Article Contributed by Mountain Home Music Company
Published on November 10, 2025
Listen to it now and in Dolby Atmos spatial audio
After the dazzling precision of their “Cacklin’ Hen” and “New Camptown Races,” twin fiddlers Deanie Richardson (Sister Sadie) and Kimber Ludiker (Della Mae) are keeping the energy level high but taking a different tack on their latest single for Mountain Home Music Company, “No-See-Um Stomp.”
“I wrote ‘No-See-Um Stomp’ after meeting a flock of them for the first time on the east coast,” explains Ludiker. “As a PNW girl, I was mortified by their existence and the one billion bites I suffered. This tune came out of me very quickly. The first part is the swarm, and the second part… human agony. I recorded it once with my band Della Mae, and although there’s an amazing ‘twin guitar’ moment with Avril Smith and Molly Tuttle, I always heard this tune as a twin fiddle tune. As you know, you never encounter just ONE of these bugs, so I’m very excited to have a twin fiddle version of this with Deanie Richardson.”
The musical depiction of a swarm of the tiny insects is vivid right from the start, as the jittery feeling of the melody is accentuated by a characteristically old-timey dropped beat in the first part of the tune. Punctuated by high octane solos from reigning IBMA Banjo Player of the Year, Kristin Scott Benson, mandolinist Tristan Scroggins (Missy Raines & Allegheny) and the Travelin’ McCourys’ award-winning guitarist, Cody Kilby, held together by stout bass work from Hasee Ciaccio, “No-See-Um Stomp” is a blazing romp that also manages to make room for the momentary let-up of a “break down” section and a surprisingly timed yet masterful reharmonization behind both of the tune’s parts before skittering to a close.
“We took a mild ‘controlled chaos’ approach to this,” notes Ludiker, “which fits the tune perfectly. Instead of linear twin fiddle parts, we depart here and there, swarming around each other just like the little critters this tune was written for.”
“No-See-Um Stomp” is streaming in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL. Listen to it HERE.
