Multimedia storyteller Annie Bartholomew from Alaska conveys an enormous awareness of cultural history that makes her a very special performer. As a guitarist, singer and clawhammer banjo player, she aims to present folk music as a continually evolving tradition. Her songs deal with universal themes such as survival, resilience and revelry, inspired by life during the age of massive mining in her home state.  She combines historical source material with old-time and mountain music traditions to honor the brave women who risked their lives and reputations in the far north of North America during the Klondike Gold Rush in the late nineteenth century. She recorded this on her debut album ‘Sisters of White Chapel’ in 2023, which received critical acclaim from media worldwide. Now it’s bringing her to Europe – for the first time, and at the request of the Rotterdam Bluegrass Festival – accompanied by her band The Sitka Roses, with Nichole Campanale on fiddle, Kat Moore on bass and Taylor Vidic on guitar. Come see and hear these four talented women, and let yourself be transported back to an Alaska saloon over a hundred years ago.