Long before glowing acclaim from NPR and Billboard, packed shows, unforgettable festival appearances, millions of streams, and collaborations with everyone from BTS to Contemporary Youth Orchestra, the journey of The Accidentals commenced in a public high school classroom in Traverse City, MI. As the story goes, concertmaster violinist Savannah Buist, and cellist, Katie Larson, raised their hands at the request for volunteers to play a music boosters concert and wound up being musical soulmates.

After Sav and Katie attended a school presentation by The Moxie Strings, their collective fate would be sealed forever. “If the Moxie Strings hadn’t come to our school, we might not have pursued music professionally,” admits Sav. “We didn’t see many other girls playing popular music on violin and cello in sustainable careers. We didn’t even know that career path existed until those two women walked through the door. That’s when we realized it was possible.”

“We live and breathe music,” adds Katie. “Music helped me survive those awkward middle school years when I wasn’t sure where to identify myself. It’s helped us figure out who we are, given us confidence, allowed us to travel the world, and completely opened up our minds.”

The Accidentals now host and lead workshops across the country, hoping to inspire other young musicians. They opened a nonprofit in 2020 called Play It Forward, Again and Again, to help provide access to instruments, lessons, and mentors for all aspiring musicians. As advocates for youth music and youth empowerment, they focused extensively on “getting out the young vote” in the 2020 election. They donated over twenty live streams to raise money for causes including the #iVoted festival, Headcount, Rock the Vote, Arts Quest youth programming, Michigan Music Alliance, Musicians Treatment Foundation, Sweet Relief, MusiCares, Lighthouse Shelter Detroit, Headstart, TREES, Concert for Hunger Chicago, NIVA, and more, while delivering their new single, “How Many Hands” to the 2020 compilation U.S.P.S. – United Songwriters for the People’s Sovereignty. “We’re just paying it forward,” THE ACCIDENTALS 2 says Sav. “We have an incredible support system and core base of music family that help afford us the opportunity to give back.”