Performing in Gansu in 2025, fiddler Kyle Dillingham from the United States found himself back in what he calls his "home in China".

Last year's trip to Gansu was Dillingham's seventh trip to Gansu in more than two decades of playing for Chinese audiences: "When I think of China, Gansu is one of the first places that comes to mind," he said.

Dillingham leads Horseshoe Road, a US folk band that has performed in more than 40 countries and regions around the world. In total, his band has visited China more than a dozen times for cultural exchange activities.

In 2017, Horseshoe Road played at the Silk Road International Cultural Expo in Dunhuang for the first time, bringing US folk music to the ancient Silk Road city.

"To perform American folk music in a place with thousands of years of history and deep cultural exchanges between East and West was truly historic for me," Dillingham said.

"In a way, we were bringing American fiddle music to a new frontier."

Dillingham is fascinated by the role the ancient Silk Road has played in shaping musical traditions around the world.

"Oklahoma, my hometown, does not lie on the physical Silk Road, but without the Silk Road, you wouldn't have traditional fiddle culture," he said, noting that bowed string instruments likely originated in Central Asia before spreading westward into Europe and, eventually, the Americas.

For Dillingham, performing in Dunhuang today means "actively participating in the future of the modern Silk Road".

Over the years, he and his bandmates have incorporated Chinese melodies into their folk performances. One of his best-known original songs inspired by the ties between Gansu and Oklahoma is Old Friends, written after years of interactions with Chinese audiences.

"Old friend, won't you sing with me? Sing with me, drink with me, share with me. I'll soon be gone but I'm coming back again," the lyrics read.

"The idea is that friendships have ups and downs, ebb and flow," Dillingham said. "But in the end, we remain old friends and continue looking toward the future together."

He said his band's 40-year relationship with Gansu provide him a kind of perspective with which to reflect on the future of China-US relations, adding that it is a moment when people "pause and ask ourselves, 'What is next?'"

"I think the future is really up to us. I prefer to envision a future where we are singing together and sharing together, as old friends should," he said.

"It is our honor to continue nurturing the friendship, not only between Oklahoma and Gansu, but also between the United States and China."

Dillingham expects to return to China again this year, with his band constantly "asking for updates".

"We always have such an amazing time sharing our music with Chinese audiences."