Brasstown locals and long-time participants in goings on at the Folk School, Martha Owen and her husband David Liden have been telling stories and playing traditional music together for over 30 years. They raised children who knew that if the house was burning down the first things to save were dad's Martin guitar and mom's handmade banjo. After years of leaving instruments "accidentally" laying around each child, now grown, have picked up instruments.

They love cowboy songs, silly songs and old-time tunes. They accompany their close harmonies with claw hammer style banjo, guitar, fiddle and jaw harp. They are even known to tell a story or two!

Martha and David perform at schools, for regional contra/square dances, weddings and other events. They are members of local dance band The Dog Branch Cats, the Brasstown Morris dance groups and run Yarn Circle, a fiber arts supply store in Peachtree, NC.

www.yarncircle.com

SPECIAL THURSDAY NIGHT CONCERT!

Guy George, from Cleveland, Ohio, is a rhythmic, melodic hammered dulcimer player with a definite jazz influence to his playing style. Guy comes from a background in jazz and performance on the saxophone, having studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston; honing his skills playing with many jazz influenced musicians in the Boston and New York area. He has settled outside Cleveland, Ohio and presently plays hammered dulcimer, tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, flute, steel drum and keyboard.

Guy tours throughout the United States and Canada performing and recording and teaching workshops on the hammered dulcimer and penny whistle. He has recorded with Maddie MacNeil on her CD "As Time Goes By"; with David Moran and Joe Morgan on their CD "I Wish They Hadn't Done That"; and with Tull Glazener on "Plays Well With Others"; as well as his own CD "Dream Castle."

http://www.guygeorge.com

FIREFLY is a force of nature and nurture:  a band celebrating sweet mother and daughter vocal harmonies. The band began in the mid 1980‘s as friends and daughters, casually singing acapella four part harmony for the sheer pleasure of it. Over the last 20 years, Firefly has developed into a full instrumental string band of twin fiddles, guitar and bass, with shimmering harmony singing still glowing at its core.  

Firefly specializes in reinterpreting  older music of the rural and urban south: Appalachian fiddle tunes, gospel, blues, swing, and old time country.

Pearl Shirley - vocals, fiddle, banjo.
Laurel Willoughby - vocals, acoustic bass
Julia Weatherford - vocals, cello, fiddle, guitar
Barbara Davis - vocals, guitar.

Comprised of seven talented young musicians from ETSU’s world renowned Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music program, these folks deliver a truly timeless country sound. Their love of traditional music has brought them from points all over the country into east Tennessee to study the roots of the music they love, and to take their already impressive musical skills to new heights. Covering classic country artists from Kitty Wells to Patsy Cline, Hank Williams to Johnny Cash, a little dash of Elvis, and a few modern gems, ETSU Country Pride stays true to the roots of country music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxzKbucqYNY

Husband and wife duo, Bob & Amy Buckingham are regular instructors at the Folk School for mandolin, fiddle and banjo.

Bob Buckingham started playing guitar and banjo in the 1960s. By the '70s, he had branched out to fiddle and mandolin. Bob has played in several old-time and bluegrass bands and on more than a dozen recordings under his own name, as a sideman.

Amy Buckingham sings and plays guitar, banjo and fiddle. She and Bob specialize in close harmony duets and hard driving dance tunes.

Lorraine was raised in rural northwestern Connecticut during a period when traditional music was a vibrant and integrated part of community life. She is a leading proponent of the mountain dulcimer and teaches classes at the Augusta Heritage Center in West Virginia, and Summer Acoustic Music Week in New Hampshire as well as the Folk School. She is also a highly skilled songwriter, banjo player and Celtic harpist with numerous recordings to her credit.

Bennett Hammond began to play traditional and original music on the guitar in high school in Vermont, and began teaching it while in college in New Hampshire. With a degree in Classical Greek, Bennett also speaks French and Spanish. "Hammond has a deft melodic sense, and a knack for transmuting traditional Irish and Appalachian motifs into thoroughly contemporary results. Hammond's great talent is that he doesn't let his skill overpower his taste and artistry." Boston Globe Since 1986 Bennett has performed, recorded and toured extensively at home and abroad with Lorraine. The couple live in an old house in Brookline, Massachusetts.

http://www.greatacoustics.org/

The Dismembered Tennesseans have appeared on stage with many of the top country music stars and performed in concert with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra and the Chattanooga Boys Choir, and more recently the Chattanooga Ballet. They have appeared on a segment of ABC-TV's Peter Jennings Nightly News and were featured on the NBC Sunday Today Show. Their audiences have been composed of such celebrities as Chuck Yeager, Sam Nunn, Gerald Ford, Jack Kemp, and three Tennessee governors. Easily one of the most popular bands in hometown Chattanooga, they have made their mark singing country music for people who don't particularly like country music.

http://www.dismemberedtennesseans.com/

Steve Hickman and John Devine are well-known performers from King George, Virginia and Berkely Springs, West Virginia respectively who have served as staff musicians for a number of Folk School music and dance programs over the years. Steve Hickman has toured with numerous bands singing and playing fiddle and harmonica for more than twenty years. He is especially well-known for his mastery of the art of “hambone” or body percussion. John Devine specializes in contemporary folk songs as well as standards from the 1930’s and 1940’s. Together, Hickman and Devine play a wide variety of country, folk, bluegrass, Irish, swing and traditional old time music.