people
The Rhapsody Project is led collaboratively by the folx highlighted below, remaining accountable to one another in a manner that reflects the values of our organization. Rather than establishing a sole “director,” we put trust in each leader to make decisions within their purview, and meet weekly to consult with this team to make major decisions or gather input and strategize about any challenging elements of our work.
Liana Green
structural leadership team
program/curriculum focus
Liana Green is a mixed-black, queer musician and educator who has forged her own path through the music world. Raised in suburbia just north of Seattle, she first picked up the trumpet as a member of the 5th-grade band, and thus began her journey...
Joe Seamons
structural leadership team
operations focus
co-founder
Joe Seamons (he/him) is a musician and teacher who co-founded tRp with Ben Hunter in 2013. Through exploring his heritage of local PNW folk music, as well as the the genre's history of prejudice, Joe's work as a songster and teacher continues to be fused with his commitment to agitate for social justice...
Jed Crisologo
structural leadership team
program/facilitation focus
Jed asks a lot of questions.
Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, Jed cut his teeth on hard core, punk and metal bands but since then he has been traveling his roads trying to find his own authentic, honest way to tell the world exactly what he thinks about it.
Off the stage you can find him talking about songwriting, or playing with his cats. He has too many cats.
Justin Golden
Richmond, VA chapter
Justin Golden is the founder of the Richmond, VA chapter of The Rhapsody Project. His origins are deeply vested in the blues. With roots in the Mississippi Delta, Chicago, and the Piedmont of Virginia, he has always felt most connected to the blues...
Jimmy Austin
yiddish program
Jimmy Austin is a working trombonist and educator from Pullman, WA, currently living in Seattle. Jimmy inherited his name and his first trombone from his paternal grandfather, who performed traditional jazz with a band of professors at Southern Illinois University...
Becky Hill
Richmond, VA outreach
Moonyeka
2022 tRp intern
Moonyeka (they/them/Angel) is a nonbinary Filipinx femme shapeshifter, teaching artist, curator, scholar, and interdisciplinary artist, specializing in movement-based storytelling.
instagram @m00nyeka patreon.com/moonyeka
venmo @moonyeka
Asma Masude
2022 tRp intern
Asma has grown up in a swirling mix of iconic early 2000s pop and the even more iconic classic Bollywood songs on cassettes playing on loop during road trips. Resultantly, she is always more than eager to bring her Pakistani and Muslim culture into whatever project she’s working on. Rawness is at the core of everything she tries to create.
Jasmine Grant
youth leader
Lady A
vocal coach & board chair
Lady A is a touring musician, producer, songwriter and
longtime volunteer with tRp students. In addition to her work with tRp vocal students, she is collaborating with the curriculum team to craft Blues in the Schools programs that will serve to demonstrate and expand the vibrancy of blues music in the Pacific Northwest. Learn more about her on her website.
Valerie Diaz Leroy
board member
Val has spent the past 20 years in the educational field as a music teacher, coach, clinician, and curriculum specialist. She exudes a passion for exploring the origins of the banjo, and uses this body of work to frame her message to educators on how to weave significant elements of history and culture into their teaching.
Lillian Werbin
board member
Lillian Werbin is Co-Owner and President of Elderly Instruments, a fretted and stringed musical instrument retailer and musician haven, located in Lansing, Michigan. Lillian is passionate about strengthening their community and uses communication and music to bridge social gaps...
John Oliver III
board member
John Oliver III, is a Seattle native, accomplished songwriter, arranger, producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist with 30+ years of drumming and keyboarding experience, with a strong gospel music based inheritance handed down by previous generations.
See and hear some of his multi-genre releases at johnoliverthethird.com
or hear snippets at https://johnoliverthethird.hearnow.com/.
Katelyn Kimmons
board member
Katelyn Kimmons is a real estate accounting consultant by day and a banjo player and singer most other times. Born and raised in West Virginia, she grew up in a house filled with old time music and ballads and she now shares those traditions through her band, Undone in Sorrow, in Oakland, California. Katelyn met Joe through the Face the Music course and was excited to get involved. Now as a board member she brings her financial knowledge to the forefront to help advise the team in any way she can.
Hazel photo
