When people ask me what kind of music I’m into, I usually respond, “Well, I’m into music from the ’80s—the 1880s!” I play the violin, or I guess you could more accurately call it a “fiddle,” and I just end up playing a lot of old, traditional music. Mostly Cajun stuff, but lots of Django Reinhardt swing, or old-time music, and I’m currently going through a deep dive into Scandinavian music. My favorite bands include the Red Stick Ramblers, from Louisiana, who play Cajun swing like no one else.
A Swedish band that I am really into these days is Vasen, who played the opening night concert at Tempo last February. I had seen them play at the Jalopy Theatre [in Brooklyn] six months prior and, knowing that Tempo would be opening at some point in the near future, I pitched the idea to them. They were touring with a band called the Fretless, who had just released an album called Glasswing. That album is absolutely fantastic and the two of them playing opening night at Tempo was a dream come true. Another great is Stephene Wrembel, a Django-style guitar player who I also got obsessed with. His violinist, Olivier Manchon, lives in Kingston, so I got them to play Tempo and put on a master’s workshop the following day. Balleke Sissoko, a Malian Kora master who played at Tempo with Piers Faccini recently. Absolutely incredible. That’s what seeing live music can do. When you experience it happening live, just vibrating off the players right in front of you and filling your soul with all those magical frequencies, there’s nothing like it.
Tom Krueger is the executive director of Tempo Performing Arts Center in Kingston.
This article appears in November 2026.
