AJ Lee and Blue Summit made their first appearance in Santa Cruz in 2015. Led by singer, songwriter, and mandolinist, AJ Lee, the bluegrass band has performed all over the world, but finds home in California’s Bay Area.
The latest full length project, I’ll Come Back, debuted August 2021 - with national touring in support of the record ongoing. Although falling loosely under the bluegrass label, AJLBS generally plays sans banjo, with Sullivan Tuttle and Scott Gates on steel stringed acoustic guitars, AJ on mandolin, Jan Purat on fiddle, and Chad Bowen on upright bass - a configuration effectively used to create unique space and texture in the arrangements not as commonly found in the music of their peers. Drawing from influences such as country, soul, swing, rock, and jam music, the band uses the lens of bluegrass as a vessel through which to express and explore the thread that binds and unifies all great music.
“AJ Lee & Blue Summit are pure, beautiful American music. Soaring harmonies, top notch picking and strumming as well as a healthy respect and reverence for the classic country, bluegrass and folk music of the past all add up to a band who are masters of the genre. That’s not to say that AJ Lee & Blue Summit are antiquated in anyway. While the band tips a hat to the American masters of the past, their sound is modern and thoroughly of today. The band are great torch bearers of the music that helped build America. ”
-Eric Oblander – Musician, Producer of Rise Up on BCAN (Buckeye Community Arts network)
California embody the hills they grew up in. Through the mediums of clawhammer banjo,
flatpicking guitar, vocal harmonies, and oldtime fiddle, Two Runner puts a hip take on the
Appalachian feel.
Front woman Paige Anderson grew up touring in her family bluegrass band, Anderson Family
Bluegrass, starting at the age of 9. The family of six traveled for about 12 years as Anderson
Family Bluegrass and later The Fearless Kin. Paige wrote her first song with Chuck Ragan at
15, which kickstarted her love for songwriting. In the last few years, Paige has spent her time
creating new music, played bass for Family of the Year (2018), wrote a plethora of new songs to
share, and has been discovering a new sound for herself and Two Runner.
Fiddler Emilie Rose was raised on Scottish Fiddle and fiddle camps starting at the age of 9. In
her early years, she led Celtic band The String Sisters who played together for 10 years in the
Sierra Nevada Foothills. Emilie has a deep understanding and love for folk music traditions.
Emilie took the fiddle out of NorCal to study at Berklee College of Music, where she graduated
in 2020. In her studies, Emilie was mentored by the greats such as Bruce Molsky, Natalie Haas,
and Darol Anger.
Together, Two Runner brings a rich mix to the folk music world, with their harmonies, banjo
pickin', dirt kickin' duo.
