An Oxford Collective Is Rethinking What Happens When Genres Collide

Most musicians spend their careers mastering one tradition. They pick a genre, learn its rules, and stay there. But what if the more interesting question isn’t which tradition to follow, but what happens when you stop treating them as separate territories? That’s the question driving Floyds Row, a British-American ensemble that’s been testing the boundaries between early music, classical, folk, bluegrass, and world traditions since their formation in Oxford.

The group takes its name from a small street off St Aldate’s, running between the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Music and the Thames Valley Police station. It’s a fitting location for a project built on creative tension.

The collective started from a series of concerts at the University of Oxford. Chris Ferebee organized these initial collaborations, bringing together musicians including Alistair Anderson, Andrew Arceci, and various guest performers. What began as experimental performances evolved into something worth documenting, resulting in their debut album, “The Oxford Sessions,” released on Centaur Records.

What makes Floyds Row unusual is their approach to historical material. They’re grounded in historical awareness, tracing how folk tunes evolved across centuries and continents, but they deliberately avoid strict authenticity. The goal isn’t to recreate period performances. It’s to treat centuries-old music as raw material for something current. Their performances incorporate improvisation, reflecting both historical practices and contemporary freedom, with a rotating lineup that brings together musicians from different backgrounds using various notation systems and approaches.

The response to their debut has been striking. Divide & Conquer praised the opening track, noting how “Drive the Cold Winter Away” from John Playford’s English Dancing Master captures a “beautifully haunting” quality. Early Music America called the work “gorgeous and haunting,” while the Viola da Gamba Society in the UK threw out a particularly enthusiastic endorsement: “If this is fusion music then ‘Long Live the Protean Viol’ – every home should have one!”

The Viola da Gamba Society of America highlighted how the musicians handle both performance and composition with elegance and feeling. But it’s their refusal to stay in one lane that really stands out. The North Potomac Times captured this well: “No two shows are alike, but the performances guarantee an eclectic mix of traditional pieces from composers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, covers from modern folk singers such as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and the Grateful Dead, as well as original compositions.”

This past fall, the collective wrapped up a New England tour that included singer-songwriter Chris Moyse and arrangements from Hailey Fuqua (soprano), Asako Takeuchi (violin), Jacques Lee Wood (cello and banjo), Andrew Arceci (bass and mandolin), and George Lykogiannis. Several venues sold out, including House of Play in Newton, Massachusetts, and the Winchendon Music Festival. The tour also hit spots across New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Maine, culminating in a lecture-recital at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Fanfare Magazine’s reviewer went so far as to call the recording balance “the best single release I have heard from the Centaur label.” RootsWorld kept it simple: “Give a listen and prepare to be enchanted.”

The collective isn’t slowing down. Plans for a 2026 tour are already in motion, along with discussions about another recording project. Culture Spot-Montgomery County labeled them a “genre-fusing ensemble,” which is accurate but maybe misses the deeper point. Floyds Row treats music as a living tradition rather than a museum piece. They’re not preserving folk tunes under glass. They’re asking what those tunes become when you let them breathe in a room with a banjo, a viola da gamba, and whatever else happens to be around.

Maybe that’s the real experiment here. Not whether these traditions can coexist, but whether the walls between them were ever really necessary in the first place.

Those curious can explore more about the ensemble and their work, stream “The Oxford Sessions” on Spotify, or follow their tour updates on their official website and Facebook.