Rina Rossi

Rina Rossi grew up in Ann Arbor, immersed in the folk and traditional dance scene. Her parents met folk dancing at the famed Ashoken Music & Dance Center in Berkeley, CA, and her first memories were going to and falling asleep at contradances. She grew up listening to old time and bluegrass on the radio and at festivals, and decided to take up the fiddle at age 17.

She moved to the Twin Cities at 18 and in 2006 she auditioned for the Wild Goose Chase Cloggers, touring regionally and internationally with the group for 10 years as a dancer and then as a fiddler. Through the cloggers, she became very involved with the vibrant midwest old-time scene, organizing the Moosejaw Old Time Music & Dance Weekend, serving on the Board of the Bluff Country Gathering and coordinating old-time music and dance activities for Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Association festivals. A regular square dance caller at the Monday Night Square Dance in Minneapolis, she has called dances at old-time events around the country and world. Like AJ, Rina has taught at a variety of revered traditional music institutions, teaching clogging, square dance calling, bass, old time guitar, and fiddle workshops.

When AJ met Rina in 2012, she was already a powerhouse in the old-time music scene. They’ve played together in many projects since then (Steam Machine, The Bootlicker Stringband, Back Up & Push) On March 31, 2023, they are excited to release their first album as a duo, Sweet Bunch of Daisies.

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