Greg Ruby, Don Stiernberg, Evan Price and Kevin Kehrberg will bring their unique tapestry of acoustic string swing to the Black Mountain Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday, July 3, 2025. Performing work from their thier record “Rhythm Twist” they will weave together elements of Hot Club jazz, mando-bop and old school swing – all on an acoustic guitar, mandolin, violin and upright bass.

With Greg from New York, Don from Chicago, Evan from San Francisco and Kevin from Asheville, the four have collaborated every summer while in residency as teaching staff at the Swannanoa Gathering. In 2020 and 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic prevented them from getting together so instead they created a remote record – “Rhythm Twist”. Each musician composed one song and arranged two others. Passing charts, tracks and ideas between them, they created something unique and collective. Guitarist Greg Ruby states, “not only did this project help us maintain a sense of sanity and ground us in creativity, it kept us in touch with each other while riding out a very strange period of human history."

“Spontaneity, conversation, and swingin’ good vibes” – The Mandolin Café

Rhythm Twist on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/4E4hIb9pdAo2qZxBfirnhK

Individual Bios

Don Stiernberg is a leading exponent of jazz mandolin style. He has ten recording projects of his own and appears on many others. The most recent of these is "Straight Ahead" featuring his quartet playing accessible and swinging jazz tunes on mandolin, guitar, bass and drums. At the time of it's release (June 2020) the Chicago Tribune mentioned it as one of the "Best Jazz Recordings of the Year So Far". While still in his teens Don learned to play mandolin from the influential and innovative virtuoso Jethro Burns. In addition to performing coast to coast and abroad with The Don Stiernberg Trio, he stays busy around his native Chicago on various sideman gigs and recording sessions, writes instructional materials for Mel Bay and Soundslice.com, and is a respected instructor at music camps and festival workshops.

https://donstiernberg.com https://www.facebook.com/donstiernberg

Evan Price is a versatile violinist and composer best known for his work with the paradigm-shifting chamber ensemble, The Turtle Island Quartet and with The Hot Club of San Francisco, the most venerable gypsy jazz band in North America. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he grew up studying classical violin while mixing with folk and jazz musicians of all stripes, learning to fiddle and improvise in various styles as well as teaching himself to play numerous folk instruments. He also developed a love of chamber music and with it a taste for composing and arranging, greatly inspired by the early recordings of Turtle Island. He joined that group at age 24 and within a year was also playing with the Hot Club of San Francisco. For several years, he lived the life of a sideman, happiest when contributing to the sound and success of a small group. But the urge to make an individual creative mark slowly took hold and in 2016, he composed and performed his first large-scale work, a Concerto for Jazz Violin and Orchestra, and recorded his debut solo album, “Dialogues.” Both reveal an artist with not only the ability to traverse far-ranging genres with authority but the maturity to assimilate them into a uniquely American voice. His current projects include performing with and composing for the Proteus Trio, leading his own string jazz trio, continuing to perform with the HCSF, directing the International Space Orchestra, and composing and arranging for the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Chanticleer, and others. He is also the recipient of two GRAMMY awards for his recorded work with Turtle Island.

https://www.evanpricemusic.com https://www.facebook.com/evanpriceviolin/

New York based “Greg Ruby lives and breathes jazz guitar” states the Fretboard Journal. From acoustic swing to jazz manouche to surf guitar, Ruby inhabits many musical forms and brings his compositional voice to each of them. As part of the Django Reinhardt renaissance of the early 2000’s, he co-founded the seminal group Hot Club Sandwich and later joined Seattle’s Pearl Django. His rock-solid rhythm guitar work propelled the group through multiple recordings and extensive touring – including their debut at the Festival Django Reinhardt in Samois-sur-seine, France. With appearances at the burgeoning west coast Django festivals, Ruby accompanied jazz guitar greats Howard Alden, Patrick Saussois, Frank Vignola, Gonzalo Bergara and John Jorgensen. By 2010, Ruby stepped out on his own and released Look Both Ways, an album of all original compositions which Dan Hicks (of the Hot Licks) declared “is a soundtrack in search of a movie.” The album reached #1 on the Roots Music Review radio chart. Beginning in 2015, Ruby’s attention turned to the roots of jazz in the Pacific Northwest with Syncopated Classic – a project which unearthed, restored and recorded the lost compositions of 1920’s Seattle jazz pioneer Frank D. Waldron. The resulting record was awarded Earshot Jazz Magazine’s “Northwest Jazz recording of the year.” His most recent album, Corner Café, is co-written with accordionist Steve Rice and evokes the mid-century Parisian swing bands. Greg Ruby is the director of Guitar Week for the Swannanoa Gathering and is a contributing author for Acoustic Guitar magazine. https://gregrubymusic.com https://www.instagram.com/gregrubymusic/

Kevin Kehrberg Kevin Kehrberg is an award-winning bassist who focuses on jazz and traditional music styles. He has toured nationally and internationally and is currently the bassist for Organic Records recording artist Zoe & Cloyd. He also performs widely as a sideman and session artist. His recent collaborative recording for Bluegrass at the Crossroads won IBMA’s 2021 Instrumental Recording of the Year. Kevin has taught at many workshops and clinics in addition to being a professor of music at Warren Wilson College, where he maintains an active bass studio and teaches various courses in music and culture.