A genre-bending folk trio that mixes fiddle, guitar, and saxophone across old-time, bluegrass, and dance traditions, drawing on the contra-dance festival circuit that raised them.
The Short Version
Who Are They?
The Faux Paws are an American roots trio built around brothers Andrew VanNorstrand and Noah VanNorstrand, joined by multi-instrumentalist Chris Miller. Their sound grows out of the North American old-time and contra-dance world, where the VanNorstrands spent years playing fiddle-driven dance music before turning that energy toward original songs.
What sets the group apart is instrumentation. Alongside the familiar fiddle, guitar, and banjo of a string band, Miller adds saxophone, an unusual voice in old-time music that pushes the trio toward jazz phrasing, swing, and a wider harmonic palette without leaving the roots tradition behind.
Across a run of EPs and albums since 2019, the band has moved between hard-driving fiddle tunes, tightly arranged songs, and dance-floor grooves, keeping one foot in tradition and the other in something harder to categorize.
The contra-dance halls and roots festivals the trio comes out of.From Dance Halls to Original Songs
The Story
The Faux Paws formed out of long experience in the roots-music and dance community, where the VanNorstrand brothers had already made names for themselves before the trio took shape.
Fiddle and saxophone side by side, the trio's signature combination.
Roots
The dance-music world
Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand grew up playing for contra dances and roots festivals across North America, building a reputation as fiddle-and-guitar players steeped in old-time and Celtic dance traditions before The Faux Paws began.
2019
The Hurricane EP
The trio introduced itself with a short EP of instrumentals and songs that paired string-band tunes with Chris Miller's saxophone, signaling a group willing to blur the line between old-time and something more adventurous.
2021
The Faux Paws
Their self-titled full-length brought the band's blend into focus, moving from fiddle tunes to arranged songs like "Fourth Decade," "Guacmaster," and "Montauk," and establishing the trio as songwriters as well as players.
2023
Backburner EP
A follow-up EP that leaned further into groove and arrangement, mixing original tunes with the band's take on the string-band and dance repertoire.
2025
No Bad Ideas
Their most recent album expands the palette again across tracks like "Night," "Three Days in Cheyenne," and "Rockingham," continuing the trio's balance of tradition and experiment.
Four Tracks, One Introduction
Start Here
The fastest way in is to hear the trio's range, from arranged song to fiddle-and-saxophone tune. These four, drawn from their own channel, do it. Watch in order.
01 · The Calling Card
"Guacmaster" (2021)
A bright, driving tune from the self-titled album that shows the trio's blend at a glance, fiddle and guitar locked together with saxophone weaving through the top.
02 · The Song
"Fourth Decade" (2021)
The songwriting side of the band: a melodic, well-arranged original that shows how the trio frames a vocal line with roots instrumentation.
03 · The New One
"Night" (2025)
From the album No Bad Ideas, a recent track that shows where the trio's arranging has grown, richer textures without losing the roots core.
04 · The Tune
"Montauk" (2021)
An instrumental that leans into the dance-music roots, a reminder that this is a band born on the contra floor as much as in the studio.
The Records So Far
The Albums 4 to start with
The catalog is compact, a pair of EPs and two full-lengths. These four are the whole story to date. The self-titled album is the best place to begin.
2019
The Hurricane EP
The debut. A short set of tunes and songs, from "Flight of the Koi / Rye Straw" to "Down the River," that first put the fiddle-guitar-saxophone blend on record.
The self-titled full-length and the best entry point. "Fourth Decade," "Guacmaster," "Southport," and "Montauk" show the group as songwriters and tune-writers in equal measure.
The latest album, wider in scope, running from "Night" and "Rockingham" to "Three Days in Cheyenne" and "Through the Snow Covered Pines." The current state of the band.
Two sets: a First Listen of the signature tracks to bring you in, and a Deep Cuts set of the tunes and longer arrangements for when you want to sink in. (Ideally, though, hear these records whole.) Hit the button on either card to search it out.
The Faux Paws are a trio, three multi-instrumentalists who trade roles across fiddle, guitar, banjo, saxophone, and rhythm. Two of them are brothers with deep roots in the dance-music world.
A string band with a horn, the setup that defines the group.
Andrew VanNorstrandGuitar, fiddle, vocalsA veteran of the North American contra-dance and roots scene and one of the trio's principal songwriters and singers
Noah VanNorstrandFiddle, mandolin, percussion, vocalsAndrew's brother and longtime musical partner, a fiddler steeped in old-time and dance repertoire who anchors the band's rhythmic drive
Chris MillerSaxophone, banjoThe trio's distinctive third voice, bringing saxophone and banjo that push the string-band sound toward jazz and swing
The Roots of the Sound
Influences
The trio's music grows from deep American roots traditions: old-time fiddle, the string-band and dance repertoire, and the founding generation of bluegrass and country. Here are cornerstones of those traditions.
Old-Time
Tommy Jarrell
A touchstone of the old-time fiddle tradition from the Round Peak region, whose driving bowing and tune repertoire are foundational to the string-band world the trio comes out of.
The flatpicking master who carried old-time and traditional song into the folk revival, a model for any roots musician balancing tradition with virtuoso musicianship.
The father of bluegrass, whose high-lonesome sound and hard-driving tempos set the template for the fiddle-and-mandolin string band the group builds on.
The founding family of recorded country music, whose songs and guitar style are a deep root system for the entire American string-band and folk tradition.
The best window into a working roots band is often the live set. These clips show the trio at work and point the way to more.
Live · Festival
"Backburner," Live at Shakori Hills
A festival performance that captures the group on stage, the fiddle-guitar-saxophone blend in the live setting that shaped it.
Sessions · Radio
Radio Sessions and Conversations
The trio has turned up on public-radio sessions and festival broadcasts where they play and talk through their approach. Search YouTube for the latest sessions and interviews.
Once the records have you, the trio's world opens out into the wider dance-music scene they come from.
The VanNorstrand catalog. Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand's work in the broader contra-dance and roots-music world predates and surrounds the trio, a deep well of fiddle-driven recordings.
The full run of releases. The Hurricane EP, The Faux Paws, Backburner, and No Bad Ideas together trace the band's arc from string-band tunes to fully arranged songs.
The live circuit. The Faux Paws are a festival and dance band at heart. Their sets at roots and grassroots festivals are where the music was built to live.
The Way to Listen
Do yourself one favor: put on The Faux Paws from front to back, then No Bad Ideas. Listen for how the saxophone sits inside a string band, the detail that makes this group its own thing.
