Sammy Wetstein is a musician, composer, and teacher intent on fuzing styles of folk and jazz music with improvisational creativity. While initially classically trained on cello and piano, he has gone on to perform and record in a variety of folk styles including Celtic, New England, bluegrass, and old time fiddle music. Sammy’s love of music stems from his dream to find belonging and bring others together, and in his teaching he hopes to encourage string players of all ages and backgrounds to find freedom in their music, explore alternative string styles, and to play music as a means to find/ build community while better understanding oneself.

As a multi instrumentalist fluent in playing accordion, guitar, mandolin, violin, and viola he has performed at such venues as the Newport Folk Festival, The Shalin Liu Performance Center, and the annual International Bluegrass Music Association conference, and has appeared alongside artists such as the Grammy winning 8 Bit Big Band, rock group Guster, jazz icons Joe Levano and Kenny Barron, and world renown string players including Eugene Friesen, Darol Anger, and Jason Anick. He is currently a student at Berklee College of Music, focusing on jazz and roots cello performance.

Sammy frequently performs with a variety of bands and musical projects ranging from jazz combos to contemporary bluegrass, celtic, and contra dance bands. As an advocate for furthering the role of the cello in traditional music, he has been featured on Bluegrass Today and Sirius XM Bluegrass Junction with his contemporary folk quartet, Catfish in the Sky. His Celtic trio, Carroll Sisters, was voted one of the top 5 Celtic bands of 2022 by Irish and Celtic music podcast, and has performed at numerous venues throughout New England. Sammy has dedicated himself to learning the music played by different communities of musicians, and his travels have led to him teaching as faculty at multigenerational folk music communities Maine Fiddle Camp and The Swannanoa Gathering.