Previous Staff
Each year we team up with a new group of exceptional singers and song leaders. These staff members share their skills through structured and unstructured interaction during the weekend. Their bios are below.
You can find past schedules and workshop descriptions on the Schedule page.
2024 Staff
2023 Staff
2022 Staff
2021 Staff
2020 Staff
2019 Staff
2018 Staff
2017 Staff
2016 Staff
2015 Staff
2014 Staff
2013 Staff
You can find past schedules and workshop descriptions on the Schedule page.
2024 Staff
2023 Staff
2022 Staff
2021 Staff
2020 Staff
2019 Staff
2018 Staff
2017 Staff
2016 Staff
2015 Staff
2014 Staff
2013 Staff
2024 Staff
Judy Cook
Judy grew up in a family that sang for fun. She sang in the Girl Scouts, at Oberlin College, and with the Folklore Society of Greater Washington. When organizers asked her to sing at their festivals and concert venues, she was delighted to share the music she loves. She has been actively touring since 1998 and is appreciated on both sides of the Atlantic for her singing and obvious love and understanding of the old songs – and some good new ones as well. Her first of eight CDs was released in 1998; the latest just this year. Her first book was published by the University of Wisconsin Press in 2013.
The Vox Hunters (Armand Aromin and Benedict Gagliardi)
Hailing from the great state of Rhode Island, Armand Aromin and Benedict Gagliardi are seekers and singers of old songs, cultivators of local music, and chronic multi-instrumentalists. They are touted as strong tradition-bearers in their generation, and their genuine affinity for the music is evident in the emotion they draw from it. With a pair of oft-harmonizing voices tastefully garnished with fiddle, free-reeds, and tenor guitar, The Vox Hunters offer an all-natural connection to the living tradition of folk music.
Evie Ladin
Banjo player, singer, songwriter, percussive-dancer, choreographer and square-dance caller, Evie Ladin grew up steeped in traditional folk music/dance on the East Coast, and brings a contemporary vision to her compositions and choreography. Evie’s performances, recordings and teaching reconnect Appalachian music/dance with other African-Diaspora traditions, and have been heard from A Prairie Home Companion to Lincoln Center, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass to Celtic Connections, Brazil to Bali.
Based in Oakland, CA, Evie tours solo, with Keith Terry and her Evie Ladin Band; and has produced 10 CDs and two instructional DVDs. In the percussive dance world, Evie directs the moving choir MoToR/dance, is Executive Director of the International Body Music Festival, does educational outreach with Crosspulse, and is an ace freestyle flatfooter. Her Body Music has gone viral in the choral piece Silvy, arranged by Moira Smiley. In the trad world, Evie teaches Old Time Harmony Singing and Clawhammer Banjo at the infamous Freight & Salvage, online at Peghead Nation and numerous camps and events. She is adept at getting people full-belly singing, harmonizing, and blending in experiential vocal workshops based in Appalachian traditions. Her own songs are clever and catchy, subtitling her band “neo-trad kinetic folk.” Evie also leads rowdy square dance parties, getting every body easily dancing. A highly entertaining performer, Evie enjoys facilitating arts learning in diverse communities. You don’t often hear words like ‘traditional,’ and ‘authentic’ paired with ‘innovative’ and ‘unique,’ but Evie Ladin has brought them together brilliantly, and the result is truly a high point in new music. – FOLKWORKS, Los Angeles
Based in Oakland, CA, Evie tours solo, with Keith Terry and her Evie Ladin Band; and has produced 10 CDs and two instructional DVDs. In the percussive dance world, Evie directs the moving choir MoToR/dance, is Executive Director of the International Body Music Festival, does educational outreach with Crosspulse, and is an ace freestyle flatfooter. Her Body Music has gone viral in the choral piece Silvy, arranged by Moira Smiley. In the trad world, Evie teaches Old Time Harmony Singing and Clawhammer Banjo at the infamous Freight & Salvage, online at Peghead Nation and numerous camps and events. She is adept at getting people full-belly singing, harmonizing, and blending in experiential vocal workshops based in Appalachian traditions. Her own songs are clever and catchy, subtitling her band “neo-trad kinetic folk.” Evie also leads rowdy square dance parties, getting every body easily dancing. A highly entertaining performer, Evie enjoys facilitating arts learning in diverse communities. You don’t often hear words like ‘traditional,’ and ‘authentic’ paired with ‘innovative’ and ‘unique,’ but Evie Ladin has brought them together brilliantly, and the result is truly a high point in new music. – FOLKWORKS, Los Angeles
2023 Staff
Alex Sturbaum
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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. |
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.
2022 Staff
Full Weekend Staff
Elsie Gawler
Elsie Gawler and Ethan Stokes Tischler deliver original and traditional songs and tunes that come straight from the heart. These New England based songsters, on fiddle, guitar, vocals, cello, and banjo, bring together their unique musical backgrounds to create a rich original sound that is alive with their love for the music they make together.
Elsie and Ethan have each shared their music and spirits with audiences across New England and beyond while maintaining a deeply rooted connection to the thriving Vermont and Maine based folk music communities from which they've emerged.
Elsie and Ethan have each shared their music and spirits with audiences across New England and beyond while maintaining a deeply rooted connection to the thriving Vermont and Maine based folk music communities from which they've emerged.
Jael (Yaya) Patterson
Jael (Yaya) Patterson is a native to Prince George's County, Maryland. At the encouragement of her grandmother, she began singing in church as a young child and later began a formal music education at eight years old. Yaya studied music therapy at Temple University & became a direct social service worker, working with homeless individuals & adults with severe mental illness for 5 years. Yaya currently works as a community healer through the arts, partnering with Archie Edward's Blues Heritage foundation & The Rhapsody Project.
Julia Friend
Julia Friend is a singer of pub songs, sea shanties, and ballads. She loves the power and vulnerability of the human voice. An occasional performer at small folk festivals, Julia is happiest swapping songs and blending harmonies in dark corners in the wee hours of the night. She co-authored CDSS's folk singing starter kit, helped launch Youth Traditional Song Weekend, and generally cheers for singing in all genres. She lives in Brattleboro, VT where she hums incessantly and organizes semi-regular singing parties with friends.
Dena Ross Jennings
Dena Jennings, D.O. is a physician and artist in Central Virginia. She was born in Akron, Ohio and was raised the 5th generation of Appalachian descendants tracing her mother's family to enslaved Black, and free Scottish people of the Cumberland Gap. She is the descendant of Black Virginian and East Indian ancestors on her father's side.
Twenty years after establishing her medical practice and a nonprofit organization for conflict transformation and human rights advocacy, Dr. Jennings moved to Ontario, Canada where she learned to hand carve modern instruments made from gourds and other natural fibers in the style of traditional instruments from around the world. Upon meeting her husband, she relocated to Central Virginia and re-opened the medical practice and human rights nonprofit. Today, the waiting room is a gallery for her sculpted instruments and a listening room for Appalachian and Black American roots music.
Currently, Dr. Jennings sculpts from her farm studio, conducts instrument building workshops and conflict transformation retreats, performs Appalachian and folk Bengali music on gourd instruments, and hosts the Affrolachian On-Time Music Gathering at the farm. It is an annual retreat and concert featuring Black American string band musicians from across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. She endeavors to build the Beloved Community through her devotion to music, culture, and social justice.
Twenty years after establishing her medical practice and a nonprofit organization for conflict transformation and human rights advocacy, Dr. Jennings moved to Ontario, Canada where she learned to hand carve modern instruments made from gourds and other natural fibers in the style of traditional instruments from around the world. Upon meeting her husband, she relocated to Central Virginia and re-opened the medical practice and human rights nonprofit. Today, the waiting room is a gallery for her sculpted instruments and a listening room for Appalachian and Black American roots music.
Currently, Dr. Jennings sculpts from her farm studio, conducts instrument building workshops and conflict transformation retreats, performs Appalachian and folk Bengali music on gourd instruments, and hosts the Affrolachian On-Time Music Gathering at the farm. It is an annual retreat and concert featuring Black American string band musicians from across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. She endeavors to build the Beloved Community through her devotion to music, culture, and social justice.
Master Class Staff
Frankie Armstrong
Frankie Armstrong has sung professionally in the folk scene and the women’s’ and the peace movements since the 1960s. She pioneered community voice workshops in 1975. She has always been interested in exploring voice and song in its historical, cultural, political and spiritual dimensions. She sees the voice as a tool to aid our self-expression, creativity and confidence. And, for more than three decades, she has focused particularly on the body-voice connection, having worked and trained with a variety of bodywork and movement teachers.
The development of her voice and singing workshops was informed by her passion for the traditional styles of singing in the British Isles and from around the world, along with her involvement in the ‘natural voice’ developments in the theatre world (particularly the work of Cicely Berry and Kristin Linklater). Over the years she has run workshops with almost every kind of group – for children of all ages and abilities, professional theatre companies, community and women’s groups, people with disabilities, drama students, therapists, psychiatric patients, folk song students and the elderly. Whatever the specific focus of her workshops, she believes in creating a supportive, generous atmosphere where people do not feel judged or under pressure to get things “right”. The intention is to help people find their own unique voice that generates energy, confidence and a sense of lifefullness.
Frankie has made 12 solo albums, as well as featuring on numerous shared and themed recordings. She has written an autobiography (As Far As the Eye Can Sing), and contributed chapters to 11 other books. She is founder and President of the Natural Voice Network, which grew out of her voice teaching and training work. Frankie is also an honorary member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA) of North America, and was awarded the Gold Badge in 2018 by the English Folk Dance and Song Society. She is also a Patron of Musicians for Peace and Disarmament (MPD).
The development of her voice and singing workshops was informed by her passion for the traditional styles of singing in the British Isles and from around the world, along with her involvement in the ‘natural voice’ developments in the theatre world (particularly the work of Cicely Berry and Kristin Linklater). Over the years she has run workshops with almost every kind of group – for children of all ages and abilities, professional theatre companies, community and women’s groups, people with disabilities, drama students, therapists, psychiatric patients, folk song students and the elderly. Whatever the specific focus of her workshops, she believes in creating a supportive, generous atmosphere where people do not feel judged or under pressure to get things “right”. The intention is to help people find their own unique voice that generates energy, confidence and a sense of lifefullness.
Frankie has made 12 solo albums, as well as featuring on numerous shared and themed recordings. She has written an autobiography (As Far As the Eye Can Sing), and contributed chapters to 11 other books. She is founder and President of the Natural Voice Network, which grew out of her voice teaching and training work. Frankie is also an honorary member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA) of North America, and was awarded the Gold Badge in 2018 by the English Folk Dance and Song Society. She is also a Patron of Musicians for Peace and Disarmament (MPD).
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne is well known on the English folk scene for his work with the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominated trio ‘Granny’s Attic’ and as a soloist. Originally from Birmingham, Cohen developed a keen love for melodeons and concertinas while still at primary school. Cohen’s main passion is for English traditional music and song, but his musical interests run broader than that, into Baroque music, ragtime and Victorian popular music- and he has been known to throw all of these into his performances and teaching. Cohen is an experienced teacher and has worked with students of all ages in workshops and on a one-on-one basis, both in England and abroad.
Nanne and Ankie
Nanne & Ankie have been playing together since 1980, singing in Frisian, Dutch, Esperanto and in English. They accompany themselves on several instruments such as guitar, mandolin, concertina and shawm. They specialize in the history of New Amsterdam and New-Netherland. Song lyrics describe the time from 1609, with the arrival of Henry Hudson exploring the Hudson River, through 1664 when ‘Nieuw Nederland’ Governor Pieter Stuyvesant had to hand over the colony to the English. Originally the songs were written in the Dutch language, but many of them have been translated into English by American poets and singers.
2021 Staff
Alice Gerrard
Simply put, Alice Gerrard is a talent of legendary status. In a career spanning some 40 years, she has known, learned from, and performed with many of the old-time and bluegrass greats and has in turn earned worldwide respect for her own important contributions to the music.Alice is particularly known for her groundbreaking collaboration with Appalachian singer Hazel Dickens during the 1960s and ’70s. The duo produced four classic LPs (recently reissued by Rounder on CD) and influenced scores of young women singers — even The Judds acknowledge Hazel and Alice as an important early inspiration.
Alice’s two solo albums, Pieces of My Heart, and Calling Me Home were released on the Copper Creek label in 1995 and 2004, respectively, to critical acclaim in Billboard, Bluegrass Unlimited, New Country, and other publications. These superb recordings showcase Alice’s many talents: her compelling, eclectic songwriting; her powerful, hard-edged vocals; and her instrumental mastery on rhythm guitar, banjo, and old-time fiddle. A tireless advocate of traditional music, Alice has won numerous honors, including an International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Distinguished Achievement Award, a Virginia Arts Commission Award, the North Carolina Folklore Society’s Tommy Jarrell Award, and an Indy Award.
Simply put, Alice Gerrard is a talent of legendary status. In a career spanning some 40 years, she has known, learned from, and performed with many of the old-time and bluegrass greats and has in turn earned worldwide respect for her own important contributions to the music.Alice is particularly known for her groundbreaking collaboration with Appalachian singer Hazel Dickens during the 1960s and ’70s. The duo produced four classic LPs (recently reissued by Rounder on CD) and influenced scores of young women singers — even The Judds acknowledge Hazel and Alice as an important early inspiration.
Alice’s two solo albums, Pieces of My Heart, and Calling Me Home were released on the Copper Creek label in 1995 and 2004, respectively, to critical acclaim in Billboard, Bluegrass Unlimited, New Country, and other publications. These superb recordings showcase Alice’s many talents: her compelling, eclectic songwriting; her powerful, hard-edged vocals; and her instrumental mastery on rhythm guitar, banjo, and old-time fiddle. A tireless advocate of traditional music, Alice has won numerous honors, including an International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Distinguished Achievement Award, a Virginia Arts Commission Award, the North Carolina Folklore Society’s Tommy Jarrell Award, and an Indy Award.
Dr. Kathy Bullock
Dr. Kathy Bullock is a professor of music at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky who also provides workshops and other musical programs in African American sacred music throughout the United States, Europe, and Africa. A performer, conductor, accompanist, arranger, and scholar, she specializes in gospel music, spirituals and classical music of the African diaspora, sharing the joy of this music-culture everywhere she goes. Dr. Bullock has worked for over twenty-eight years at Berea College teaching courses in Music Theory, African-American Music, Ethnomusicology, and General Studies. Additionally, Dr. Bullock has designed and led new and transformative international study programs in Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Jamaica.
Dr. Bullock’s research in African and African-American music and culture and the African diaspora has afforded her the opportunity to provide presentations including Singing in the Spirit, African-American Sacred Music and African-American and Appalachian Musical Connections. She is a teacher/presenter at singing camps for organizations such as Village Harmony, Swannanoa and Common Ground on the Hill. Other research projects include the compilation and completion of a new edition of art songs by contemporary African-American composers.
Dr. Bullock shares the infectious joy and inspires heartfelt connections as she sings, plays teaches and thus conveys the transcending power of love and of God through music.
Dr. Kathy Bullock is a professor of music at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky who also provides workshops and other musical programs in African American sacred music throughout the United States, Europe, and Africa. A performer, conductor, accompanist, arranger, and scholar, she specializes in gospel music, spirituals and classical music of the African diaspora, sharing the joy of this music-culture everywhere she goes. Dr. Bullock has worked for over twenty-eight years at Berea College teaching courses in Music Theory, African-American Music, Ethnomusicology, and General Studies. Additionally, Dr. Bullock has designed and led new and transformative international study programs in Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Jamaica.
Dr. Bullock’s research in African and African-American music and culture and the African diaspora has afforded her the opportunity to provide presentations including Singing in the Spirit, African-American Sacred Music and African-American and Appalachian Musical Connections. She is a teacher/presenter at singing camps for organizations such as Village Harmony, Swannanoa and Common Ground on the Hill. Other research projects include the compilation and completion of a new edition of art songs by contemporary African-American composers.
Dr. Bullock shares the infectious joy and inspires heartfelt connections as she sings, plays teaches and thus conveys the transcending power of love and of God through music.
Val Mindel
Val Mindel is a longtime musician, teacher and workshop leader, known for bringing out the best in singers, whatever their level. Her specialty is the close, buzzy harmony that makes American old-time, bluegrass and country harmony so compelling. She has taught at numerous music camps – here in the U.S. at Augusta Vocal Week, Ashokan Southern Week, Voice Works, Allegheny Echoes and others and in the U.K. at Sore Fingers fall and spring camps.
In addition to her solo work, Val teaches and performs in various combinations, including with California-based Any Old Time, with singer/multi-instrumentalist Joe Newberry and with daughter and old-time country musician Emily Miller and her husband Jesse Milnes (they have two CDs together: In the Valley and Close to Home), and has just published a book, So You Want to Sing Folk Music, part of the “So You Want To Sing” series for Rowman & Littlefield and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Val teaches classes across the country and abroad as well as regular workshops at Brooklyn’s growing old-time music school, Jalopy. She lives in Elkins, West Virginia.
Val Mindel is a longtime musician, teacher and workshop leader, known for bringing out the best in singers, whatever their level. Her specialty is the close, buzzy harmony that makes American old-time, bluegrass and country harmony so compelling. She has taught at numerous music camps – here in the U.S. at Augusta Vocal Week, Ashokan Southern Week, Voice Works, Allegheny Echoes and others and in the U.K. at Sore Fingers fall and spring camps.
In addition to her solo work, Val teaches and performs in various combinations, including with California-based Any Old Time, with singer/multi-instrumentalist Joe Newberry and with daughter and old-time country musician Emily Miller and her husband Jesse Milnes (they have two CDs together: In the Valley and Close to Home), and has just published a book, So You Want to Sing Folk Music, part of the “So You Want To Sing” series for Rowman & Littlefield and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Val teaches classes across the country and abroad as well as regular workshops at Brooklyn’s growing old-time music school, Jalopy. She lives in Elkins, West Virginia.
Nancy Kerr
Nancy Kerr is a UK-based fiddlesinger and songwriter who is known for her work with the Melrose Quartet as well as singing with her husband James Fagan, Eliza Carthy, and the Sweet Visitor Band.
Nancy is a respected interpreter of traditional material who has been compared to William Blake for her reawakening of a radical folk mythology as a backdrop for contemporary narratives about love and conflict, motherhood, migration, hardship and jubilation, and the tensions between rural and urban life. Her catchy yet ethereal songs have caught the ears and hearts of singing communities across the English-speaking world.
Nancy’s 2016 album Instar examined the relationship between folk song and the environment and led to collaborations with contemporary nature writers Rob Cowen (Common Ground) and Helen Macdonald (H is for Hawk) as part of her curation at Kings Place, London. She has had compositions commissioned by The Radio Ballads (BBC Radio 2), The Elizabethan Session, Sweet Liberties (Parliament) and Shake The Chains.
Nancy performs with Melrose Quartet, Martin Simpson and Andy Cutting and as part of Peter Bellamy’s folk opera The Transports. Nancy was taught by famed Northumbrian shepherd-fiddler Will Taylor and has taught and lectured internationally. Kerr is a Principal Lecturer in Folk Music at Leeds Conservatoire. She is also a qualified Music Therapist.
Nancy Kerr is a UK-based fiddlesinger and songwriter who is known for her work with the Melrose Quartet as well as singing with her husband James Fagan, Eliza Carthy, and the Sweet Visitor Band.
Nancy is a respected interpreter of traditional material who has been compared to William Blake for her reawakening of a radical folk mythology as a backdrop for contemporary narratives about love and conflict, motherhood, migration, hardship and jubilation, and the tensions between rural and urban life. Her catchy yet ethereal songs have caught the ears and hearts of singing communities across the English-speaking world.
Nancy’s 2016 album Instar examined the relationship between folk song and the environment and led to collaborations with contemporary nature writers Rob Cowen (Common Ground) and Helen Macdonald (H is for Hawk) as part of her curation at Kings Place, London. She has had compositions commissioned by The Radio Ballads (BBC Radio 2), The Elizabethan Session, Sweet Liberties (Parliament) and Shake The Chains.
Nancy performs with Melrose Quartet, Martin Simpson and Andy Cutting and as part of Peter Bellamy’s folk opera The Transports. Nancy was taught by famed Northumbrian shepherd-fiddler Will Taylor and has taught and lectured internationally. Kerr is a Principal Lecturer in Folk Music at Leeds Conservatoire. She is also a qualified Music Therapist.
Dena Ross Jennings
Dena Jennings, D.O. is a physician and artist in Central Virginia. She was born in Akron, Ohio during its booming years of ingenuity as the rubber capital of the world. Her father was an executive at Goodyear International; her mother, a banker at a hometown savings and loan. Culturally, she was raised the 5th generation of Appalachian descendants tracing her mother's family to enslaved Black, and free Scottish people of the Cumberland Gap. She is the descendant of Black Virginian and East Indian ancestors on her father's side.
Twenty years after establishing her medical practice and a nonprofit organization for conflict transformation and human rights advocacy, Dr. Jennings moved to Ontario, Canada where she entered a 4-year arts apprenticeship. There, she learned to hand carve modern instruments made from gourds and other natural fibers in the style of traditional instruments from around the world. At the end of her apprenticeship, she opened a workshop, studio, and retail music store in a small town in Central Ontario. The human rights advocacy group she started in 1996 is now a consultant to the United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
Upon meeting her husband who had developed an herb farm and retreat center in Central Virginia, she relocated the workshop and studio where she could grow her own gourds and mill her own wood. She re-opened the medical practice and human rights nonprofit in Orange, Virginia. Today, the waiting room is a gallery for her sculpted instruments and a listening room for Appalachian and Black American roots music.
In 2017, Dr. Jennings became and associate co-op member of the McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville. She was called by the governor of Virginia in 2019 to serve on the Virginia Commission for the Arts where she is the chair of Budget and Policy. Currently, Dr. Jennings sculpts from her farm studio, conducts instrument building workshops and conflict transformation retreats, performs Appalachian and folk Indian music on gourd instruments, and hosts the Affrolachian On-Time Music Gathering at the farm. It is an annual retreat and concert featuring Black American string band musicians from across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. She endeavors to build the Beloved Community through her devotion to music, culture, and social justice.
Dena Jennings, D.O. is a physician and artist in Central Virginia. She was born in Akron, Ohio during its booming years of ingenuity as the rubber capital of the world. Her father was an executive at Goodyear International; her mother, a banker at a hometown savings and loan. Culturally, she was raised the 5th generation of Appalachian descendants tracing her mother's family to enslaved Black, and free Scottish people of the Cumberland Gap. She is the descendant of Black Virginian and East Indian ancestors on her father's side.
Twenty years after establishing her medical practice and a nonprofit organization for conflict transformation and human rights advocacy, Dr. Jennings moved to Ontario, Canada where she entered a 4-year arts apprenticeship. There, she learned to hand carve modern instruments made from gourds and other natural fibers in the style of traditional instruments from around the world. At the end of her apprenticeship, she opened a workshop, studio, and retail music store in a small town in Central Ontario. The human rights advocacy group she started in 1996 is now a consultant to the United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
Upon meeting her husband who had developed an herb farm and retreat center in Central Virginia, she relocated the workshop and studio where she could grow her own gourds and mill her own wood. She re-opened the medical practice and human rights nonprofit in Orange, Virginia. Today, the waiting room is a gallery for her sculpted instruments and a listening room for Appalachian and Black American roots music.
In 2017, Dr. Jennings became and associate co-op member of the McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville. She was called by the governor of Virginia in 2019 to serve on the Virginia Commission for the Arts where she is the chair of Budget and Policy. Currently, Dr. Jennings sculpts from her farm studio, conducts instrument building workshops and conflict transformation retreats, performs Appalachian and folk Indian music on gourd instruments, and hosts the Affrolachian On-Time Music Gathering at the farm. It is an annual retreat and concert featuring Black American string band musicians from across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. She endeavors to build the Beloved Community through her devotion to music, culture, and social justice.
2020 Staff
Jake Blount
Jake Blount is an award-winning banjoist, fiddler, singer and scholar based in Washington, DC. He is half of the internationally touring duo Tui and a 2020 Strathmore Artist in Residence. He has studied with modern masters of old-time music, including Bruce Molsky, Judy Hyman (of the Horse Flies), and Rhiannon Giddens and Hubby Jenkins (of the GRAMMY-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops). Although he is proficient in multiple old-time styles, he specializes in the music of Black and Native American communities in the southeastern United States, and in the regional style of Ithaca, New York. In 2016, Blount became the first Black person to make the finals at the prestigious Appalachian String Band Music Festival (better known as Clifftop), and the first to win in the traditional band category. In the following year, he received his B.A. in Ethnomusicology from Hamilton College and released his debut EP, “Reparations,” with award-winning fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves. He toured Scandinavia and released a CD with the Moose Whisperers in 2018. He opened several shows for MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Rhiannon Giddens the same year, and joined Libby Weitnauer to form the duo Tui while on a tour of Australia and New Zealand. In 2019, Tui released their debut album, Pretty Little Mister, and Blount claimed first place in the banjo contest at Clifftop with three tunes from Black banjoists. He is now working toward his first full-length solo album.
Jake Blount is an award-winning banjoist, fiddler, singer and scholar based in Washington, DC. He is half of the internationally touring duo Tui and a 2020 Strathmore Artist in Residence. He has studied with modern masters of old-time music, including Bruce Molsky, Judy Hyman (of the Horse Flies), and Rhiannon Giddens and Hubby Jenkins (of the GRAMMY-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops). Although he is proficient in multiple old-time styles, he specializes in the music of Black and Native American communities in the southeastern United States, and in the regional style of Ithaca, New York. In 2016, Blount became the first Black person to make the finals at the prestigious Appalachian String Band Music Festival (better known as Clifftop), and the first to win in the traditional band category. In the following year, he received his B.A. in Ethnomusicology from Hamilton College and released his debut EP, “Reparations,” with award-winning fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves. He toured Scandinavia and released a CD with the Moose Whisperers in 2018. He opened several shows for MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Rhiannon Giddens the same year, and joined Libby Weitnauer to form the duo Tui while on a tour of Australia and New Zealand. In 2019, Tui released their debut album, Pretty Little Mister, and Blount claimed first place in the banjo contest at Clifftop with three tunes from Black banjoists. He is now working toward his first full-length solo album.
Ann Downey
Ann Downey sings and plays upright bass, clawhammer banjo, and guitar in a wide range of styles, ranging from old-timey Appalachian to jazz, and most of what happens in between. As a vocalist she's drawn to good old songs, (often the wackier the better), yodeling, and coming up with close and crunchy harmonies. Originally from the southwestern U.S. she now lives in Ottawa, Ontario and has performed in Europe, Canada and the U.S. She's sung, played and recorded with Finest Kind, Sneezy Waters, The Old Sod Band, Pat Moore and the Vinyl Frontier, and the Toasted Westerns, as well as on studio projects with other fine musicians. These days Ann can be found playing bass and singing with Sneezy Waters and His Very Fine Band, Shirt-Tearing Boys, Diminished Responsibility Swing Combo, Saloon Dion, jamming in people's kitchens, and as an on-call harmonizing bassist.. She has taught yodeling and harmony vocals at various camps and workshops including Augusta Musical Heritage, and teaches clawhammer banjo at Alcorn Music Studios in Ottawa.
Ann Downey sings and plays upright bass, clawhammer banjo, and guitar in a wide range of styles, ranging from old-timey Appalachian to jazz, and most of what happens in between. As a vocalist she's drawn to good old songs, (often the wackier the better), yodeling, and coming up with close and crunchy harmonies. Originally from the southwestern U.S. she now lives in Ottawa, Ontario and has performed in Europe, Canada and the U.S. She's sung, played and recorded with Finest Kind, Sneezy Waters, The Old Sod Band, Pat Moore and the Vinyl Frontier, and the Toasted Westerns, as well as on studio projects with other fine musicians. These days Ann can be found playing bass and singing with Sneezy Waters and His Very Fine Band, Shirt-Tearing Boys, Diminished Responsibility Swing Combo, Saloon Dion, jamming in people's kitchens, and as an on-call harmonizing bassist.. She has taught yodeling and harmony vocals at various camps and workshops including Augusta Musical Heritage, and teaches clawhammer banjo at Alcorn Music Studios in Ottawa.
Lindsay Straw
Traditional ballads have been a source of inspiration for guitarist, singer and Irish bouzouki player Lindsay Straw since her childhood in Montana. But she truly grew into the art when she became immersed in Boston's Irish and folk music scenes. There she began to tie together the threads of the traditions she was most passionate about: English, Scottish, Irish and American songcraft. While in college, she founded a young Celtic trad band, The Ivy Leaf, which she draws from to fill out the music on her new second album, The Fairest Flower of Womankind. In addition to her own sensitive, agile accompaniment on guitar and bouzouki, Straw is joined by members of The Ivy Leaf, Daniel Accardi (fiddle), Armand Aromin (fiddle), and Benedict Gagliardi (concertina, harmonica), plus renowned Maine guitarist Owen Marshall (The Press Gang). Throughout, Straw’s tender vocals and careful arrangements draw out the inner depths of these old songs, telling tales of women from beyond the ages. A ballad needs commitment to be told, a belief in the importance of its story. Straw proves that these stories ring with inspiration even today.
Traditional ballads have been a source of inspiration for guitarist, singer and Irish bouzouki player Lindsay Straw since her childhood in Montana. But she truly grew into the art when she became immersed in Boston's Irish and folk music scenes. There she began to tie together the threads of the traditions she was most passionate about: English, Scottish, Irish and American songcraft. While in college, she founded a young Celtic trad band, The Ivy Leaf, which she draws from to fill out the music on her new second album, The Fairest Flower of Womankind. In addition to her own sensitive, agile accompaniment on guitar and bouzouki, Straw is joined by members of The Ivy Leaf, Daniel Accardi (fiddle), Armand Aromin (fiddle), and Benedict Gagliardi (concertina, harmonica), plus renowned Maine guitarist Owen Marshall (The Press Gang). Throughout, Straw’s tender vocals and careful arrangements draw out the inner depths of these old songs, telling tales of women from beyond the ages. A ballad needs commitment to be told, a belief in the importance of its story. Straw proves that these stories ring with inspiration even today.
2019 Staff
Emily Miller
The first song Emily remembers learning was the Louvin Brothers' hit "When I Stop Dreaming," around age 8, which she sang as a duet with her older brother, Ethan. That should tell you something about her musical upbringing. Old-time country music reigned supreme in the Miller house, no matter where that house was situated (she has called Kansas, Hong Kong, Toronto, Chicago, New York, Nashville, Vermont and West Virginia home). After performing with many different groups in her teenage years (most notably Northern Harmony, with whom she toured all over the US and Europe), Emily formed the honky-tonk country band The Sweetback Sisters in 2006 with fellow singer Zara Bode. They have recorded three full-length records and have performed their renegade retro style of country music in barrooms and concert halls around the world. Emily has appeared several times on national radio programs, including A Prairie Home Companion and WV's own Mountain Stage. Emily also performs old-time music as a duo with her husband, Jesse Milnes. They recorded their first duo record together in January 2015 and have toured across the US and Australia. Emily is also musical director for the Davis & Elkins College Appalachian Ensemble's string band in Elkins, WV, which recruits talented instrumentalists and dancers from around the country for a high-level student performance ensemble. She and Jesse make their home in Valley Bend, WV.
Emily will lead workshops on Songs of Heartbreak, Appalachian Women Songwriters, and Songs of Maggie Hammons Parker of Pocahontas County, West Virginia.
The first song Emily remembers learning was the Louvin Brothers' hit "When I Stop Dreaming," around age 8, which she sang as a duet with her older brother, Ethan. That should tell you something about her musical upbringing. Old-time country music reigned supreme in the Miller house, no matter where that house was situated (she has called Kansas, Hong Kong, Toronto, Chicago, New York, Nashville, Vermont and West Virginia home). After performing with many different groups in her teenage years (most notably Northern Harmony, with whom she toured all over the US and Europe), Emily formed the honky-tonk country band The Sweetback Sisters in 2006 with fellow singer Zara Bode. They have recorded three full-length records and have performed their renegade retro style of country music in barrooms and concert halls around the world. Emily has appeared several times on national radio programs, including A Prairie Home Companion and WV's own Mountain Stage. Emily also performs old-time music as a duo with her husband, Jesse Milnes. They recorded their first duo record together in January 2015 and have toured across the US and Australia. Emily is also musical director for the Davis & Elkins College Appalachian Ensemble's string band in Elkins, WV, which recruits talented instrumentalists and dancers from around the country for a high-level student performance ensemble. She and Jesse make their home in Valley Bend, WV.
Emily will lead workshops on Songs of Heartbreak, Appalachian Women Songwriters, and Songs of Maggie Hammons Parker of Pocahontas County, West Virginia.
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Tim Eriksen
Tim Eriksen is acclaimed for transforming American tradition with his startling interpretations of old ballads, love songs, shape-note gospel and dance tunes from New England and Southern Appalachia. He combines hair-raising vocals with inventive accompaniment on banjo, fiddle, guitar and bajo sexto - a twelve string Mexican acoustic bass - creating a distinctive hardcore Americana sound that ranges from the bare bones of solo unaccompanied singing on his album Soul of the January Hills (Appleseed 2010) through the stripped-down voice and bajo sexto Christmas album Star in the East (timeriksenmusic 2012) to the lush, multi-layered arrangements on Josh Billings Voyage, the new album of northern roots American music from the imaginary village of Pumpkintown (timeriksenmusic 2012).
The former frontman of the prophetic groups Cordelia's Dad (folk-noise), Northampton Harmony (shape-note quartet) and Zabe i Babe (Bosnian folk and pop), Tim Eriksen is the only musician to have shared the stage with both Kurt Cobain and Doc Watson, and his media appearances have ranged from Prairie Home Companion to the Academy Awards.
While Eriksen's curiosity and passion have led him on many musical journeys besides American roots - from punk rock and shape-note gospel through South Indian classical music and Bosnian pop to world jazz and contemporary symphonic music - all his explorations are linked by the qualities of intensity, directness, and authority which combine in a music that captures a truth about human experience and expresses it without apology.
Tim will lead workshops on unaccompanied singing styles, ballads of New England, and shape note music in the abolitionist movement, including black, white, and Native traditions.
Tim Eriksen is acclaimed for transforming American tradition with his startling interpretations of old ballads, love songs, shape-note gospel and dance tunes from New England and Southern Appalachia. He combines hair-raising vocals with inventive accompaniment on banjo, fiddle, guitar and bajo sexto - a twelve string Mexican acoustic bass - creating a distinctive hardcore Americana sound that ranges from the bare bones of solo unaccompanied singing on his album Soul of the January Hills (Appleseed 2010) through the stripped-down voice and bajo sexto Christmas album Star in the East (timeriksenmusic 2012) to the lush, multi-layered arrangements on Josh Billings Voyage, the new album of northern roots American music from the imaginary village of Pumpkintown (timeriksenmusic 2012).
The former frontman of the prophetic groups Cordelia's Dad (folk-noise), Northampton Harmony (shape-note quartet) and Zabe i Babe (Bosnian folk and pop), Tim Eriksen is the only musician to have shared the stage with both Kurt Cobain and Doc Watson, and his media appearances have ranged from Prairie Home Companion to the Academy Awards.
While Eriksen's curiosity and passion have led him on many musical journeys besides American roots - from punk rock and shape-note gospel through South Indian classical music and Bosnian pop to world jazz and contemporary symphonic music - all his explorations are linked by the qualities of intensity, directness, and authority which combine in a music that captures a truth about human experience and expresses it without apology.
Tim will lead workshops on unaccompanied singing styles, ballads of New England, and shape note music in the abolitionist movement, including black, white, and Native traditions.
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Alex Cumming
Alex Cumming is a traditional singer, accordionist, Pianist and dance caller hailing from Somerset, England, now living in Greater Boston, MA, USA. He performs songs and tunes from around the United Kingdom and America with a great depth of knowledge of the tradition. Alex has made his mark on the folk scene with his rhythmic dance-able accordion style, strong voice and his fun and engaging stage presence.
Along with solo performances and calling work, Alex is a member of award winning a Capella quartet The Teacups (UK), Fiddle and Accordion duo Alex Cumming & Nicola Beazley, Folk Song duo with Eric McDonald (USA) and a new project with The Vox Hunters (USA). As well as performing live, Alex has appeared on UK TV including Prime Time BBC Two Documentary Edwardian Farm and played serveral live sessions for BBC Radio. In 2014, Alex obtained a BMus Hons. in Folk & Traditional Music from Newcastle University, the only degree program of its type in England.
Alex is also an experienced teacher and workshop leader. He has run group workshops for many schools and some of the top folk festivals and organizations including CDSS (Country Dance and Song Society of America), Sidmouth Folk Week, Towersey Festival, EFDSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society), Folk Arts Center of New England, BACDS (Bay Area Country Dance Society) and Folk South West.
Alex will lead workshops on finding and navigating song sources (including various online archives), and workshops on the song collectors Cecil Sharp and Olive Dame Campbell.
Alex Cumming is a traditional singer, accordionist, Pianist and dance caller hailing from Somerset, England, now living in Greater Boston, MA, USA. He performs songs and tunes from around the United Kingdom and America with a great depth of knowledge of the tradition. Alex has made his mark on the folk scene with his rhythmic dance-able accordion style, strong voice and his fun and engaging stage presence.
Along with solo performances and calling work, Alex is a member of award winning a Capella quartet The Teacups (UK), Fiddle and Accordion duo Alex Cumming & Nicola Beazley, Folk Song duo with Eric McDonald (USA) and a new project with The Vox Hunters (USA). As well as performing live, Alex has appeared on UK TV including Prime Time BBC Two Documentary Edwardian Farm and played serveral live sessions for BBC Radio. In 2014, Alex obtained a BMus Hons. in Folk & Traditional Music from Newcastle University, the only degree program of its type in England.
Alex is also an experienced teacher and workshop leader. He has run group workshops for many schools and some of the top folk festivals and organizations including CDSS (Country Dance and Song Society of America), Sidmouth Folk Week, Towersey Festival, EFDSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society), Folk Arts Center of New England, BACDS (Bay Area Country Dance Society) and Folk South West.
Alex will lead workshops on finding and navigating song sources (including various online archives), and workshops on the song collectors Cecil Sharp and Olive Dame Campbell.
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2018 Staff
Susan Pepper
Susan fell in love with Appalachian ballads after hearing the singing of Jean Ritchie, Sheila Kay Adams as well as Hazel Dickens in concert with Ginny Hawker and Carol Elizabeth Jones. The old sounds and stories resonate deeply with her, and she has centered the past fifteen years in large part around learning and living with the ballads. Her solo performances present a dynamic spectrum of traditional folk music including unaccompanied ballads as well as songs with clawhammer and fretless mountain banjo, dulcimer and guitar.
In 2004, she left her native Cincinnati for western North Carolina setting out to learn more about this region that has sustained a beautiful unaccompanied singing tradition. While pursuing a Master’s Degree in Appalachian Studies, she sought out ballad singers of an older generation who were lesser known. Susan learned directly from several amazing singers including Hazel Rhymer, Pearl Hicks, Zora Walker and Rosa Hicks who were all raised in the 1930s. With grant support from the North Carolina Arts Council, she produced On the Threshold of a Dream, a CD of her field recordings of traditional ballad singers with a booklet that explores music in the context of these singers’ lives. Her solo album Hollerin’ Girl (2015) includes ballads, hymns, and folk songs from the Blue Ridge Mountains as well as originals. Susan was the director of the Alleghany Junior Appalachian Musicians program in Sparta, NC, and currently teaches at educational and community venues. Current projects include composing folk and neo-traditional songs and co-producing The Mountain Minor (forthcoming), an Appalachian music film.
Susan is dedicated to sharing and passing on song and music traditions that draw the listener into a scene where music making was once a part of daily life. She lives with her family in western North Carolina. Her favorite place to sing is in the open air, preferably in the woods.
Below Susan sings "There Was an Old Man from the North Country," a variation in the "Two Sisters" family of songs.
Susan fell in love with Appalachian ballads after hearing the singing of Jean Ritchie, Sheila Kay Adams as well as Hazel Dickens in concert with Ginny Hawker and Carol Elizabeth Jones. The old sounds and stories resonate deeply with her, and she has centered the past fifteen years in large part around learning and living with the ballads. Her solo performances present a dynamic spectrum of traditional folk music including unaccompanied ballads as well as songs with clawhammer and fretless mountain banjo, dulcimer and guitar.
In 2004, she left her native Cincinnati for western North Carolina setting out to learn more about this region that has sustained a beautiful unaccompanied singing tradition. While pursuing a Master’s Degree in Appalachian Studies, she sought out ballad singers of an older generation who were lesser known. Susan learned directly from several amazing singers including Hazel Rhymer, Pearl Hicks, Zora Walker and Rosa Hicks who were all raised in the 1930s. With grant support from the North Carolina Arts Council, she produced On the Threshold of a Dream, a CD of her field recordings of traditional ballad singers with a booklet that explores music in the context of these singers’ lives. Her solo album Hollerin’ Girl (2015) includes ballads, hymns, and folk songs from the Blue Ridge Mountains as well as originals. Susan was the director of the Alleghany Junior Appalachian Musicians program in Sparta, NC, and currently teaches at educational and community venues. Current projects include composing folk and neo-traditional songs and co-producing The Mountain Minor (forthcoming), an Appalachian music film.
Susan is dedicated to sharing and passing on song and music traditions that draw the listener into a scene where music making was once a part of daily life. She lives with her family in western North Carolina. Her favorite place to sing is in the open air, preferably in the woods.
Below Susan sings "There Was an Old Man from the North Country," a variation in the "Two Sisters" family of songs.
Brian Miller
Brian Miller started playing Irish music as a 17-year-old in his decidedly non-Irish hometown of Bemidji, Minnesota. His first experiences with the music came through singing and playing guitar with The Gaels, a band he started with two friends who, like him, had no experience with Irish music. From that rather obscure beginning he has risen to be one of the busiest Irish traditional music performers of his generation living in the US. He acquired a deep understanding of the Irish tradition through many mentors in the Twin Cities including County Derry guitarist and singer Daithi Sproule and Co. Offaly accordion player Paddy O'Brien. He has also spent a lot of time in Cork, Ireland where he studied Irish music in college.
Brian has performed across North America and in Ireland with various groups including Irish Music Awards’ 2009 “Top Traditional Group” Bua, The Máirtín de Cógáin Project and the Two Tap Trio. He has been featured on MPR's All Things Considered, CBC Radio's Canada Live, and Ireland's RTE television, RTE radio and TG4 television. He has been a guest lecturer on the Irish song tradition at University College Cork and he teaches flute, whistle and guitar at the Saint Paul based Center for Irish Music. Brian has earned considerable recognition for his work with the Irish-influenced music of Midwestern lumberjacks including the Folk and Traditional Arts Grant and two Artist Initiative grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board. He was also a 2014 recipient of the Parsons Fund Award from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Listen to Brian's rendition of a "Lovely Minnesoty", adapted from several versions of "The Beauty of the West" with text and melodies collected between 1857 and 1950.
Brian Miller started playing Irish music as a 17-year-old in his decidedly non-Irish hometown of Bemidji, Minnesota. His first experiences with the music came through singing and playing guitar with The Gaels, a band he started with two friends who, like him, had no experience with Irish music. From that rather obscure beginning he has risen to be one of the busiest Irish traditional music performers of his generation living in the US. He acquired a deep understanding of the Irish tradition through many mentors in the Twin Cities including County Derry guitarist and singer Daithi Sproule and Co. Offaly accordion player Paddy O'Brien. He has also spent a lot of time in Cork, Ireland where he studied Irish music in college.
Brian has performed across North America and in Ireland with various groups including Irish Music Awards’ 2009 “Top Traditional Group” Bua, The Máirtín de Cógáin Project and the Two Tap Trio. He has been featured on MPR's All Things Considered, CBC Radio's Canada Live, and Ireland's RTE television, RTE radio and TG4 television. He has been a guest lecturer on the Irish song tradition at University College Cork and he teaches flute, whistle and guitar at the Saint Paul based Center for Irish Music. Brian has earned considerable recognition for his work with the Irish-influenced music of Midwestern lumberjacks including the Folk and Traditional Arts Grant and two Artist Initiative grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board. He was also a 2014 recipient of the Parsons Fund Award from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Listen to Brian's rendition of a "Lovely Minnesoty", adapted from several versions of "The Beauty of the West" with text and melodies collected between 1857 and 1950.
Martha Burns
Martha Burns sings old-time American folk songs the old-time way. Heart songs, cowboy songs, tragic ballads and comic ditties – songs from the mountains and songs from the range. Songs from the earliest period of recorded country music and songs never sung in a studio. Her haunting voice is perfectly suited to her old-time repertoire. An accomplished guitarist, Martha’s accompaniments bring out the pith in a song. She has been singing and playing American folk music since Hoover was in the White House — well, almost — and has performed throughout North America and abroad.
Martha grew up in Greenwich Village during the height of the Folk Revival, and gained much of her education in folk music on Sunday afternoons in Washington Square Park. She began performing in the early 1970s. In the mid- to late-eighties she paired up with fiddler Allan Block, and then left music for a two-decades long foray into academia. She has written and published on music-related topics ranging from early American hymnody to female piano teachers before the Civil War. Her return to music and performing was consummated in 2014 with the release of Old-Time Songs.
Martha sharing a Carter family classic at this summer's Indian Neck Folk Festival.
Martha Burns sings old-time American folk songs the old-time way. Heart songs, cowboy songs, tragic ballads and comic ditties – songs from the mountains and songs from the range. Songs from the earliest period of recorded country music and songs never sung in a studio. Her haunting voice is perfectly suited to her old-time repertoire. An accomplished guitarist, Martha’s accompaniments bring out the pith in a song. She has been singing and playing American folk music since Hoover was in the White House — well, almost — and has performed throughout North America and abroad.
Martha grew up in Greenwich Village during the height of the Folk Revival, and gained much of her education in folk music on Sunday afternoons in Washington Square Park. She began performing in the early 1970s. In the mid- to late-eighties she paired up with fiddler Allan Block, and then left music for a two-decades long foray into academia. She has written and published on music-related topics ranging from early American hymnody to female piano teachers before the Civil War. Her return to music and performing was consummated in 2014 with the release of Old-Time Songs.
Martha sharing a Carter family classic at this summer's Indian Neck Folk Festival.
2017 Staff
Thomas McCarthy
Thomas McCarthy is an Irish traveller who comes from a long line of singers and musicians. His style of singing is an ancient one, passed down through his family over centuries, highly decorated and with an old style of warble or vibrato that has almost been lost to posterity. From his family he learned many fine and otherwise unknown versions of traditional songs. He comes from Birr in County Offaly, Ireland.
He has an unforgettable voice and his performance has been described as “outstanding”, “a rare delight” and “profoundly moving." From a treasured aunt, he learnt many folk tales from Ireland, again with unusual variations, and also his warm, fireside style of telling them which has become popular with the children and teachers in the many different schools where he has worked.
Thomas has held audiences spellbound at many folk festivals across Ireland, England and beyond. His first album “Round Top Wagon” was produced by influential Irish singer/songwriter Ron Kavana. His most recent CD “Herself and Myself” was described in reviews as “a precious multi-faceted jewel”, and is dedicated to his mother, Mary McCarthy, a fine singer who died nearly five years ago.
Thomas McCarthy
Thomas McCarthy is an Irish traveller who comes from a long line of singers and musicians. His style of singing is an ancient one, passed down through his family over centuries, highly decorated and with an old style of warble or vibrato that has almost been lost to posterity. From his family he learned many fine and otherwise unknown versions of traditional songs. He comes from Birr in County Offaly, Ireland.
He has an unforgettable voice and his performance has been described as “outstanding”, “a rare delight” and “profoundly moving." From a treasured aunt, he learnt many folk tales from Ireland, again with unusual variations, and also his warm, fireside style of telling them which has become popular with the children and teachers in the many different schools where he has worked.
Thomas has held audiences spellbound at many folk festivals across Ireland, England and beyond. His first album “Round Top Wagon” was produced by influential Irish singer/songwriter Ron Kavana. His most recent CD “Herself and Myself” was described in reviews as “a precious multi-faceted jewel”, and is dedicated to his mother, Mary McCarthy, a fine singer who died nearly five years ago.
Sara Grey
Sara Grey's lovely voice is often accompanied by her old-time style five string banjo frailing. Sara grew up in New Hampshire where she learned many stories from her dad. She lived in Scotland and England for 46 years and for the last several years has traced the migration of songs from the British Isles to North America.
Sara Grey's lovely voice is often accompanied by her old-time style five string banjo frailing. Sara grew up in New Hampshire where she learned many stories from her dad. She lived in Scotland and England for 46 years and for the last several years has traced the migration of songs from the British Isles to North America.
Rev. Robert B. Jones, Sr.
The Reverend Robert B. Jones, Sr. from Detroit, MI is grounded, not only in the blues, but in ethics, social justice, community and family. When you couple authenticity with wide-ranging talent--songwriting, storytelling, multi-instrumentalist, award winning educator, and an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of African American folk music, its players and styles, including blues, spiritual, and slave songs--you get the Reverend Robert B. Jones.
Robert says, “As much as I love this music for the way that it sounds, I love, even more, what this music can do. At its best, Roots music tells the truth, and it gives a voice to those who struggle to be heard otherwise. I am an activist and I try to use my stories and music, not just for entertainment, but in service to my calling and my community and to connect the generations that I am blessed to live between.”
The Reverend Robert B. Jones, Sr. from Detroit, MI is grounded, not only in the blues, but in ethics, social justice, community and family. When you couple authenticity with wide-ranging talent--songwriting, storytelling, multi-instrumentalist, award winning educator, and an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of African American folk music, its players and styles, including blues, spiritual, and slave songs--you get the Reverend Robert B. Jones.
Robert says, “As much as I love this music for the way that it sounds, I love, even more, what this music can do. At its best, Roots music tells the truth, and it gives a voice to those who struggle to be heard otherwise. I am an activist and I try to use my stories and music, not just for entertainment, but in service to my calling and my community and to connect the generations that I am blessed to live between.”
Lisa Null
Lisa Null has been a mainstay and an inspiration for folk music fans in the DC area and on the national folk music scene for more than 40 years. She performs traditional folksongs from North America, Ireland, and Great Britain. She is a strong singer whose indomitable spirit shines through every song she performs. Lisa brings a deep, scholarly interest to bear on her material and has a background in folklore and history, both of which she taught at Georgetown University for several years.
In addition to being a performer and teacher, she also is a “song-catcher” who traveled to Ireland to help record Seamus Ennis, the great folklore collector and master of the Irish bagpipes. Ennis urged her to explore the wonderful but neglected trove of American-Irish traditional song, which has formed an important part of her repertoire ever since. She also sings her own songs, a variety of historical and good-time “chorus” songs, and many old-timey country numbers.
Some samples of her singing can be found at http://www.newcenturyirisharts.com/biographies/lisanull/
Lisa Null has been a mainstay and an inspiration for folk music fans in the DC area and on the national folk music scene for more than 40 years. She performs traditional folksongs from North America, Ireland, and Great Britain. She is a strong singer whose indomitable spirit shines through every song she performs. Lisa brings a deep, scholarly interest to bear on her material and has a background in folklore and history, both of which she taught at Georgetown University for several years.
In addition to being a performer and teacher, she also is a “song-catcher” who traveled to Ireland to help record Seamus Ennis, the great folklore collector and master of the Irish bagpipes. Ennis urged her to explore the wonderful but neglected trove of American-Irish traditional song, which has formed an important part of her repertoire ever since. She also sings her own songs, a variety of historical and good-time “chorus” songs, and many old-timey country numbers.
Some samples of her singing can be found at http://www.newcenturyirisharts.com/biographies/lisanull/
2016 Staff
Saro Lynch-Thomason
Saro Lynch-Thomason is an award-winning ballad singer and activist from Asheville, NC. As a child she became attracted to British folk revival music, learning ballads from recordings of singers like Sandy Denny and pop-balladeers like Sinead O’Connor. While at college in New York, away from her native Southern climes, she was introduced to Appalachian song traditions. She moved to Western North Carolina in 2009 to learn from (and eventually perform with) traditional singers like Sheila Kay Adams and Bobby McMillon.
In 2012 Saro completed Blair Pathways: A Musical Exploration of America’s Largest Labor Uprising--a researched compilation of over 20 historic songs from West Virginia’s labor wars. A strong traditional song leader, Saro has led the Asheville Community Sing since 2010 and she regularly teaches regional ballad workshops, Wassailing choruses, and May Day choruses on social justice themes. In 2013 Saro completed her solo CD Vessel--a 100% a cappella compilation of ballads and songs from Appalachia and the British Isles. Saro believes that solo and group song can provide powerful forms of inner therapy and outward social empowerment. She enjoys teaching song as a way to educate about historic rights struggles in Appalachia and beyond.
Learn more about Saro Lynch-Thomason at http://www.osings.com and http://www.blairpathways.com/
Listen below to a recording of Saro singing “Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah” from her 2013 CD Vessel.
Saro Lynch-Thomason is an award-winning ballad singer and activist from Asheville, NC. As a child she became attracted to British folk revival music, learning ballads from recordings of singers like Sandy Denny and pop-balladeers like Sinead O’Connor. While at college in New York, away from her native Southern climes, she was introduced to Appalachian song traditions. She moved to Western North Carolina in 2009 to learn from (and eventually perform with) traditional singers like Sheila Kay Adams and Bobby McMillon.
In 2012 Saro completed Blair Pathways: A Musical Exploration of America’s Largest Labor Uprising--a researched compilation of over 20 historic songs from West Virginia’s labor wars. A strong traditional song leader, Saro has led the Asheville Community Sing since 2010 and she regularly teaches regional ballad workshops, Wassailing choruses, and May Day choruses on social justice themes. In 2013 Saro completed her solo CD Vessel--a 100% a cappella compilation of ballads and songs from Appalachia and the British Isles. Saro believes that solo and group song can provide powerful forms of inner therapy and outward social empowerment. She enjoys teaching song as a way to educate about historic rights struggles in Appalachia and beyond.
Learn more about Saro Lynch-Thomason at http://www.osings.com and http://www.blairpathways.com/
Listen below to a recording of Saro singing “Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah” from her 2013 CD Vessel.
Jeff Warner
Jeff Warner performs songs from the lumber camps, fishing villages and mountaintops of America that connect 21st-century audiences with the everyday lives—and artistry—of 19th-century Americans. His songs, rich in local history and a sense of place, bring us the latest news from the distant past.
Jeff grew up listening to the songs and stories of his father Frank Warner and the traditional singers his parents met during their folksong collecting trips through rural America. He accompanied his parents on their later field trips and is the editor of his mother’s book, Traditional American Folk Songs: From the Anne and Frank Warner Collection. He is producer of the two-CD set, Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still, the Warners’ recordings of rural singers, many of them born in Victorian times.
Jeff has performed widely, from large festivals in the UK, to clubs, festivals and schools across America. He plays concertina, banjo, guitar and several “pocket” instruments, including bones and spoons. A native of New York City, Jeff has lived in Portsmouth, NH, since the late 1990s. He has toured nationally for the Smithsonian Institution, taught at Pinewoods, Ashokan, Augusta and Swannanoa summer music programs and recorded for Flying Fish/Rounder, WildGoose (UK) and other labels.
Learn more about Jeff Warner at http://www.jeffwarner.com/
Listen below to a recording of Jeff singing “The Southern Girl's Reply” from his 2005 CD Jolly Tinker.
Jeff grew up listening to the songs and stories of his father Frank Warner and the traditional singers his parents met during their folksong collecting trips through rural America. He accompanied his parents on their later field trips and is the editor of his mother’s book, Traditional American Folk Songs: From the Anne and Frank Warner Collection. He is producer of the two-CD set, Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still, the Warners’ recordings of rural singers, many of them born in Victorian times.
Jeff has performed widely, from large festivals in the UK, to clubs, festivals and schools across America. He plays concertina, banjo, guitar and several “pocket” instruments, including bones and spoons. A native of New York City, Jeff has lived in Portsmouth, NH, since the late 1990s. He has toured nationally for the Smithsonian Institution, taught at Pinewoods, Ashokan, Augusta and Swannanoa summer music programs and recorded for Flying Fish/Rounder, WildGoose (UK) and other labels.
Learn more about Jeff Warner at http://www.jeffwarner.com/
Listen below to a recording of Jeff singing “The Southern Girl's Reply” from his 2005 CD Jolly Tinker.
Bennett Konesni
Bennett Konesni is a worksonger, farmer, musician, designer, planner, administrator, dreamer. He's 31 years old and based out of Midcoast Maine, where he grew up, and also at Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island, NY, where parts of my family have lived since 1652. He's been singing while working since he was a teenager working on schooners in Penobscot Bay in Maine—his crew aboard the J&E Riggin won the schooner bum talent show with a hip-hop version of the sea shanty classic "Blow the Man Down."
Bennett's curiosity about worksongs became more serious when he began working at Quail Hill Farm in 2001; he sang sea shanties while weeding beans. At Middlebury College, he wrote a thesis based on research into Zulu worksong traditions done while studying abroad in South Africa and involving a workshop at the Middlebury College Farm in 2004—one of the first worksong-specific workshops on an American farm. After graduating, Bennett studied musical labor on three continents thanks to a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship: musical fishing in Ghana and Holland, singing and dancing farmers in Tanzania, and livestock songs in Mongolia and Switzerland. He wanted to learn how worksongs fit into life in a variety of contexts, how song leadership and group dynamics worked.
Since 2007, Bennett has been using worksongs at Sylvester Manor Educational Farm, collaborating with his crew to learn new songs and figure out how music could fit into a serious working farm. He teaches workshops at farms and farm conferences across the Northeast, and has even been invited with his wife Edith Gawler to TEDxFruitvale to share a song.
Learn more about Bennett Konesni at http://www.bennettkonesni.com and http://www.worksongs.org/
Listen below to a recording of Bennett singing “One More Day.”
Bennett's curiosity about worksongs became more serious when he began working at Quail Hill Farm in 2001; he sang sea shanties while weeding beans. At Middlebury College, he wrote a thesis based on research into Zulu worksong traditions done while studying abroad in South Africa and involving a workshop at the Middlebury College Farm in 2004—one of the first worksong-specific workshops on an American farm. After graduating, Bennett studied musical labor on three continents thanks to a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship: musical fishing in Ghana and Holland, singing and dancing farmers in Tanzania, and livestock songs in Mongolia and Switzerland. He wanted to learn how worksongs fit into life in a variety of contexts, how song leadership and group dynamics worked.
Since 2007, Bennett has been using worksongs at Sylvester Manor Educational Farm, collaborating with his crew to learn new songs and figure out how music could fit into a serious working farm. He teaches workshops at farms and farm conferences across the Northeast, and has even been invited with his wife Edith Gawler to TEDxFruitvale to share a song.
Learn more about Bennett Konesni at http://www.bennettkonesni.com and http://www.worksongs.org/
Listen below to a recording of Bennett singing “One More Day.”
2015 Staff
Dr. Kathy Bullock
Dr. Kathy Bullock is a professor of music and former chair of the music department at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky where she has worked for the past twenty one years. There she teaches music and general studies courses, directs the Black Music Ensemble, and has designed and completed new programs of study abroad for Berea College students, traveling to Zimbabwe, Ghana and the Caribbean. As a scholar, performer and church music director, Dr. Bullock has provided numerous presentations, performances, lectures and workshops throughout the United States, Europe and Africa in the areas of spirituals, gospel music, and music of the African diaspora. Additionally she is co-editor of a new anthology of art songs by contemporary African-American composers. Dr. Bullock has earned the Ph.D. and M.A. in Music Theory from Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and a B.A. in Music from Brandeis University, MA. Most importantly, Dr. Bullock brings to her programs a rich cultural heritage and tradition. She also brings a love and passion for music of all kinds, a deep appreciation of music’s beauty, power and spiritual possibilities, and an infectious excitement in the performing and sharing of it with others. Read more about Dr. Bullock at www.drkwb.com
Dr. Kathy Bullock is a professor of music and former chair of the music department at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky where she has worked for the past twenty one years. There she teaches music and general studies courses, directs the Black Music Ensemble, and has designed and completed new programs of study abroad for Berea College students, traveling to Zimbabwe, Ghana and the Caribbean. As a scholar, performer and church music director, Dr. Bullock has provided numerous presentations, performances, lectures and workshops throughout the United States, Europe and Africa in the areas of spirituals, gospel music, and music of the African diaspora. Additionally she is co-editor of a new anthology of art songs by contemporary African-American composers. Dr. Bullock has earned the Ph.D. and M.A. in Music Theory from Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and a B.A. in Music from Brandeis University, MA. Most importantly, Dr. Bullock brings to her programs a rich cultural heritage and tradition. She also brings a love and passion for music of all kinds, a deep appreciation of music’s beauty, power and spiritual possibilities, and an infectious excitement in the performing and sharing of it with others. Read more about Dr. Bullock at www.drkwb.com
Craig Edwards
Craig Edwards was raised in a singing family in western North Carolina and Virginia. From childhood singing with family, in church choirs, and at civil rights marches, he went on to study ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University, where he now teaches traditional fiddle styles. He has sung in Old Time, Folk, Irish, Cajun, Rockabilly, Swing, and Bluegrass bands, mastering guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and button accordion along the way. For many years he worked as a staff musician at Mystic Seaport and toured internationally with the influential sea music group Forebitter, largely responsible for reviving awareness of the African-American influence in maritime music. From this eclectic musical background he brings insight into underlying connections among seemingly disparate traditional styles. Read more about Craig Edwards at fiddlecraig.wix.com/craigedwards.
Listen below to a recording of Craig, Geoff Kaufman, Rick Spencer, and David Littlefield singing “Blow Liza Blow” with the Mystic Seaport group Forebitter.
Craig Edwards was raised in a singing family in western North Carolina and Virginia. From childhood singing with family, in church choirs, and at civil rights marches, he went on to study ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University, where he now teaches traditional fiddle styles. He has sung in Old Time, Folk, Irish, Cajun, Rockabilly, Swing, and Bluegrass bands, mastering guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and button accordion along the way. For many years he worked as a staff musician at Mystic Seaport and toured internationally with the influential sea music group Forebitter, largely responsible for reviving awareness of the African-American influence in maritime music. From this eclectic musical background he brings insight into underlying connections among seemingly disparate traditional styles. Read more about Craig Edwards at fiddlecraig.wix.com/craigedwards.
Listen below to a recording of Craig, Geoff Kaufman, Rick Spencer, and David Littlefield singing “Blow Liza Blow” with the Mystic Seaport group Forebitter.
Elizabeth LaPrelle
Elizabeth LaPrelle has been performing Appalachian ballads and old-time songs since she was eleven. Her magnificent voice, her respect for the songs, and her authentic mountain sound and style brought her to the attention of first Ginny Hawker and then Sheila Kay Adams. Raised in Rural Retreat, Virginia, Elizabeth attended old time fiddlers’ conventions and sang harmonies with her family, who taught her traditional singing styles and encouraged her to sing their own favorite American folk music. She received her undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary with a major in Southern Appalachian Traditional performance, and now tours the US regularly both performing and teaching.
Read more about Elizabeth LaPrelle at dev.elizabethlaprelle.com
Elizabeth LaPrelle has been performing Appalachian ballads and old-time songs since she was eleven. Her magnificent voice, her respect for the songs, and her authentic mountain sound and style brought her to the attention of first Ginny Hawker and then Sheila Kay Adams. Raised in Rural Retreat, Virginia, Elizabeth attended old time fiddlers’ conventions and sang harmonies with her family, who taught her traditional singing styles and encouraged her to sing their own favorite American folk music. She received her undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary with a major in Southern Appalachian Traditional performance, and now tours the US regularly both performing and teaching.
Read more about Elizabeth LaPrelle at dev.elizabethlaprelle.com
2014 Staff
Suzannah Park
Suzannah Park comes from a family of three generations of ballad singers, storytellers, and dancers. Her joyous and intuitive teaching style, born of a lifetime of familiarity with American folk music, makes singers old and young alike feel at home in the songs that she shares and with each other. Whether she’s teaching ballads, Bulgarian village songs, or Appalachian clogging, laughter and good times abound. When not on tour, Suzannah lives in the North Carolina mountains of her birth.
Read more about Suzannah Park at www.suzannahpark.com
Listen below to an arrangement of a ballad she created and sings with a member of her trio, Gideon Crevoshay.
Suzannah Park comes from a family of three generations of ballad singers, storytellers, and dancers. Her joyous and intuitive teaching style, born of a lifetime of familiarity with American folk music, makes singers old and young alike feel at home in the songs that she shares and with each other. Whether she’s teaching ballads, Bulgarian village songs, or Appalachian clogging, laughter and good times abound. When not on tour, Suzannah lives in the North Carolina mountains of her birth.
Read more about Suzannah Park at www.suzannahpark.com
Listen below to an arrangement of a ballad she created and sings with a member of her trio, Gideon Crevoshay.
Riki Schneyer
Riki Schneyer has been making music and art since before she could stand up. Born in Buffalo, NY to a family of musicians, visual artists, and activists, her music and art reflect the cross-section of multicultural influences that have permeated her life. She is particularly interested in unaccompanied singing, especially from the African American, Appalachian, and British Isles traditions, and both her music and her visual art reflect her passion and intensity. She has toured as a musician and singer for most of her life, and has performed on stages all over the country, including with her mother, late folksinger Helen Schneyer. She has recorded with a motley crew of folks, and was the lead singer for a Washington Revels show based on traditional Quebecois music. Of late, she is finally finishing up her long overdue solo recording, and spends a lot of time dressed in a corset and feathers, performing with her dear friend Jennifer Cutting in a bawdy songs show, “Hey, Sailor.” Having retired from a 30-year career as a psychotherapist, Riki is particularly interested in the intersection of the arts and psychotherapy: She is firmly convinced that music-and-art-making are transformative, and enhance mental health and community building. She is happily married to a singing geologist, and has one extraordinary daughter, two extraordinary step-children (one daughter, one son), and an enthusiastic poodle named Arlo. She loves singing to her very depths.
Read more about Riki Schneyer at www.rikischneyer.com
Listen below to Riki singing "Children of Zion"
Riki Schneyer has been making music and art since before she could stand up. Born in Buffalo, NY to a family of musicians, visual artists, and activists, her music and art reflect the cross-section of multicultural influences that have permeated her life. She is particularly interested in unaccompanied singing, especially from the African American, Appalachian, and British Isles traditions, and both her music and her visual art reflect her passion and intensity. She has toured as a musician and singer for most of her life, and has performed on stages all over the country, including with her mother, late folksinger Helen Schneyer. She has recorded with a motley crew of folks, and was the lead singer for a Washington Revels show based on traditional Quebecois music. Of late, she is finally finishing up her long overdue solo recording, and spends a lot of time dressed in a corset and feathers, performing with her dear friend Jennifer Cutting in a bawdy songs show, “Hey, Sailor.” Having retired from a 30-year career as a psychotherapist, Riki is particularly interested in the intersection of the arts and psychotherapy: She is firmly convinced that music-and-art-making are transformative, and enhance mental health and community building. She is happily married to a singing geologist, and has one extraordinary daughter, two extraordinary step-children (one daughter, one son), and an enthusiastic poodle named Arlo. She loves singing to her very depths.
Read more about Riki Schneyer at www.rikischneyer.com
Listen below to Riki singing "Children of Zion"
Bob Walser
Musician, scholar and educator Bob Walser’s musical career spans decades and continents. In the early 1980s he made his living as a shantyman (!) at Mystic Seaport, one of the largest maritime museums in the USA. Since then he has presented Folklore In Action folk music and dance programs as an artist-in-residence in schools across the USA, and performed as a singer, dance leader and dance musician from Maine to California and overseas. As a scholar, Bob earned his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies. His folk music and education research has been published in the Folk Song Journal (UK) and publications by World Music Press. In addition, he has three CDs for The Old and New Tradition label to his credit as well as guest appearances on another dozen recordings in the US, France and England. In other words… Too many people in the space, all singing their hearts out. Improvised harmonies (some elegant, others rough), swept away on a sea of song. I love singing with people! My perpetual quest is for the song of the moment that draws the group together and nearly overwhelms the senses. You get the idea – let’s do it!
Read more about Bob Walser at www.bobwalser.com
Listen below to a recording of Bob singing "Nothin' But a Humbug" from his album When our Ship Comes Home.
Musician, scholar and educator Bob Walser’s musical career spans decades and continents. In the early 1980s he made his living as a shantyman (!) at Mystic Seaport, one of the largest maritime museums in the USA. Since then he has presented Folklore In Action folk music and dance programs as an artist-in-residence in schools across the USA, and performed as a singer, dance leader and dance musician from Maine to California and overseas. As a scholar, Bob earned his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies. His folk music and education research has been published in the Folk Song Journal (UK) and publications by World Music Press. In addition, he has three CDs for The Old and New Tradition label to his credit as well as guest appearances on another dozen recordings in the US, France and England. In other words… Too many people in the space, all singing their hearts out. Improvised harmonies (some elegant, others rough), swept away on a sea of song. I love singing with people! My perpetual quest is for the song of the moment that draws the group together and nearly overwhelms the senses. You get the idea – let’s do it!
Read more about Bob Walser at www.bobwalser.com
Listen below to a recording of Bob singing "Nothin' But a Humbug" from his album When our Ship Comes Home.
2013 Staff
Ian Robb
Ian Robb’s passion for old songs developed in the English folk clubs of the 1960s, where he developed the useful ability to project his voice across the noisy back room of a pub. He emigrated to Canada in 1970 and since then has become a leading singer and “writer of old songs” on this side of the pond, helping to spawn many influential groups, including the internationally acclaimed harmony trio, Finest Kind.
Read more about Ian Robb at www.ianrobb.com
Ken Schatz
A powerful singer and arranger of traditional/roots music – sea songs and chanteys, gospel, blues, ballads, and worksongs, Ken Schatz performs regularly at folk music clubs, festivals, and concert venues.
Ken’s singing credits include concert performances and teaching workshops for Mystic Sea Music Festival, Old Songs Festival of Traditional Music and Dance, Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival, Washington Folk Festival, Workum Chantey Festival (Netherlands), Scarborough Seafest (UK), Folk Music Society of New York, Folklore Society of Greater Washington, South Street Seaport Museum, San Francisco Maritime Museum, Columbia University, Caffè Lena, Minstrel Coffeehouse, Jalopy, Parkside Lounge, Fast Folk Café, various folk clubs in the United Kingdom, and Gorilla Repertory Theater’s Talking Jazz.
Ken has designed vocal scores for several theater projects, including B.H. Barry’s production of Treasure Island, and performed with many world-renowned musicians, including Heather Wood, Tom Paxton and Anne Hills, John Roberts and Tony Barrand, Jeff Warner, Louis Killen, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, Chris Barron of The Spin Doctors, Karan Casey and Solas, Gordon Bok, Sandy and Caroline Paton, The Burns Sisters, Jean Ritchie, Elizabeth LaPrelle, Barry Finn, The Barrouallie Whalers, The Buckingham Bar Lining Gang, Martin Carthy, Utah Phillips, and Liam Clancy. Ken is a renowned acting teacher and coach, actor, and director, and the host of Exceedingly Good Song Night in New York City.
Ken is recording his first solo CD. www.kenschatz.com
A powerful singer and arranger of traditional/roots music – sea songs and chanteys, gospel, blues, ballads, and worksongs, Ken Schatz performs regularly at folk music clubs, festivals, and concert venues.
Ken’s singing credits include concert performances and teaching workshops for Mystic Sea Music Festival, Old Songs Festival of Traditional Music and Dance, Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival, Washington Folk Festival, Workum Chantey Festival (Netherlands), Scarborough Seafest (UK), Folk Music Society of New York, Folklore Society of Greater Washington, South Street Seaport Museum, San Francisco Maritime Museum, Columbia University, Caffè Lena, Minstrel Coffeehouse, Jalopy, Parkside Lounge, Fast Folk Café, various folk clubs in the United Kingdom, and Gorilla Repertory Theater’s Talking Jazz.
Ken has designed vocal scores for several theater projects, including B.H. Barry’s production of Treasure Island, and performed with many world-renowned musicians, including Heather Wood, Tom Paxton and Anne Hills, John Roberts and Tony Barrand, Jeff Warner, Louis Killen, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, Chris Barron of The Spin Doctors, Karan Casey and Solas, Gordon Bok, Sandy and Caroline Paton, The Burns Sisters, Jean Ritchie, Elizabeth LaPrelle, Barry Finn, The Barrouallie Whalers, The Buckingham Bar Lining Gang, Martin Carthy, Utah Phillips, and Liam Clancy. Ken is a renowned acting teacher and coach, actor, and director, and the host of Exceedingly Good Song Night in New York City.
Ken is recording his first solo CD. www.kenschatz.com
Lissa Schneckenburger
“Her talent lies in crafting pendulating melodies . . . innovative freewheeling arrangements…” – Dirty Linen
Fiddler and folk singer Lissa Schneckenburger grew up in Maine as an active member of the folk community, where she learned to play at the feet of some of the most venerable musicians in New England. She has continued to explore music throughout her life, leading to her graduation from The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts (2001). Lissa has played all over the world, including appearances in Russia, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, and the United States.
Recently she has been studying the roots of the Downeast traditional music she first heard as a young girl. Her latest project is a pair of CDs dedicated to reintroducing some wonderful but largely forgotten songs and tunes from New England that she uncovered through archival research at the University of Maine and elsewhere. One of these independently released recordings, “Song,” contains ten timeless ballads that go back as far as the eighteenth century that she set to carefully crafted modern arrangements. While embracing a diverse pallet of musical influences, she still stays true to her New England roots.
Learn more about Lissa Schneckenburger at www.lissafiddle.com
“Her talent lies in crafting pendulating melodies . . . innovative freewheeling arrangements…” – Dirty Linen
Fiddler and folk singer Lissa Schneckenburger grew up in Maine as an active member of the folk community, where she learned to play at the feet of some of the most venerable musicians in New England. She has continued to explore music throughout her life, leading to her graduation from The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts (2001). Lissa has played all over the world, including appearances in Russia, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, and the United States.
Recently she has been studying the roots of the Downeast traditional music she first heard as a young girl. Her latest project is a pair of CDs dedicated to reintroducing some wonderful but largely forgotten songs and tunes from New England that she uncovered through archival research at the University of Maine and elsewhere. One of these independently released recordings, “Song,” contains ten timeless ballads that go back as far as the eighteenth century that she set to carefully crafted modern arrangements. While embracing a diverse pallet of musical influences, she still stays true to her New England roots.
Learn more about Lissa Schneckenburger at www.lissafiddle.com