The Stuart Brothers are world renown for their masterful performances of Appalachian fiddle and banjo duets. Trevor and Travis were born and raised in Bethel , a rural farming community in Haywood County, NC -- an area of magical beauty where the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains meet and once the ancient Cherokee settlement of Sonoma. These majestic ranges surrounded the young brothers with the rich musical and cultural environment of Appalachian fiddle tunes, Baptist spirituals, banjo pickers, all night square dance shindigs and poetic tale weavers.

With deep family musical roots, their great grandfather was the legendary fiddler Rev. Henry King, and great uncle the banjoist and singer Austin Stamey. The brothers learned some of the oldest regional fiddle and banjo styles from masters such as the Smathers Family, Byard Ray, Oscar “Red” Wilson, Gordon Freeman, and the Sutton family. They formed their first band in junior high and played for local clogging teams, local functions and fiddlers conventions. Since then they have toured extensively throughout the US and several foreign countries, teaching and performing at major festivals and music camps.

Close to home with Travis on banjo and Trevor the fiddle, the Stuart Brothers teach the younger generation in their community. For over a decade they have led the Haywood County JAM (Junior Appalachian Musicians) an after-school program funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Both Travis and Trevor are multi-instrumentalists. Together and separately they have performed at some of the world’s most prestigious stages: London’s Albert Hall, Dublin’s Vicar Street, Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble, and New York City’s Beacon Theater.

http://www.stuartbrothersmusic.com

The Wilson Family from Brasstown has been singing as a group for about nine years. Jimmy Wilson grew up around traditional gospel music, listening to his father and uncle, The Wilson Brothers, winners of a North Carolina Heritage Award. Jimmy sings lead and harmony and plays guitar. His wife, Karen Wilson sings lead and harmony and plays bass. Their daughters Jessica and Anna both sing lead and harmony while playing mandolin and guitar respectively. Bill Pruitt from Robbinsville, NC plays the banjo and brings years of experience playing bluegrass music, including a stint with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys.

SPECIAL THURSDAY NIGHT CONCERT!

Aubrey Atwater presents a captivating program of traditional and original folk music performed on guitar, Appalachian mountain dulcimer, Irish tin whistle, mandolin, feet, and old-time banjo. She entwines a moving explanation of the music with stories from her life and musical journey. Aubrey's love of music extends beyond the sound alone. Her pursuit is to understand folk music as an expression of human history and a glimpse into the lives of "ordinary" people.

http://www.atwater-donnelly.com/aubreysolo.htm

David Kaynor hails from western Massachusetts which is considered one of the epicenters of traditional contra dance and music. As a fiddler, band leader, teacher and caller, David has had considerable influence on the growing popularity of contra dancing and contra dance music around the country. His Greenfield Dance Band plays for the popular contra dances at the Guiding Star Grange in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Another of Kaynor’s interests is the traditional fiddle music of Sweden, where he has visited many times.

http://www.davidkaynor.com/

The Berea College Bluegrass Ensemble was founded in the fall of 1999 to give Berea College students with background or potential in bluegrass music an opportunity to play in a "working" bluegrass band with weekly rehearsals, performances, travel, etc. Members are selected by audition, and typically remain with the group until they graduate from Berea College. Members also earn academic credit for each semester of participation in the group. The band has toured in Ireland and Japan

The ensemble is directed by Al White, formerly a member of the Bluegrass Alliance and the McLain Family Band.

Mountain Fling is a four-piece band based in Southwest Virginia that plays traditional old-time material but delves into the recent past for variety. They sing and play autoharp, guitar, banjo, hammered dulcimer, harmonica and bass. John Hollandsworth from Christiansburg, Virginia has played autoharp since childhood and has won many awards for his playing including "Best All-Around Performer" at the famous Galax Fiddlers' Convention. His wife Kathie sings and plays hammered dulcimer and bass. Jim Lloyd of Rural Retreat, Virginia plays guitar and banjo. Raised in the coal fields of Virginia and West Virginia, Jim sponsors a weekly jam session in his barber shop. Ed Ogle of Roanoke plays harmonica and guitar. His award-winning harmonica playing features both slow, lyrical melodies and fast dance tunes.

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.