Ella Kitchens, Editor-in-Chief

On April 24, Denison’s American Roots Ensemble held their final concert of the year in Swasey Chapel. The concert centered around the work of singer and songwriter Emmylou Harris, and also featured guest performer Caroline Spence ‘11, a Denison alum and Nashville-based singer-songwriter.

“Every semester I choose a different theme or a different era,” said Adam Schlenker, the director of the American Roots program. “I’ve always been a big Emmylou Harris fan… There’s so much diversity in what she’s created over the years, and the notion that we are a roots program means that we’re intentionally trying to look at this broad spectrum of sound and people and time frame and culture.”

According to Schlenker, Harris is largely considered “a country artist or a country rock artist,” but she has deep ties to bluegrass music.

“Even though we do a lot of bluegrass, it’s not all that we do,” he said. “And she’s someone that has all this bluegrass stuff woven in and out of her music constantly.”

One of the most difficult parts of preparing for the concert was narrowing down the music that they would perform. Schlenker created a playlist to inspire his students for what they would play during the concert.

“There were probably 40 plus songs on the playlist, because I just couldn’t stop adding things to it,” said Schlenker, “and they whittled it down.”

While there has not been drastic changes from past concerts, this is the first time the ensemble is introducing an electric set into their performance, which were performed at the end of the concert.

“We had to spend some time outside of our class time and rehearsal time to work on some of the electric stuff and the stuff for the drums and just because of needing more time to set up more equipment and stuff like that,” said Schlenker.

During the concert, the ensemble split into four smaller breakout bands, each of which had five to ten people. Each band chose four songs to perform, including songs by Harris and songs she is famous for performing.

“Preparation is pretty much all on us,” said Eli Lishack ‘26, who played bass and guitar in the concert. “We have to be the ones that make it happen. And so we’ve got to do a lot of communication, a lot of work outside of ensemble. And it brings us close together as a group.”

Some of the music was challenging to figure out for students in the ensemble.

“When you hear a song, you’re like, ‘this doesn’t seem too bad, too complicated.’ And then you play it and you’re like, ‘I can’t even get through this thing. What’s going on?’ And it’s just timing differences and cadences are different. So it definitely posed some unique challenges for them,” said Schlenker.

“There’s one song that was really slow tempo, and it took us a while to get the groove settled in, but now it sounds really great. And there’s another song that’s really fast, and it was challenging to get that tempo steady and hold everything together with that song,” said Jack Rehbeck ‘27.

Schlenker said that this concert brought together a lot of aspects of music that are not typically combined.

“I think that was an era of time where people weren’t so caught up in the boundaries or the lanes of like, what are we allowed to do, what are we not allowed to do?” said Schlenker. “And I personally really love that as a musician… Tonight we’re showcasing that we’re not abandoning anything by going and using this electric set at the end, we’re showing the connection between all of it.”

Guest performer Caroline Spence joined the ensemble to play several songs.

Like many of the students performing, Spence started her bluegrass career at Denison.

“I grew up in Virginia. So there’s bluegrass players in my family,” said Spence. “And so it’s something I kind of grew up around peripherally but never really… had the opportunity to learn about it. So it seemed like a fun way to get involved with the music department without being a major.”

Spence has been in Nashville “basically since [she] graduated,” and said her time at Denison, including her English creative writing major, had a big impact on her career.

Going back to Denison to perform has been a full circle moment for her.

“It’s so fun,” said Spence. “It makes me think about my younger self and how scary it was to play this gig and not know how to be in front of a microphone.”

In fall 2026, Spence will return to Denison to teach a course on songwriting and work with students in the American Roots Ensemble to develop their own songs.

“I really love how it’s totally different than what we’ve done before,” said Owen Tekelenburg ‘26, about having Spence as a guest performer. “And also just being able to hear from Caroline and understanding her experience within the music industry because she’s an alum of Denison, which is pretty cool.”

Seniors in the ensemble said that their time playing at Denison had gone by quickly.

“It has sped by so fast,” said Tekelenburg. “The most baffling part is I never really thought I would be a part of this here on campus, but it just kind of swept me under. I really enjoyed doing something completely different, but also being able to be musical in another way.”

“It’s been such a privilege to be a part of the ensemble and I think I’ve learned some of most I’ve learned musically ever in the ensemble,” said Lishack. “So it’s very bittersweet.”