Live! Folklife Concert: The Faux Paws (Sneak Out the Back Door)

From raging fiddle tunes, to saxophone solos and unrequited love songs, the music of The Faux Paws would be hard to pin down with standard genre descriptions. The trio’s contagious groove, and feel-good melting pot folk music has been honed over ten years of playing together, and is the sound of three close friends (two of which happen to be brothers), who feel a musical kinship that transcends any stylistic limitations. Now, after nearly a decade of music making, the bi-coastal trio are releasing their self-titled debut album The Faux Paws.

Brothers Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand grew up playing contra dance music with their musical mother in the band Great Bear. Chris Miller grew up in Florida and was enamored with bluegrass. He studied jazz before going on to play with GRAMMY nominated Cajun-country band The Revelers. Since meeting in 2012, the trio have toured across North America several times, sometimes under the name The Faux Paws, sometimes as part of other larger ensembles. But due to their commitments to other bands and musical projects, the timing was never right to focus on making The Faux Paws a priority. Instead, they took their time learning about different styles of music from one another, and finding where their interests and skills could create unexpected and exciting new sounds. “I love super glossy music, and Chris is always pushing more of a jazz influence” says Noah. “But we all have a strong background in dance music, so almost everything we do has rhythm and groove, and is based around hook and feel.”

For their show at The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library, the band was joined by the magnificent Zoe Guigueno on bass.

Free, live concert recorded Thursday, April 13, 2023 by Kevin Rogan and Todd DeGarmo. Edited by Kevin Rogan.

Concert hosted and produced by Todd DeGarmo, founding director of the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library and funded in part by the Friends of Crandall Public Library and the New York State Council on the Arts - Folk Arts Program with the support of the NYS Legislature.