Sisters Leah Song and Chloe Smith tear into sound with sensual prowess with their group Rising Appalachia.

They are launching a San Juan Islands tour with shows on all three main islands. The group will play at Lopez Center on Aug. 19 at 7:30 p.m. and Aug. 21 at the San Juan Community Theatre at 7 p.m. Rising Appalachia’s last stop is at Orcas Center with special guest Sea Stars on Thursday, Aug. 25 at 7:30 p.m.

Listen to their beautiful sound for banjo and fiddle duets and poetic harmonies like only sisters can do. Joined full-time by their beloved band, Biko Casini on percussion and David Brown on stand up bass and baritone guitar. Audiences can expect everything from folk standards to jazz to New Orleans soul to old mountain traditionals to activist anthems, as their style redefines folk music as a truly living art.

Rising Appalachia will be joined at their Orcas concert by Orcas Island’s own Sea Stars, who will pull you into a mystical realm of dreams and stardust. Katie Gray is on vocals, harmonica and keyboard and Kurt Baumann is on vocals, electric, acoustic and stomp box.

The band says about their music: “Together, with their hearts leading the way, a musical project was birthed from the Ethers, spreading a sea of magic wherever it goes.”

Q&A with Rising Appalachia

Weekly: What drew you to have tour dates in the islands?

RA: Honestly, we didn’t know much about them until we got an invitation to play in Friday Harbor by Larry Soll last year. As soon as we stepped foot on the ferry leaving the mainland, we got that sense that we always get when we are on our way to a new place that will make a huge stamp on our souls. We have always gone to where people invited us, and we are so grateful that we were invited to this incredibly ecologically diverse and stunning area of this country.

Weekly: Do you feel the culture in the San Juan Islands exhibits similarities to your “slow music movement?” If so, how and why?

RA: Well, we look forward to spending more time on the islands and getting to know the culture a bit more this time around. That being said, from first impressions, the pace is different. Slower. Saltier. That sort of “do it yourself” and “know your neighbors well” type of living that seems apart from the mainland hustle somehow.

I imagine people are attuned to the songs of the ocean more with the whale influence that is the namesake of the region. Our Slow Music Movement can stretch to incorporate many things, but its central theme is pacing in order to enjoy more, sink in more, root work and community and connections with a sense of place and purpose. We are linking a Permaculture Action Day in Orcasong Farm in Orcas Island before our show there in order to learn more about the land with the stewards there, which we hope will be a seed in the journey of a longer history with the islands.

Weekly: How did you come to be involved with the Salish Sea Permaculture Action Day?

RA: Rising Appalachia has always worked hard to bridge the gap between art and activism, stage and ground, audience and performer. We have teamed up with The Permaculture Action Network in order to co-organize action days at multiple stops along our tours this year after seeing them do incredible work with other artists. Action days get set up in various ways – via invitation from a local person on the ground or initiative from the band or the Action Network. I’m not totally sure if Salish Sea Action Day reached out to us or if we reached out to them, but we are incredibly thrilled to dig in to the lush lands at Orca Song Farm!

Weekly: Is there anything else you’d like to share with the people of the islands?

RA: We are song collectors, always with an open ear. If you have any traditional songs of this salty region – do share.