Nefesh Mountain
If the Jewish bluegrass music movement has yet to score a mainstream breakthrough success, it’s not for a lack of talented practitioners.
Witness Nefresh Mountain, the 11-year-old New Jersey band co-led by the husband-and-wife team of Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg. Singing in both English and Hebrew, Zasloff and Linberg embrace their Jewish heritage with the same passion they have for bluegrass and old-time American music traditions.
Of course, Nefesh Mountain (which translates as Soul Mountain) has been preceded by some excellent Jewish-American bluegrass artists who have consistently pushed the envelope.
Some of the most notable examples include banjo wizards Bela Fleck and Tony Trishka, and mandolin innovators David Grisman and Andy Statman (the latter of whom also plays clarinet and is as adept at klezmer and jazz as he is at bluegrass).
But Statman, Fleck, Grisman and Trishka’s focus is on instrumental works, while Nefresh Mountain’s music is largely vocal-oriented. The band’s repertoire incudes such absorbing songs as “Piece of the Sun (For Anne Frank),” “Bound For The Promised Land,” “Singin’ Jewish Girl,” “Better Angels” and the jaunty “Oseh Shalom,” which is a Jewish prayer for peace set to music.
Nefesh Mountain’s “A Mighty Roar” at times suggests what the San Diego-bred trio Nickel Creek’s “Smoothie Song” might sound like if it wasn’t an instrumental.
On its 2025 double-album, “Beacons,” Nefesh Mountain is joined by such prominent musicians as dobro great Jerry Douglas and former San Diego multi-instrumental marvel Stuart Duncan. One of the discs is entitled “Bluegrass.” The other, “Americana,” features Lindberg on electric guitar and has an inviting Southern-rock feel on such songs as “Heaven Is Here” and “Another Way.”
While largely focused on the band’s six albums worth of mostly self-penned material, Nefesh Mountain’s concerts sometimes include their arresting covers of gems by Blind Willie Johnson, Woody Guthrie, the Allman Brothers Band and Wilco.
8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 21. The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. $24.74 (must be 21 or older to attend). casbahmusic.com
Tord Gustavsen Trio
The return of Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen and his trio to the Athenaeum is also worth celebrating.
Since signing with the renowned ECM Records label in 2004, he has distinguished himself with a winning blend of relaxed lyricism and contemplative neo-classic explorations with enticing elements of Scandinavian folk, gospel music, salsa, New Orleans trad jazz and more.
Gustavsen has also been embracing electronic touches. His trio’s most recent album, “Seeing,” adds to the mix hymns, Bach chorales and funk-tinged keyboard vamps, all of which are delivered with admirable grace and understatement.
In drummer Jarle Vespestad, his musical partner for several decades, Gustavsen has an unusually sensitive rhythmic foil. Bassist Steinar Raknes, who joined the trio several years ago, is equally empathetic.
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 18. Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall Street, La Jolla. $53-$58. 858-454-5872. ljathenaeum.org
Steve White, who died in 2011, will be honored at a San Diego Folk Heritage concert and film screening on Sunday, March 15,, in Poway. (Photo courtesy SDFH)
“Remembering Steve White” Concert and Documentary Film Screening, featuring Joe Rathburn, David Beldock, Shawn Rolhf & Steve Denyes, Luisa Corredor & Ignacio Arango, and Larry & Jo Ann Sinclair
Steve White was a vibrant, one-man band that any community would have been proud to call its own.
A quadruple threat on slide guitar, vocals, harmonica and foot-played percussion — at least three of which he usually did simultaneously — White died here in 2011 after a battle with cancer.
He was such a devoted musician that, even after having his vocal cords removed in the 2009, he continued to play his weekly gig (in an all-instrumental capacity) at the Encinitas Seaside Bazaar flea market. White had performed there regularly, starting in 1989, except when touring abroad.
A gifted singer-songwriter, he released at least seven albums between 1993 and 2008.
White will be honored this weekend at a San Diego Folk Heritage-produced concert that will feature a bevy of top area artists. They will perform his songs, songs they wrote about him and some of their own material.
There will also be a screening of “Painting The World With Music,” Clint Burkett and Tom Zizzi’s posthumously released documentary film about White. It features interviews with such musical admirers as Jack Tempchin, Lovin’ Spoonful alum John Sebastian, former War harmonica ace Lee Oskar and guitar star Tommy Emmanuel.
4 p.m. Sunday, March 15. Pilgrim United Church of Christ, 2020 Chestnut Ave., Carlsbad. $20-$25. sdfolkheritage.org