The Fireants play dance music of the Americas, mostly Latin, Cajun and Creole. David Romtvedt plays button accordion and writes some of the band’s music. Bass player Cindy Baker is also a hospice social worker and yoga instructor. Percussionist Margo Brown and guitarist Courtney Caplan are potters as well as musicians. Caitlin Belem, currently completing a PhD in ethnomusicology at the University of California at Berkeley, plays saxophone and fiddle. Everyone sings. They strive to offer listeners the deep pleasure of music as well as a sense of the cultural forces shaping music.
As a band or as individuals, they’ve performed at the Wyoming Governor’s Arts Awards, Michoacan’s El Encuentro de Dos Tradiciones, the Art Beyond Boundaries Five State Conference, the North American Basque Organization National Festival, the Sierra Swing Festival, the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, the Smithsonian National Folklife Festival, the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, and at school and community events throughout the western US where they offer both performances and workshops. The band’s recordings are Bury My Clothes, Ants on Ice, and It’s Hot (About Three Weeks a Year).
Partial funding is from Natrona County School District No. 1, the Wyoming Community Foundation – Casper Area, the Wyoming Arts Council through the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wyoming State Legislature, as well as Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) through the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wyoming Arts Council.
