2023 Staff
We encourage attendees who are at all levels of musical experience to drive the weekend by suggesting or leading workshops and by gathering for impromptu music sessions and conversations. We also hire staff to share their expertise in specific traditional folk genres and the contexts of those song traditions, and to mingle and mentor.
Alex Sturbaum
Alex Sturbaum is a traditional musician based in Olympia, WA. Alex is a singer, songwriter, dance musician, and multi-instrumentalist, and performs across the country at festivals, contra dance weekends, and more. A versatile and engaging performer steeped in folk music from both sides of the Atlantic, they draw influences from Celtic, American, English, Canadian, and maritime music to create something at once old and new. Alex's performances are known for high energy and an instant rapport with audiences.
Alex is best known for their powerhouse guitar and accordion playing, their sharp, traditional-sounding lyrics, and their enthusiasm and appetite for collaboration - the latter of which has led some to call them "one of the most get-sh*t done people in folk music". They tour regularly as a solo artist and as half of the duo Countercurrent with Brian Lindsay. They also teach, record, and produce projects such as The Vashon Sessions (a collaborative music project connecting musicians across the Pacific Northwest) and Raise the Rafters (an annual traditional singing weekend). They have performed on many albums, and have released four solo albums: River Run Wide, Loomings, Atlantic Dreams, and Slash.
Alex is best known for their powerhouse guitar and accordion playing, their sharp, traditional-sounding lyrics, and their enthusiasm and appetite for collaboration - the latter of which has led some to call them "one of the most get-sh*t done people in folk music". They tour regularly as a solo artist and as half of the duo Countercurrent with Brian Lindsay. They also teach, record, and produce projects such as The Vashon Sessions (a collaborative music project connecting musicians across the Pacific Northwest) and Raise the Rafters (an annual traditional singing weekend). They have performed on many albums, and have released four solo albums: River Run Wide, Loomings, Atlantic Dreams, and Slash.
Zara Bode and Stefan Amidon
Zara Bodē and Stefan Amidon met back in 2005 when they were both invited to tour with Northern Harmony, a choir with a focus on harmony singing traditions from around the world. A subsequent tour with Northern Harmony introduced Zara to Emily Miller, with whom she started the country band The Sweetback Sisters, with Stefan on drums. They continued their love of harmony singing with The Starry Mountain Singers, and as a duo Stefan and Zara have led singing workshops at Miles of Music camp, family camps run by the Country Dance and Song Society, and at Ashokan’s Western and Swing week.
Zara recently started The Zara Bodē Little Big Band, was the featured singer at Bob Thompson’s Joy to the World on Mountain Stage, and continues to sing with the Sweetback Sisters, who recently performed at The Kennedy Center with their Country Christmas Singalong Spectacular. In addition to the Sweetback Sisters, Stefan is the drummer for the Devil Makes Three, Low Lily and the David Ross Trio. He teaches music at an elementary school, private drum lessons and is a music director at a couple churches around Brattleboro, VT.
Zara recently started The Zara Bodē Little Big Band, was the featured singer at Bob Thompson’s Joy to the World on Mountain Stage, and continues to sing with the Sweetback Sisters, who recently performed at The Kennedy Center with their Country Christmas Singalong Spectacular. In addition to the Sweetback Sisters, Stefan is the drummer for the Devil Makes Three, Low Lily and the David Ross Trio. He teaches music at an elementary school, private drum lessons and is a music director at a couple churches around Brattleboro, VT.
Emily Eagen
Emily Eagen is a singer, composer, educator and whistler, originally from Ohio, now living in Brooklyn, NY. Emily sings in and between several musical genres, adding new to the old and old to the new.
Emily's folk music experience includes several years as a singer, whistler, and ukulele player with the LA-based avant-folk trio Moira Smiley and VOCO, which performs traditional Balkan and American folk music with inventive twists. She also toured for several years as the lead singer in the folk/old time band The Whistling Wolves, described by Time Out NY as a "rollicking bluegrass outfit, replete with pretty harmonies, and, of course, whistling."
Emily is a prolific composer and songwriter in a variety of genres. She co-composed Nooma, an opera for babies commissioned by Carnegie Hall. She has composed works for several ensembles in which she also performs, including the trio Up at Dawn, which uses close harmonies to blend traditional sounds to new music.
Emily teaches individual and group/chorus voice lessons through her private studio in and around New York City, and on-line. She regularly leads voice and harmony classes at Brooklyn-based Jalopy Theatre that focus on traditional/folk music. She also is a regular faculty member at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia.
Emily's folk music experience includes several years as a singer, whistler, and ukulele player with the LA-based avant-folk trio Moira Smiley and VOCO, which performs traditional Balkan and American folk music with inventive twists. She also toured for several years as the lead singer in the folk/old time band The Whistling Wolves, described by Time Out NY as a "rollicking bluegrass outfit, replete with pretty harmonies, and, of course, whistling."
Emily is a prolific composer and songwriter in a variety of genres. She co-composed Nooma, an opera for babies commissioned by Carnegie Hall. She has composed works for several ensembles in which she also performs, including the trio Up at Dawn, which uses close harmonies to blend traditional sounds to new music.
Emily teaches individual and group/chorus voice lessons through her private studio in and around New York City, and on-line. She regularly leads voice and harmony classes at Brooklyn-based Jalopy Theatre that focus on traditional/folk music. She also is a regular faculty member at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia.