Pepper and Sassafras

“Wendy is as sassy as sassafras. Jeffrey is the antithesis of hot pepper: gentle and thoughtful. Together they stir up great musicclever, funny, and thought provoking, with an easy rapport with the audience.”

—Park Coffeehouse

Photo by Genevieve Fridley

Photo by Genevieve Fridley

Spicy Americana

Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, grand prize winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, teams up with multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Wendy Sassafras Ramsay in this dynamic acoustic duo.

Rodgers, also the founding editor of Acoustic Guitar magazine, delivers masterful band-in-a-box guitar work while Ramsay, harmonizer extraordinaire, adds flute, clarinet, guitar, accordion, and her quirky originals to the mix.

Based in upstate New York, the duo was finalist for Best Duo at FreshGrass and has been featured on the public radio show Folk Alley.


Pepper and Sassafras on Folk Alley

“Well-written songs with agile guitar accompaniment and really sweet harmonies.”

—The Folk Project

“Jeffrey and Wendy meander comfortably from laugh-out-loud funny to beautiful love songs and rousing sing-alongs...all performed with great musicianship and goose-bump harmony.”

— Tunes by the Tracks

“It’s the blend. It’s the instruments. It’s the ideas. It’s the creativity. It’s the authority. It’s the flair. It’s the flirting. It’s the fast fingers. It’s the laughing. It’s the words. It’s the rock. It’s the folk. It’s the wit. It’s hard to put your finger on just what you like best about Rodgers and Ramsay.”

— LilFest

Photo by Julie Ann Bertram

Latest releases

“Write Again” duo performance on Live and Listening

Live 2022