Sunday evening, July 8. 2007, the Colly Soleri Amphitheater welcomed The Wise Family Band.
Respected contemporary folk musicians Scott and Louisa Wise performed with their three daughters Ruth (17), Lucy (16) and Rowena (13).
This was a very special occasion for Louisa Wise, who is an Arcosanti alumnus. She attended a construction workshop in 1973 and stayed on for 2 years, cooking about 125 meals three times per day in the old camp kitchen. At that time the Vaults, Foundry and Ceramics Apse were under construction.
Louisa left Arcosanti and emigrated to Australia where she met her husband Scott. All stringed instruments played in the band were made by Scott, who is a busy and respected professional luthier in Australia.

Ruth, Lucy and Rowena performed part of the program on their own.
The girls all sing and play a lot of instruments between them - fiddles, ukulele, bass, harmonica and various percussion instruments.

This very talented family band delighted their audience with a wide repertoire which included fiddle tunes from Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia, some Basque, French Canadian, Cajun, Blues, pre-Blues African-American folk songs, Scottish and Appalachian traditional songs, works of contemporary songwriters, and original songs reflecting their region of Australia.
The family comes from Margaret River in Western Australia's deep southwest, where the forest and ocean make a great atmosphere for music and instrument-making. All of their playing, rehearsing and recording happens at the kitchen table in their big green house beside the forest.

The performance was preceeded by a delicious out-door barbeque dinner in the Vaults prepared by Arcosanti chef Carri Krueger. The menu:
Beef Shishkabob / Barbeque Chicken, vegitarian Portabello Mushroom Shishkabob, Wild-Rice Salad, Pepper Salad, Spinach Salad with Feta Cheese and mixed Melon Salad.