Hillbilly music in America has its parallels with hillbilly music in Eastern Europe, though there are few direct links between the two. Klezmer is Jewish dance music interweaving melodies and modes brought up from Israel with the music of surrounding Polish, Greek, Romanian, Ukrainian and Gypsy cultures. The People’s Republic of Klezmerica is a young, acoustic sextet from Columbia, Mo. whose energy brings a raw edge to the style, infusing it with their own sense of Jewish-Hillbilly exuberance from the Ozark borderlands.

Bandleader Jordan Wax has participated in day sessions at previous Big Muddy festivals, demonstrating his considerable musical talent on the accordion. His original arrangements for this band draw from 80-year old klezmer recordings, songs learned directly from the Yiddish-speaking community, original tunes, and a few standards of the klezmer revival. The band includes Dean Anderson on violin, Laura Bettebhausen on clarinet, Charlotte Overby on bass, Josh Parshall on trumpet and percussionist Amy Salveter. Though Jordan often leads the songs, anyone can be called on for the choruses, shouts and hollers.