A storyteller, song-catcher, and cultural bridge-builder, Leah Song brings a wide world of roots music to the stage.
What does Appalachian music sound like when it stretches beyond the mountains?
For Leah Song, the answer is expansive. It sounds like old-time ballads and banjo, New Orleans rhythms, Southern folk traditions, global influences, poetry, and the stories passed down through generations. As the co-founder and frontwoman of Rising Appalachia, Song has spent more than two decades exploring the connections between traditional music and the ever-changing world around it.
That spirit makes her a natural fit for the Earl Scruggs Center’s Roots Music Revue series.
From Atlanta to Appalachia and Beyond
Leah and her sister, Chloe Smith, were raised in Atlanta in a musical family. Their mother was a fiddler, their father a sculptor, and their childhood was filled with contra dances, banjos, harmony singing, and other folk traditions. At the same time, growing up in Atlanta exposed the sisters to the sounds of Southern hip-hop and the vibrant musical culture of the city.
Those seemingly different influences would eventually become the foundation of Rising Appalachia.
After spending time in New Orleans and traveling internationally, Leah and Chloe began weaving these musical traditions together. Their music became a meeting place for Appalachian folk, Southern roots, Irish and Celtic traditions, Latin and world music, and the rhythms of contemporary culture. Leah has described the sound as “world folk soul”—a fitting description for music that refuses to stay inside a single genre.
A Song-Catcher at Heart
At the center of Leah’s work is a deep respect for the songs and stories that connect people across generations and cultures.
As a solo artist, she performs on clawhammer banjo, guitar, and bodhrán while drawing from Appalachian traditional music, Southern folk, and old-world balladry. Her work is rooted in both tradition and reinvention—preserving the spirit of older songs while allowing them to speak to modern audiences.
That idea of connection is also central to Rising Appalachia. The band’s official biography describes their music as a kind of symbiosis, bringing together Southern folk traditions, New Orleans culture, and Atlanta’s urban energy. Over the years, they have released ten albums and toured across North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and beyond.
More Than Music
For Leah, music has never existed separately from community.
She and Chloe helped pioneer the Slow Music Movement, an approach to touring that emphasizes sustainability, local engagement, and meaningful connections between musicians and the communities they visit. Their work has also included advocacy, cultural exchange, and collaborations with artists and organizations around the world.
That commitment to community feels especially relevant to Appalachia, where music has long been more than entertainment. Songs carry family histories, celebrate everyday life, preserve memories, and provide a way for people to understand where they come from.
Leah’s work embraces that same idea while asking what happens when those songs are allowed to travel—to cross borders, genres, generations, and cultures.
Why Leah Song Belongs in the Roots Music Revue
The Roots Music Revue is about exploring where roots music comes from, where it is going, and the people who keep those traditions alive.
Leah Song embodies that evolution.
Her music demonstrates that “roots” doesn't mean standing still. The roots of a musical tradition can grow outward, intertwine with other traditions, and become something new without losing their connection to the past.
Whether she is singing an Appalachian ballad, picking a banjo, sharing a story, or exploring the musical connections between cultures, Leah invites audiences to listen a little more closely—to the songs, to the stories behind them, and to the people who have carried them forward.
Join us for Roots Music Revue and get to know Leah Song—a musician whose work reminds us that the roots of music run deeper and wider than any one place, genre, or generation.