Kara Kundert

The most Scandinavian aspect of many Americans’ lives is probably the IKEA furniture in their homes. But minimalist interior design is just one small way Scandinavian influence finds its way into modern American culture. Before there were Swedish meatballs in food courts, there were fiddles (for a while considered demonic)

A cappella is having a bit of a moment in pop culture these days. With the popularity of groups like Pentatonix and the blockbuster success of the Pitch Perfect movies, we can certainly forgive you if you’re experiencing a bit of a cappella exhaustion. But a cappella is more

We’re all familiar with the sounds of the banjo, popularized in the American imagination by media highlights like the dead-eyed banjo picker in Deliverance and the band on Hee Haw. But more than anything, you would recognize the iconic, rollicking sounds of The Beverly Hillbillies theme song, played by

Back in the early days of the Western frontier, community was a matter of life-and-death: It was the work of people in tandem that led to a successful winter, not merely one man’s luck in finding gold or trapping furs. In the wild ranges of 19th-century Idaho, part of

For as long as there has been work to do, there have been people singing while they do it. Collaborative tasks, in particular, seem to lend themselves to song. These songs do more than just help pass the time; they often help to coordinate efforts, with the rhythm itself being

Nowadays, the mandolin is inexorably linked in the American popular consciousness to roots music. It’s so deeply tied to the genre, it’s even the butt of a joke about pandering to stereotypes in country music. But it wasn’t always this way. The mandolin was an immigrant whose