Riverfolk’s Blacksmith Shop concert features Thunderwüde

Thunderwude, a Chelsea-based bluegrass trio, features Jason Dennie on guitar, Wesley Fritzemeier on mandolin, and Tommy Reifel on bass. The group performed Saturday night as part of the Riverfolk Blacksmith Shop concert series.

“Born out of a need for Bluegrass in the Chelsea area,” the tight-knit bluegrass trio Thunderwüde showed that it could charm a sold-out Manchester crowd on Saturday night at the historic Blacksmith Shop.

Thunderwüde, which started in 2014, consists of Jason Dennie, Wesley Fritzemeier, and Tommy Reifel. The band started out primarily as a traditional bluegrass quartet with guitar, mandolin, fiddle and upright bass, and now easily bounces between intricate original compositions, bluegrass standards, and current billboard hits with the flick of a fiddle bow! From classic Bill Monroe bluegrass to the Beatles, Springsteen, and Megan Trainor, Thunderwüde can do it all!

This year’s Blacksmith Shop series will conclude in April with an April 27 event that will be held at St. Mary’s Church on the Wurster Park village green. This concert will be a presentation of Sacred Music in Sacred Space, a collaboration between Riverfolk, St. Mary’s, Boychoir of Ann Arbor and Community Music School of Ann Arbor’s Brandenburg Project–a youth early music ensemble. The concert is free and open to the public, but seating will be limited. Registration is recommended on Eventbrite.com. Tickets will be available beginning April 1.

Riverfolk Music and Arts Organization board member Aileen Rohwer announced the Blacksmith Shop’s fifth anniversary series will begin in September with The Smoking Dandies performing Jazz/Swing music on Sept. 28. The October 26 concert remains to be determined, and the Royal Garden Trio (Gypsy Jazz) will be back for a return engagement on November 23. The 2020 music will begin on Jan. 25 with Abigail Stauffer and Dave the Cellist, with acoustic folk music. Armenian musician Ara Tapouzian will headline the Feb. 22 concert, and Cut Time Productions will be featured March 28, 2020. The Working Class Tuba Quartet, playing ragtime, spirituals, and Americana music, will be here next April 25 and the Raisin Pickers will round out the fifth season on May 23, 2020. Tickets for next season will remain at the low price of just $18 per concert, with a discount if you purchase a four-concert series at $67 or an eight-concert package at $134.

With the famed Gazebo Concert series, Riverfolk provides year-around musical enjoyment for Manchester and beyond.The Blacksmith Shop concert series is generously sponsored by Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation.

The historic and rustic Blacksmith Shop on Manchester’s Main Street has provided a perfect backdrop for intimate concerts featuring local music and local foods, while reaching beyond local for its audience for the past four years! Thank you to the Manchester Area Historical Society for sharing this space with Riverfolk.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.