Rappalachia

Biography

Rench grew up with honky tonk at home & hip-hop on the playground so the music in his head has always been a combo of those sounds. Dolio began as a DJ/battle rapper – he’s a brilliant lyricist- but he’s also a top-level coder, urban gardener & baker. (Ask about his Sweet Potato Pie!) R-SON is a master freestyler; he’ll walk up to you & rap about your t-shirt, what y’all were just talking about, what happened that day; it’s amazing! And he can talk with anyone about sensitive subjects and wind up with an understanding — or at least no hard feelings — which explains why he’s known as The Voice of Reason. Danjo, who grew up with his dad playing bluegrass, was a musician before he could talk and brings depth of musical education and technical musical expertise.

Sleeves brings wide-ranging experience, including as the Washington Post’s first-ever woman blogger, in her vital operations role (venue audio, album creation, business, and more). Farrow combines his Omaha roots with his jazz education and old-time fair to bring a fresh perspective to the song creation process. We all came together, over time, at Rench’s behest to create this new form of music and show the people of America and the world that we have a lot more in common than not. We face a lot of initial resistance because people have preconceived notions about banjos, or rappers, or what a mix of the two might sound like. But once they hear us they love our music instantly. And that matters, because the message of the music is so important! We perform all over the world & even just seeing our multiracial, multi-genre band helps people viscerally understand how individuals of diverse backgrounds & views can come together to live & work together in peace & respect.