Donald Keough, Staff Writer—

The Denison American Roots Ensemble was hosted at the Three Tigers Brewing Co. in Granville this past Friday marking its sixth performance this semester. 

This group’s gig was for SAE–Sigma Alpha Epsilon–Denison alumni during one of many get togethers since 1979. 

“The performance went really well,” Eli Lishack ‘26 said. “A big part of these performances are the audience. If you can get the audience to interact it makes the performance go well and [the SAE’s] were really receptive.” 

The SAE’s were part of classes ‘75-’77 at Denison, and get-togethers like this have been deemed GB&GOT events–golf, booze and good old times. The alum finished their night with the students’ performance and dinner afterwards. 

“It was great to talk to these folks,” Lishack said. “Making connections is the whole Denison thing, and that’s what we did tonight.” 

The ensemble played a variety of songs, one of which being a bluegrass take of “What Goes On” by The Beatles. Usually, the ensemble gets three days of rehearsal during the week to practice songs like this one before a performance.

“We have to figure out how to make the song fit in [the bluegrass] style which can be hard,” Lishack said. “There’s a formula to most [bluegrass] songs and you can anticipate what’s coming next, so with something a little less standard we have to work a little bit more.” 

The group has played in several locations besides Three Tigers this year, such as during its four day trip to North Carolina for the IBMA World of Bluegrass event and at the Penny Royal Opera House, a historic concert hall in Fairview, OH. 

“These performances have been pretty cool,” Lishack said. “In North Carolina there was a lot of bluegrass music, and we played almost eight hours a day. There was a point where everyone around me was playing bluegrass in our hotel, and I didn’t even realize that my hands were moving and that I was playing along with them.” 

Adam Schlenker, the director of the Ensemble, helps organize the group’s performances. 

“As the director of the program, I believe they need to be performing,” Schlenker said. “There are things that just can’t happen in the classroom. I’ve tried to book as many shows as I can for them, because that’s what they’re here to do and so the more of them I organize the better. The program is also really unique to Denison, because not a lot of colleges offer it.” 

The American roots major is offered in only six colleges in America, and there are less than 50 college bluegrass ensembles in the country.

Another factor which helps the group perform so often is because of the community around Denison. Three Tigers is one of many establishments in Granville that helps to provide opportunities for the ensemble to perform.

“The community around here really supports this program,” Schlenker said. “People want to see it because they want to see this music carried forward to new generations.”

Looking ahead, the ensemble is beginning their preparation for their final concert Dec. 2.

“Starting today we begin hunkering down and working on all new material for that concert,” Schlenker said. “So we’ll be debuting a whole night of stuff that we’ve never played before.”

 With a successful first half of the semester behind them, the group hopes to carry this momentum forward into their final concert. 

“We have a great community because of how close they get and the way they play music with each other,” Schlenker said. “There’s something about traditional music in general. It’s very community based, and it invokes this idea of family and being together and when you can sense that between the students it’s a very cool feeling.”