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Lara Downes & FRIENDS
COMMON GROUND
Chart-topping pianist and cultural visionary Lara Downes is joined by a rotating cast of American artists who represent the breadth of our musical landscape. Broadway legend Brian Stokes Mitchell, bluegrass-country singer and fiddler Alison Krauss, Grammy award-winning jazz and R&B singer Ledisi, singer/rapper Aloe Blacc and 15 year old bluegrass prodigy Wyatt Ellis join Lara for a revelatory celebration reflecting the shared human experiences and journeys that connect as as Americans, regardless of time and place. Creating a gathering space for all of us to contemplate the long arc of history and recognize our capacity for empathy and community, Lara and her friends explore the timeless truths and beauties of American music “beyond category”.
STOKES AND LARA PERFORM “HOPE” BY JASON ROBERT BROWN LIVE IN THE WNYC STUDIOS, 2025
STOKES ON NPR “AMPLIFY WITH LARA DOWNES”, 2024
