The Cedar Presents
Red Thread’s Holiday Show - Darkness and Dreams
with Ponyfolk + Triple Fiddle
Friday, December 18, 2026
Doors 7PM | Show 8PM
Seated | All Ages
listen
ABOUT THIS SHOW
Red Thread and Ponyfolk are two Minnesota-based ensembles devoted to building community around Midwestern European roots music. The bands return to The Cedar to present an “alternative” holiday celebration, sharing new and old songs of winter, luck, and family from Scandinavian, Yiddish/Klezmer, Slavic, English, and Irish roots. Triple Fiddle is a string ensemble known for soaring three-part fiddle harmonies, layered vocals, and an eclectic mix of bluegrass, honkytonk, western swing, and Scandinavian folk.
Red Thread
“Red Thread displays an effortless beauty through their ethereal harmonies and masterful instrumentation, and pierces the hearts and souls of those listening.” – Music Mecca
“Ingrained with generational storytelling, Red Thread fuses the past into the present with gorgeous harmonies and folk sensibilities. Their music harkens to the importance of ancestry, culture, and traditions still present in our lives.” – Music in Minnesota
"This definitely opened up a portal of joy and sweetness and ancestral connection." – audience member, Minneapolis
Red Thread is a new harmony-forward ensemble playing original music rooted in Eastern European, Yiddish, and Americana tradition. The group infuses their interpretations of traditional music with a harmonic sensibility rooted in and liberated from classical choral singing. With the tight harmonies of a family band and lush, innovative instrumentation, the ensemble shares traditional and new music with warmth and humor.
Red Thread blends folk & classical elements with an alternative-folk sensibility tied tightly to the Upper Midwest’s new music scene. Frontwoman Sarah Larsson is known as a member of The Nightingale Trio and an organizer of the Twin Cities’ Klezmer on Ice festival. Larsson's teachers include Ethel Raim (NEA National Heritage Fellow 2018), Michael Alpert (NEA National Heritage Fellow 2015), and musicians working in the lineage of Flory Jagoda (NEA National Heritage Fellow 2002). Drawing from years of study and cultivating a unique and adventurous sound, Red Thread unspools the line of folk tradition, invoking the stories of real people’s lived experiences embedded within their songs.
Red Thread has appeared alongside GRAMMY-winning The Klezmatics at the Dakota Jazz Club, opened for Ye Vagabonds at the Cedar Cultural Center, recorded in studio at Minnesota Public Radio, featured as song of the day on The Current, and toured throughout Minnesota with Your Classical MPR and COMPAS.
Ponyfolk
Ponyfolk is the collaborative project of multi-instrumentalists Clifton Nesseth and Paul Sauey. Weaving together interests in folk, rock, jazz and orchestral music, the band is known for intricate arrangements, vocal harmonies and layers of strings and keyboards. Initially formed as a duo in 2014, the group consists of a revolving cast of bandmates, including Aaron Hays on drums, Mikey Marget on cello, Lewis Franti on percussion, and Alex Nelson on keyboards. Ponyfolk performs in a variety of configurations, deftly transitioning between a traditional Nordic group and a folk-rock band depending on the occasion. Ponyfolk’s 2025 debut traditional album "the woods have shown us" held the #2 spot on the Folk DJ-L chart. They released their sophomore record in 2026.
Ponyfolk was formed in 2014 by Clifton Nesseth (vocals, strings, guitar, synth/keys) and Paul Sauey (vocals, strings, guitar, bass). Based out of Duluth and Minneapolis, MN, the pair’s multi-instrumentalist abilities and vocal harmonies have carved them out a reputation of creating maximalist soundscapes that are defined by droning layers of guitars, strings, and synth textures - undergirding emotionally evocative lyrical imagery. Over the last few years, the band has expanded to include Aaron Hays (drums), Alex Nelson (keyboards), Mikey Marget (cello), and Lewis Franti (percussion). The band will be releasing their debut LP on February 22nd a celebration of traditional Americana and Nordic folk music. Performing in various configurations and styles, Ponyfolk's music always keeps a foot planted firmly in the ethos of the folk traditions while stepping forward into new sounds and musical terrains.
Originally crossing paths at Shell Lake Arts Center's summer camp as jazz students in 2004, Clif and Paul bonded over their mutual interest in bassist Jaco Pastorius and the English rock band, Cream. Several years later, they happened upon each other while auditioning for St. Olaf College’s music program in Northfield, MN. During their tenure in St. Olaf’s music major program (2006-2010), Paul Sauey played cello with the St. Olaf Orchestra and Clifton played flute in The St. Olaf Band.
After college, Clifton and Paul formed Ponyfolk (originally Pony), borrowing from the more acoustic side of their common musical tastes and exploring their growing interest in multiple folk music traditions. Focusing heavily on their vocal harmony work and building their songs around intricate finger-picking textures and Scandinavian-inspired modalities, they released EP I in 2015. A remix of this EP will be reissued in early 2025. In subsequent years, they began to add synthesizers and a more modern aesthetics to their sound while simultaneously becoming more serious students of various styles of Americana and Nordic instrumental music., the latter being inspired by their time at Nisswa-stämman: Nordic Music & Dance Festival in North Central Minnesota. Over the last few years, the band has a played a key role in moving the stämma to Duluth, MN, where it will undergo its 3rd iteration on June 13th & 14th, 2025. Clif and Paul both received fellowship grants from American Scandinavian Foundation (ASF), which will allow them to study music in Southwestern Sweden in July of 2025.
Ponyfolk's music has been described as “the dark side of Simon & Garfunkel” and “early Pink Floyd mixed with the Lord of the Rings soundtrack.”
Triple Fiddle
In October of 2023, three powerhouse Minnesotan fiddlers — Rachel Calvert (Barbaro), Jackie Rae Daniels (Daniels & Baker), and Maura Dunst (The Foxgloves) — joined forces to form Triple Fiddle: a collaboration of sensational fiddle harmonies and lusciously layered vocals. After a couple exciting years performing at venues and festivals across the midwest including Blue Ox Music Festival, Boats and Bluegrass, Larryfest, and The Erika Quam Memorial Theatre, Triple Fiddle recorded their debut EP with Steve Kaul at Wild Sound Recording Studio in Minneapolis. Backed by Hannah Hendrickson (Mountain Fern) on guitar and Rina Rossi (Steam Machine) on upright bass, the six-track recording showcases their technical prowess, thoughtful arrangements, and playful exploration of fiddle traditions and techniques.
In fall of 2025, Triple Fiddle bid a bittersweet bon voyage to Daniels as she moved to Nashville, and welcomed Tessa Nichols-Meade (Ryan Picone Quartet) to the band. With Nichols-Meade, they continue to share their three-part fiddle and vocal harmonies on stages across the region. Drawing from honkytonk, western swing, classical chamber music, jazz, bluegrass, and Scandinavian folk music, Triple Fiddle presents soaring arrangements of originals, covers, and traditional fiddle music. Triple Fiddle also takes a strong stance advocating for more inclusive practices within the music industry for women and mothers, hosting jams for women and nonbinary musicians, and calling for venues and festivals to provide lactation spaces for performers who are nursing/pumping.