Donna Ray Norton Melanie Rice Penland A seventh-generation ballad singer, storyteller, and claw-hammer banjo player, Sheila Kay Adams was born and raised in the Sodom Laurel community of Madison County, North Carolina, where she learned to sing from her great aunt and other notable singers. Her devotion to preserving and perpetuating her heritage is both […]
MC: John Roberts with Claudia Schmidt & Sally Rogers • Jamcrackers • Bing Futch • Magpie • Reggie Harris • Sheila Kay Adams with Melanie Rice Penland & Donna Ray Norton • Windborne • Scott Ainslie • and Dennis Stroughmatt et Dennis Stroughmatt et L’Esprit Creole Sally Rogers and Claudia Schmidt have been weaving their […]
Forty-eight years ago, Alhaji Bai Konte brought the music of the kora (Mandinka harp) from Gambia to the U.S. This year, his grandsons (the word is used a little more loosely than usual) Great Gambian Griots, continue to carry on that tradition. Jali Bakary Konteh is an imaginative improviser who can support the tradition or […]
John Roberts has been singing English folk songs since the early 1960s, when he joined a local folk club in his native Worcestershire. In America since 1968, he joined with Tony Barrand to form a duo which has lasted ever since. Singing in unaccompanied harmony, or with concertina or banjo, their entertaining style has delighted […]
Simon Hamer Simon Harmer has been teaching and performing a range of step-dance styles for over 30 years. Starting with English clog steps, he has over the years expanded his repertoire to include steps and styles from Appalachian clogging; from Quebec, Ontario, and particularly Cape Breton Island; from southern England, particularly Sussex and Hampshire, including […]
Frank Lee and Allie Burbrink are a vocal-driven old-time duo from western North Carolina. They showcase Frank's signature clawhammer-banjo sound on steel-string and nylon-string banjos. Or some slide guitar and harmonica blues pieces. Then there’s Maybelle Carter-inspired country guitar, or cross-tuned old-time fiddling à la Fiddlin' John Carson. And Frank & Allie's voices in harmony tying it all […]
Steeped in traditional music from both sides of the color line, Scott Ainslie is a renowned acoustic blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter, with expertise in Piedmont and Delta Blues as well as Southern Appalachian fiddle and banjo traditions. Armed with a variety of instruments—vintage guitars; a fretless gourd banjo; a one-string diddley bow (aka cigar […]
Andy Cohen is a blues musician who plays, for the most part, Southeastern music that used to be found on 78’s, including blues, gospel, country dance music, fiddle tunes, monologues, ballads, classic rags, ditties, country songs, and boogies. As well as a virtuoso finger-style guitarist, he is also an enthusiastic proponent of the dolceola, a […]
Emma O’Sullivan hails from Connemara, Co. Galway, in the West of Ireland. An All-Ireland Champion, she has toured the globe with many of the top names in traditional Irish music. She is an experienced workshop facilitator and has spent over ten years sharing this beautiful tradition, both as a performer and through her Sean Nós […]
John Kirk & Trish Miller present fiery fiddle tunes, folksongs, and fancy footwork to audiences of all ages. John’s lyric voice, good sense of humor, and versatile instrumental skills — fiddle, mandolin, and several other instruments—have earned him widespread recognition in folk and traditional music circles. Trish is best known for her clogging, guitar, and banjo. […]
Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen bring together their love of traditional music and their wealth of original songs. Steve is considered one of the finest singer-songwriters around, with a warm baritone voice. He is also an accomplished fingerstyle guitarist (using a flat-pick and two fingers), Cindy also writes some original songs, but she is probably […]
With parents who were both singers and song collectors and a strong family focus on sharing songs, Matthew Byrne has inherited a unique repertoire as well as a fascination with unearthing and reimagining traditional songs. But Byrne is also a student of history whose love of traditional music goes well beyond the words and music. For […]