Kate Rose & Armand Ramirez

Musician & Researcher
Dr. Kate Rose is a Flagstaff-based fiddler, researcher, and tradition-bearer leading the Wild West Fiddle Project and directing the nonprofit Wild Steps. Having spent two years studying with fiddling farmers in County Clare, Ireland, Dr. Rose brings a deep sense of music as rooted in landscapes and the rhythms of rural life. Her research and unique performing style reveal and revive the cross-cultural music and dance traditions of the American Southwest. She suggests that when we go deep into our own roots, they naturally intermingle with the deep roots of others' traditions. Her talks, which present history through true stories of Arizona musicians from our past, are often accompanied by master rhythm expert Armand Ramirez (guitar), whose rootedness in Hispanic traditions adds historical depth and musical magic. They perform regularly as the duo Wild World Irish Fiddle: https://www.youtube.com/@WildIrishFiddle.

Armand Ramirez, guitarist, is a master multigenre player with decades of professional musicianship, an amazing ear, and a creative, danceable flair. His wide-ranging experience includes jazz, celtic, classical, flamenco, folks traditions, and Latin music. He is also a passionate researcher of local history and his own family’s rooted Arizona connections, bringing a multidisciplinary approach to cultural storytelling and music.

Contact: wildsteps8@gmail.com

Kate Rose & Armand Ramirez's Presentations

Arizona/Southwest History

Music

From Ireland to Arizona: Music, Memory, and the Making of Home

What does it mean to carry a sense of home across an ocean and into an entirely new landscape? Through historical images, storytelling, live music and dance, Dr. Kate Rose and Armand Ramirez explore the little-known story of the Irish in Arizona and the universal experience of creating belonging in a new land through music. Drawing on Dr. Rose's background as an Irish fiddler and her original research behind the Wild West Fiddle Project, From Ireland to Arizona uses the Irish experience as a window into a much broader Arizona story involving Native, Hispanic, and later settler populations from many parts of the world. We explore how the intermingling of communities translated into a new soundscape echoing off the canyons, roaring with the rivers, and tumbling over the deserts of a new Arizona. The presentation follows remarkable figures such as Hugo O'Conor, Nellie Cashman, and Ned White while weaving together Irish and Southwestern folklore and traditional fiddle music. Participants explore how Ireland's landscapes inspired its music, how those traditions changed in Arizona, and how Irish melodies conversed with Hispanic rhythms in a time before recorded music, when communities needed each other. Combining original humanities research, musical virtuosity, and joyful participation, this lively program celebrates the ways people, places, and traditions continually shape one another across generations.

Arizona/Southwest History

Artist Talk

Music

The Wild West Fiddle Project: Arizona’s Hidden Soundscape

Join Dr. Kate Rose and Armand Ramirez for a lively, all-ages interactive performance exploring Arizona's rich musical heritage through traditional folk music, dance, and storytelling. Featuring live fiddle and guitar, this engaging program reveals how musicians from Celtic, Hispanic, and other traditions adapted their music to new landscapes, exchanged ideas with neighboring communities, and created distinctive regional styles. Along the way, you'll hear revived Arizona tunes, discover the stories behind them, and even have the chance to join in. Experience how music reflects the beauty of Arizona's open skies, deep canyons, and vast forests while celebrating the cultural connections that continue to shape our state today.