Indra Raj welcomed Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues for KGNU’s Morning Sound Alternative ahead of their February 26, 2026 performance at the Chautauqua Community House. The Asheville-based Americana group performed several live songs from Sparrow Smith’s latest album, Carolina Mountains, and talked about the band’s roots, their love of Appalachian and dance traditions, and the many musical styles that influence their sound.
Sparrow also shared stories about building a home by hand in North Carolina and teaching women’s carpentry classes through Wild Abundance. The session featured intimate performances filled with rich harmonies, banjo, accordion, and heartfelt songwriting. (Air Date 2/25/26)
Listen to the studio session here:
Transcript:
Indra Raj:
And now I am so excited to welcome in our live studio musicians for today. We have Sparrow Smith and The Resonant Rogues, who are going to be playing at the Chautauqua Community House tomorrow, February 26th, and they are live here in the studio. Welcome to KGNU.
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
Thanks for having us. Happy to be here.
Indra Raj:
It’s great to have you, and we have lots to talk about, but first, why don’t we hear a tune?
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
All right.
[“Carolina Mountains” lyrics performed]
Indra Raj:
You’re listening to Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues live here in the KGNU studios this morning. Wonderful to hear from you. Was that off of your most recent record?
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
It is. It’s the title track to the album.
Indra Raj:
I was reading that it’s a collection of Appalachian-inspired songs written by you?
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
Yes. It’s all originals except for one tune on it, a fiddle tune written by our friend Ira Bernstein. That’s become a bit of a fiddle festival classic.
Indra Raj:
Wonderful. Taking it way back, how has this group evolved over the years? How did you come together? What’s the story behind this band?
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
Keith and I met about 12 years ago in Asheville, North Carolina, started playing music together, fell in love, and decided to start a band, The Resonant Rogues. We went straight into being full-time musicians. Keith had been riding freight trains around the country and busking all over the place, including here in Boulder, before I met him.
We played lots of different styles of music under the Resonant Rogues name—everything from Appalachian tunes to old jazz and swing. We spent a lot of time in New Orleans and played Django tunes, Eastern European folk music, Cajun music—just all over the map.
As we developed as songwriters, we decided to create other bands for those different styles of music and keep the Appalachian and Americana sound under the Resonant Rogues name. A couple of years ago, I wanted to release music under my own name and create a concept record as a love letter to Southern Appalachia.
I’ve lived in North Carolina for 20 years, but I actually grew up in Fort Collins.
Indra Raj:
Oh, really?
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
Yep. A little hometown run here. I love where I live and want to spend the rest of my life there. Part of falling in love with a place is deeply getting to know it, listening, and showing respect.
Two years ago I decided to release something under my own name, and my husband Keith fully supported that and produced the record with me. The new album has the band on about two-thirds of it, and some of it is more stripped back than our previous Resonant Rogues records.
Indra Raj:
Great. This Colorado run includes tomorrow night at the Chautauqua Community House, then Swallow Hill in Denver, Fort Collins, and Laramie. Is it all with the band? What can people expect?
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
It’s all with the band on this run. We’ll be doing a lot of tunes from the new record, plus a bunch of new songs, some Resonant Rogues repertoire, and some of Keith’s original tunes too.
Indra Raj:
Wonderful. Let’s hear a little more music.
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
This next song is brand new. I wrote it two days before tour, but it’s become one of my favorites. I was thinking about the myth of scarcity and how, as long as no one takes too much, there’s plenty for everybody. It’s also about the beauty of a simple life. It’s called “Brilliant.”
[“Brilliant” lyrics performed]
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
We’ve got another song for you. I need to tune my banjo a little bit. I’m playing clawhammer banjo, which has a lot of different tunings.
I wrote this next tune about five years ago when we were looking for land to call our own. I sat down and made a list of what I wanted out of life, and it came out in the form of this song. The next day, we looked at a property and realized it had everything from the song, and we knew we must be home.
We bought raw land five years ago with nothing on it, and we’ve been building our own house with our own hands for the last four years. We just passed our final inspection two months ago, which was a very exciting moment in life. This song’s for the dream.
[“If Nobody Was Looking” lyrics performed]
Indra Raj:
You’re tuned into KGNU Community Radio, and we have Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues live in the studio right now. They’ll be at the Chautauqua Community House tomorrow, Thursday, February 26th.
I want to pick up on something from earlier. You have all these side projects—Black Sea Beat Society with Balkan brass and Turkish psych folk, Las Montañitas with cumbia, Sparrow & Her Wingmen with vintage swing. These may seem like disparate genres, but I’m sure you find connections between them. Tell me about these projects and how they work together.
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
The thing all those bands have in common—and the next song we’re going to do—is the accordion.
I’ve been playing accordion for over 20 years, and it’s one of my favorite folk music instruments. I love functional music. I love dance music. I also love songwriter music where you’re focusing on lyrics and feeling, but personally, I love to dance.
Some of my favorite forms of folk music from around the world are meant to make people dance. Appalachian music is the same way. A big part of its function was getting people moving and dancing. When communities gathered to get work done, there would be a fiddle player to keep everybody moving.
Indra Raj:
Keeping those juices flowing. And going back to the last song about building your house, I also read that you teach women’s basic carpentry classes on the side.
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
I do. I’m trying to get better at resting, but historically I’m not very good at it. I’m a doer of many things. The world is such a vast place full of fun and exciting experiences.
There’s a school near where we live called Wild Abundance. It started more as an earth skills school, then began offering carpentry classes and found there was a lot of demand. They started with all-gender classes but realized it wasn’t always the most conducive environment for women and non-binary folks to learn in.
So they began offering all-women’s carpentry classes and found there was tremendous demand and that it felt spiritually necessary. I’ve been really happy to be part of that. I just started teaching there last year and will be teaching more this year.
I love the organization, the people who run it, my coworkers, and the students. It’s one of those things that takes up time, but it’s also very fulfilling and important work.
Indra Raj:
Absolutely. That’s wonderful to hear about. Let’s hear one more piece of music before we do a ticket giveaway.
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
This tune is inspired by Louisiana music. We live in North Carolina, but we spend a lot of time in New Orleans and Lafayette, and we love the dance music down there.
I’m going to play accordion for this one, and if you come to one of the live shows, I’ll teach you how to Cajun two-step. It’s easy and fun. This song is about having fun your whole life and never stopping.
[“Run Until the Heart Gives Out” lyrics performed]
Indra Raj:
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues here on KGNU, live in the studio, playing tomorrow at the Chautauqua Community House. It’s a great spot for dancing. It almost feels like a dance floor, and I’ve heard that at past performances they’ve moved all the chairs aside so people can move around.
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
Yeah, people can sit down or get up and dance wherever there’s space. There’s always a little room to move.
Indra Raj:
Can you tell our listeners how they can keep up with you and your music?
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
Our website, theresonantrogues.com, has ticket links and details for everything.
My personal Instagram is therealsparrowsmith. If you’re into banjos on mountaintops, that’s kind of my thing over there, along with some general silliness. We have links to everything there as well.
Our music is also available on streaming platforms. The new record is under my name, Sparrow Smith, but it’s also under The Resonant Rogues, and we have lots of recordings under The Resonant Rogues too.
Indra Raj:
Thank you so much for being here on KGNU, and we look forward to your run of shows here in Colorado.
Sparrow Smith & The Resonant Rogues:
Thanks so much for having us. I’m really excited to be back here on the Front Range.
Indra Raj:
Wonderful.
