themselves–and thus their new music—in its natural groove and language.
