My name is Rachel Krause (they/she), and I am a musician, filmmaker, and organizer based in Kansas City, Kansas. I engage with traditional fiddle music through documentation, apprenticeship, collective music-making, studies of archival recordings, and performance.

I am the organizer of the Oddball Hoedown, a queer-centered, gender-inclusive folk dancing series in Kansas City, Missouri. The event was featured by KCUR in 2023.

As a fiddler and banjoist, I have a deep love for Midwest fiddle music and documenting the stories of this tradition. I most recently studied with John P. Williams as an apprentice in the Missouri Folk Arts Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program.

I hold a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri and have completed archival filmmaking and audio storytelling intensives through the Maine College of Art’s SALT Institute for Documentary Studies. In 2023, I completed short documentary about the Bethel Youth Fiddle Camp, a 38-year-old fiddle camp in rural Missouri called Dance to the Fiddle.

Awards and Honors

Arts KC Inspiration Grant Recipient, 2023

Missouri Folk Arts Program Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, 2022-2023

Podcast Guest on Get Up in the Cool: Episode 338, 2023

Showcase Performer, Queer Narratives Festival, Hosted by No Divide KC, 2022

2nd Place Banjo Contest: Kansas State Fiddling & Picking Championships, 2019

Email me at rachelkrause208 [at] gmail.com if you’d like to get in touch.