Countercurrent, a high-octane acoustic contra dance and folk music duo based in Olympia, will play a concert at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, at the Vashon Havurah, located at 15401 Westside Hwy. Islander and musician Kat Eggleston is presenting the show.

The duo, Alex Sturbaum and Brian Lindsay, bring the deep dive of dance music to their performances featuring masterful guitar, lyrical fiddle, harmony vocals and foot percussion. Their arrangements, through drawn from deep roots of Irish and North American music, blend both traditional and modern influences.

Countercurrent’s vast repertoire of songs includes potent contemporary anthems, traditional ballads, old-time hollers, and biting content that leaves no room to wonder where the duo might stand on political topics.

The duo’s lively interplay, tight vocal harmonies, and unstoppable groove, said Eggleston, make their audiences wonder: “How does that much sound come from just two people?”

Eggleston also said that Sturbaum is one of her favorite writers.

“Alex is stunningly good at writing songs that sounds like they’ve existed for hundreds of years, with reliable historical settings and sometimes a story that would never have made it into a folksong from those eras,” Eggleston said. “Queer stories weren’t being told in those days, for instance, and [Alex] is extraordinary in constructing those.”

There is a suggested donation of $20 at the door for the show. Email kat@kateggleston.com for additional information.