The Earth Stringband is blogging from the Rhythm Road.

Cultural Hall in Laos

What’s that, you say? To quote the band’s tour blog, “The Rhythm Road is a program put on by the State Department and Jazz at Lincoln Center. . . to share America’s unique contribution to the world of music and to promote cross-cultural understanding and exchange among nations worldwide.” Like this:

Band members Sam Grisman, Andy Reiner, Eric Robertson, and Stash Wyslouch are among Berklee’s most popular and crowd-pleasing roots music alumni, so we’re by no means surprised this was the Laotian students’ reaction:

Laotian students

And just in case you thought the ESB boys weren’t committed to cultural exchange. . . look at what they ate:

Earth Stringband eats crickets in Laos

Wish we could be there! (Except for, maybe, that particular dinner course.) We’ll be posting periodic updates from the tour—but the band members are excellent storytellers so you should read about the band’s Laotian stops in full detail.