Fiddle Tunes at Centrum

The Journeys of Riley Baugus and Tim Eriksen

Riley Baugus and Tim Eriksen traveled very different routes to traditional American music. 

Baugus (pictured) grew up in the foothills of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, surrounded by and breathing the old-time Appalachian music.

Eriksen came to the old-time tunes by way of punk rock.

Tim Eriksen plays banjo, guitar, and fiddle, and is known primarily for his powerful voice and abilities as an innovator and leader within American shape-note singing traditions.

He started out playing Indian music on the vina, a seven-stringed traditional instrument similar to the sitar. He later became lead vocalist for the punk rock band Cordelia’s Dad.

Improbably, the band also played northern Appalachian music, and in 1995 compiled an all-acoustic album. They began going to more fiddlers’ and old-time music conventions, which deepened their love for the traditional mountain music.

“I just got more and more drawn into this nineteenth-century stuff,” Eriksen says.

But he found that not very many people knew the old songs. 

Tim Eriksen and Dirk Powell: Am I Born to Die?

[Tim Eriksen in onstage performance]

Tim Eriksen, along with Riley Baugus and Fiddle Tunes Artistic Director Dirk Powell (on banjo, in this video) will lead a full-immersion workshop in the songs of the Southern Appalachian mountains the weekend of November 16-18. For workshop registration, follow this link to our secure online server or call 360.385.3102, x114. For tickets to the November 17 concert and dance in Fort Worden's USO building, visit our secure online server or call us at 360.385.3102, x117.

I Wish The Wars Were All Over

[Tim Eriksen playing guitar and singing I Wish The Wars Were All Over outside]

Tim Eriksen, along with Riley Baugus and Dirk Powell, leads a weekend workshop November 16-18 in the music of the southern Appalachian Mountains. The workshop's capstone will be a rousing old-time dance at Fort Worden's USO building. For workshop registration, follow this link or call us at 360.385.3102, x114. To buy tickets to the Saturday night, 7:30 pm concert and dance, follow this link or call us at 360.385.3102, x114.

Riley Baugus and Dirk Powell in Performance

[Riley Baugus (banjo), Dirk Powell (fiddle), and friends onstage]

If you're looking for a full-immersion fiddle tunes experience this autumn, Riley Baugus, Dirk Powell, and Tim Eriksen will lead a November 16-18 workshop the music of the Southern Appalachians--including string band tunes, country songs, and shape note singing. The weekend workshop will focus on learning to sing and play the traditional songs, with an emphasis on vocals.

Riley Baugus plays banjo, guitar, and fiddle, and is one of the foremost traditional musicians of North Carolina, where he grew up learning instrumental and vocal traditions from mentor Tommy Jarrell and others. Tim Eriksen also plays banjo, guitar, and fiddle, and is an expert in traditional American shape-note singing. Fiddler Dirk Powell is the Artistic Director of the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes and one of the finest traditional American musicians of this generation.

"Come and celebrate!" says Powell. "Participants can study vocals with Tim or old-time banjo/fiddle with Dirk and Riley, then get together for group events that revel in the social aspect of the music. The setting is intimate and the feeling will be like that of a mountain family reunion of years gone by. We'll all be together in one house and it will literally be like a wonderful reunion."

For workshop registration, follow this link or call us at 360.385.3102, x114. To buy tickets to the Saturday night, 7:30 pm concert and dance in the USO Building, follow this link or call us at 360.385.3102, x114.