The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes: Artist/Faculty

The heart of Centrum’s Festival of American Fiddle Tunes is its faculty...

Chosen by Artistic Director Dirk Powell, these players generally learned much of their music from family and neighbors. Their knowledge, stories, musicianship, and commitment to the community are part of what makes this week such a special celebration of traditional culture.

Dirk Powell has expanded on generations of the deeply rooted sounds of his Appalachian heritage to become one of the pre-eminent traditional American musicians of this generation. From learning banjo and fiddle at the feet of his grandfather in Kentucky to founding the Cajun group Balfa Toujours in Louisiana where he makes his home, Dirk has been described as someone who has “created a place all his own where tradition, inspiration and innovation meet.” In addition to acclaimed releases on Rounder Records, he has recorded and performed with artists such as Joan Baez, Loretta Lynn, Sting, Jack White, Levon Helm, Jewel, T-Bone Burnett, Ralph Stanley, and Linda Ronstadt, among others. His ability to unite the essence of traditional culture with a modern sensibility has also led to work with film directors Anthony Mighella, Spike Lee, Ang Lee, Victor Nunez, Steve James and Edward Burns. When not on tour, he likes to be at home in Louisiana with daughters Sophie and Amelia. This is his fifth year as Artistic Director of The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes.

Each faculty person will teach a morning class, and lead a band lab in the afternoon.

Irish fiddling

John Carty, an elite Irish fiddler who is equally gifted at banjo, flute and tenor guitar, is considered one of  Ireland’s most highly regarded traditional musicians. As 2003 winner of TG4 Traditional Musician of the Year, he joined previously acclaimed musical giants as Matt Molloy, Tommy Peoples, Mary Bergin, Máire Ní Chathasiaigh and Paddy Keenan. Born in London, by the age of 16 and already an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, John found himself playing with some of Irish music’s finest musicians and began entertaining the thought of relocating to Ireland. Soon after settling in Boyle, Co Roscommon, his 1994 debut banjo album was released and was followed quickly in 1996 by a first fiddle album which was described as a milestone in recorded fiddle music. Touring with the Patrick Street super-group made up of legendary musicians Andy Irvine, Kevin Burke, Jackie Daly and Ged Foley, John also performs regularly with Chieftain’s flautist Matt Molloy exploring the North Connaught tradition they both love.

• http://www.johncartymusic.com/

Bluegrass fiddling

Laurie Lewis is the real stuff of legend, at least in the quiet corners where American roots music still thrives. One of the preeminent bluegrass and Americana artists of our time, Laurie has been described by  the Sacramento News “as fine a singer as anyone on the acoustic music circuit, anywhere in the world.” Twice named Female Vocalist of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association, Lewis also won a Grammy for “True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe”. Her 30-year career as fiddler, singer and songwriter began in her early 20s when she discovered the Bay Area bluegrass scene with its powerful mix of the region's historic progressivism and ardent devotion to musical tradition. "There weren't a lot of cutting contests; it was all about making music together, a focus on interdependency rather than individual prowess," she said. Renowned on stage for her musical virtuosity and front-porch friendliness, in everything she plays, the point is sharing, not strutting.

• http://www.laurielewis.com/

Mexican fiddling

Paul Anastasio, a versatile violinist and fiddler, started classical training at age 9, but soon found his way  into American popular and folk music performing in bluegrass bands and competing in fiddle contests in his teens. His teachers later included Seattle Symphony Assistant Concertmaster Sergei Kardelian and renowned jazz violinist Joe Venuti, who took Paul on as the only student ever taught at his home in Seattle. Playing and traveling with the country music legend Merle Haggard was the first of many gigs over a 10-year period with top country bands including Asleep at the Wheel, Larry Gatlin and Loretta Lynn. Part of Seattle’s beloved group Pearl Django, it was a chance encounter with Mexican violinist Juan Reynoso in 1992 that turned Paul's life toward an intensive study of the remarkable fiddling style of southwestern Mexico known as Tierra Caliente. Twenty trips to Mexico’s Hot Lands have resulted in 2,000 recording hours and transcription of 500 pieces from his study of the region's top folk violinists. Paul is accompanied at Fiddle Tunes by Juan Barco on bajo sexto.

• http://www.swingcatenterprises.com/cart/

Old Time fiddling

Sammy Lind's fiddling with Portland’s Foghorn Stringband over the last decade has forged a resurgence  of old time music in the Northwest. Initially gaining its reputation as a square dance band, the group has gone on to thrill dancers and audiences around the world, most recently in Scotland, Ireland and Denmark. Bringing his clear, high energy playing and large cache of tunes to Fiddle Tunes this year, Sammy’s fiddle plays a central role in Foghorn’s interpretation of a style that encompasses early country music and the fiddle repertoire of the Southern Appalachians and the Midwest, as well as the string band sounds of the Piedmont region. Highly regarded by traditional music lovers, Foghorn members also frequently perform with Dirk Powell, as the Dirk Powell Band.

• http://www.myspace.com/foghornstringband

Charlie McCarroll (tentative), is the youngest of four sons of the famed Jimmy McCarroll who was a farmer, coal miner and virtuoso fiddler on the classic 1928 “Roane County Ramblers” recording. A master in his own right, 72-year-old Mr. McCarroll is attracting more attention recently for his strong and powerful playing of this early 20th century repertoire in a style that is only barely more modern today. Beautiful traditional dance tunes, waltzes, and contest tunes including “Lee Highway Blues” also known as “Home Town Blues” are part of the McCarroll legacy from Roane County, Tennessee. Featured recently on WBIR’s “Heartland Series” and on WEVX’s “Music of the Cumberland Trail,” hosted by Bobby Fulcher, Mr. McCarroll will be accompanied at Fiddle Tunes by Bobby Fulcher on banjo along with Tony Thomas on guitar.

• http://www.jubileearts.org/The%20Legacy%20of%20Jimmy%20McCarroll.pdf

Tim Foss is an experienced teacher of all string instruments and brings old time Midwest dance fiddling from Wisconsin. Tim has been immersed in music for 30 some years and represents a new generation of fiddlers performing music of America’s heartland. Starting with Suzuki violin training at age 5, playing Rock n’ Roll, country, blues, and jazz music through high school, finally planting himself firmly in the roots of American old time country and bluegrass music, where he has blossomed for the last 15 years. He has studied and performed music with many “pillars” of the old-time music scene today. Tim has been teaching fiddle, guitar, banjo, and mandolin through workshops and private instruction for the last 10 years.

New England fiddling

David Kaynor, a caller and New England style fiddler, began playing fiddle in 1974 and started calling  contra dances in Western Massachusetts shortly thereafter. For more than two decades, he has become increasingly involved as both a fiddler and caller in the New England and national contra dance scenes. Serving on staff at Northern Week at Ashokan 22 times and Contra Dance Musicians' Week at the John C. Campbell Folk School eight times, David has played for and taught dancing at Pinewoods, Buffalo Gap, Mendocino, the Lady of the Lake, Ogontz, Summer Acoustic Music Week, Suttle Lake, Wannadance Uptown and a myriad of other camps, workshops and music events around the country. In short, he is a member of a number of dance scenes in New England, New York and the Northwest. David has interest and strong ties to Swedish fiddle music and folk-dancing, too.

Betsy Branch has been a mainstay of Portland’s contra dance community for 12 years.  Her exuberant dance fiddling has delighted dancers on both coasts.  Betsy plays in several contra dance bands, including Wild Hair and Night Owl, and she is a leader in the Portland Megaband.  She is also very active in Portland’s Irish music community, playing for sessions, concerts and sean-nós dancing.  She is the Associate Music Director of Portland’s Revels theater company, and their house fiddler.  Her primary passion is teaching and mentoring fiddlers and dance musicians. A number of recordings feature Besty’s fiddling, including: Picassiette with Mark Douglass; A Portland Play Along Selection with Sue Songer and Clyde Curley (companion to the Portland Collection tunebooks); Buzz Cuts with Wild Hair; and her newest CD, “Midnight in Montague” a twin fiddle recording with acclaimed contra dance fiddler David Kaynor, to be released May 2010.

Quebecois fiddling

Genticorum is an energetic traditional Quebecois musical trio based in Montreal, Quebec. Winners of the 2008 Canadian Folk Music Award for Best Traditional Album “La Bibournoise” and 2005 Best Ensemble, the group is made up of Pascal Gemme on fiddle, feet and vocals, Yann Falquet on guitar, jew’s harp and vocals, and Alexandre de Grosbois-Garand on wooden flute, fiddle, electric bass and vocals. They weave precise and intricate fiddle and flute work, gorgeous harmonies, and energetic foot percussions, guitar and bass accompaniment into a sound described as a big jubilant musical feast. Genticorum’s trademark sound combines rollicking interpretation of traditional Quebecois folk songs with original instrumentals written in traditional style, energetic and folky, at the same time.

• http://www.genticorum.com/

Basque fiddling

Joseba Tapia is one of the world’s leading diatonic accordion players who performs traditional Basque   dance music from Spain, known as Trikitixa. The rhythms of its key instruments – accordion and tambourine – are identifiable as the music of the Basque country and language. For many years Tapia, who was self taught, formed one half of the Basque accordion and tambourine duo known as Tapia ta Leturia. The duo focused mainly on folk, dance and popular procession music, and created a new school with an endless list of followers. For Fiddle Tunes this summer, Tapia is bringing his favorite fiddler, Arkaitz Miner, as well as longtime musical partner on percussions, Javier Berasaluce Leturia.

Moose Cree fiddling

James Cheechoo, one of the few remaining traditional James Bay Cree fiddlers from Moose Factory,  Ontario, will share his music at Fiddle Tunes this summer. Mr. Cheechoo is a member of the Moose Cree First Nation, a Native reserve community located in the island settlement of Moose Factory. Dating back to the Hudson Bay Co. in the 1670s, company ships brought Irish and Scots to the island and with them residents from the Orkneys who brought fiddle music. Mr. Cheechoo grew up listening to his father and older brothers play the Orkney based music, began playing at 12 and traded two fox pelts for his first fiddle. As one of the few remaining traditional James Bay Cree fiddlers, Mr. Cheechoo has a repertoire of about 60 traditional songs of the single fiddle tradition. He will be accompanied by his wife Daisy on spoons and his son Lawrence on the native drum.

• http://www.native-dance.ca/index.php/Interviews/Cheechoo

Swedish fiddling

Nils Olof Söderbäck, born in 1954 and raised in Sweden, is one of the finest traditional Swedish fiddlers on the West Coast. By the age of 17, Olof had turned from classical piano to Swedish folk music playing fiddle and accordion and traveling with Vilstrak (Wild Stroke) to music festivals throughout the country. It was during these years that he learned from the great fiddlers Laggar Anders and Rojas Jonas from Boda and Pahl Olle from Ostbjorka. His university studies in ethno-musicology were followed by extensive travels through Europe, Africa and India. Olof currently makes his home in Talent, Oregon. He plays Bulgarian style accordion and violin, Klezmer accordion and violin, studies Raga with a Sitar maestro in India, and leads a Swedish fiddle group in California. Peter Michaelsen, who has studied Scandinavian fiddle music for the last 25 years will accompany Olof at Fiddle Tunes.

• http://www.shastasong.com/Olof_Soderback

Prince Edward Island fiddling

Peter Arsenault started out on percussions and harmonica, but eventually picked up a fiddle to follow in  the footsteps of his father Eddie Arsenault, known as a major musical influence for many old time fiddlers on PEI. Eddie, born in 1921, was influenced by radio broadcasts and “successfully blended the modern Cape Breton style with the West Prince fiddling that together had the lyric ornateness of the East and syncopated drive of the West.”  In a place where musical evenings are part of everyday life, PEI is home to one of the oldest, strongest and most vibrant traditional fiddling cultures. Son Peter’s distinct style is based on the influence of those older fiddlers who are rarely heard anymore. He plays both local repertoire of the Evangeline Coast and is a great accompaniment to Acadian-style dancers. At Fiddle Tunes, he will be accompanied by his neighbor Jacques Arsenault on guitar.

• http://www.smallhalls.com/artists_profile.

Western Swing fiddling

Kevin Healy caught the fiddle fever as a young boy in Pendleton, Oregon at age 10 and thinks he caught the Western Swing bug from a 78 of “Panhandle Shuffle” found at a junk store. In 1980 he tracked down Paul Anastasio for some lessons while Paul was between jobs with Merle Haggard and Asleep at the Wheel, and soon after met Portland fiddler Bus Boyk. Bus became a close friend and mentor, sharing his music and stories from Vaudeville days, the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas with the Sons of the Golden West, and touring and recording with Ray Price. Prior to joining the Longhorn Western Swing band in 2005, Kevin played with retro-swing band Retta and the Smart Fellas, and with Portland bluegrass and country band the Muddy Bottom Boys. He’ll be accompanied by famed guitarist Keith Holter.

Keith Holter, leader and guitarist of the popular Longhorn Western Swing band, started playing Western Swing about the time the term was coined and has since been inducted into Seattle Western Swing Society’s Hall of Fame. Keith draws from the cultural melting pot of the Southwest, the folk and fiddle music of the house party and street dance, Western Swing as played by Bob Wills, Spade Cooley, Hank Thompson and others who packed dance halls across the country in its heydey. He learned Western Swing in those very dance halls, playing around Portland and Southwest Washington and has been sought out by Country and Western stars like Lefty Frizzell, Little Jimmy Dickens, and T Texas Tyler on tour in the Northwest when they needed a good lead man with mellow, twang-less tone and deft at improvisation.

• http://www.longhornwesternswing.com/

Cajun fiddling

David Greely's Cajun heritage simmered on the back burner while he was growing up near Baton Rouge;  but, after years of fiddling in other styles, he woke up to the music and language of his ancestors and became completely consumed. Apprenticed to Dewey Balfa, he received firsthand wisdom in Cajun music that has earned him acclaim as an eloquent Cajun French songwriter, fiddler, singer, and researcher of nearly forgotten tunes, ballads, and stories. Fascinated with Acadian history, he has traveled through France, Acadia, and Louisiana to find all the ancestral homes of his mother’s family, the Thériots. He is also actively involved in community campaigns to preserve the Cajun French language and archival Cajun recordings. In 2004, he received an “Artist Fellowship Award in Folklife” by the Louisiana Division of the Arts. He’s founding fiddler of Mamou Playboys and one of Louisiana’s finest fiddlers.

• www.davidgreely.com/

Cajun guitar

Sam Broussard is a splendid and unique guitarist. Be it acoustic, electric or slide, he carries the music of his ancestry farther than it's ever gone. Add to that his songwriting, arranging and tenor singing and the result is a feast of creativity that can motivate a packed dance hall or a concert audience. He grew up a city Cajun in South Louisiana, only to pick up his guitar and leave at age 19 to travel and live far and wide. He has worked with artists such as Sonny Landreth, James Leva, the Wilders, Linda Ronstadt, and Ann Savoy. Over the years, Sam developed a broad style of playing that mixed everything from the acoustic and electric repertoires, culminating in the alt-tunings and slide work of his solo record “Geeks,” winner of several awards from New Orleans’ prestigious Offbeat magazine. Since joining the Mamou Playboys in 2001, Sam has become an integral part of the creative team, contributing his skills in songwriting and arranging as well as his prodigious guitar virtuosity, a critical part of their current sound.

• www.sambroussard.com/

Cajun accordion

Steve Riley was a 19-year-old accordion prodigy when he and Dewey Balfa came to Fiddle Tunes in 1990, an unknown outside of South Louisiana. Since then, he has gone on to garner three Grammy Award nominations for traditional music and will be making his first visit back to the festival this summer. Steve grew up in the prairie town of Mamou where French is spoken on the street, the national holiday is Mardi Gras, and a poor family is one without a fiddler or accordion player. As a boy, Steve took up the accordion, a single-row diatonic instrument made by Marc Savoy and concentrated on learning Savoy’s fiery, intricate style. When he started playing fiddle, under Dewey’s guidance, he learned hundreds of French songs and how to sing them in Balfa’s singular hurts-so-good style. In the late 80s he and David Greely formed the Mamou Playboys, which rapidly gained international prominence without sacrificing the allegiance of Louisiana fans. The Mamou Playboys are still going strong. In a land where accordion is king, Steve has inspired countless young men and women to follow him and keep Cajun music’s royal instrument alive.

• www.mamouplayboys.com/

Old time mandolin

Caleb Klauder, of Portland’s Foghorn Stringband fame, brings his fine spirit and rhythm to the workshop  as a first-time faculty member. A mandolin player in the traditional styles of old time and bluegrass for over 15 years, Caleb performs with the Foghorn Stringband and Foghorn Duo, both with Sammy Lind. Caleb’s style draws from old time banjo rhythms and fiddle bow shuffles.  Being a fiddler, singer, and guitar player, as well as a mandolinist, he has a well-rounded sense of traditional music.  As a teacher he focuses on the importance of melody and rhythm in support of the fiddle, and the tune in general. He will teach music that will challenge both left and right-hand technique as well as explore different tones of the mandolin and chord variations.

• http://www.myspace.com/foghornstringband

Bluegrass mandolin

Tom Rozum, an ace mandolinist originally from New England, moved west to  Arizona to play in the  Summerdog Bluegrass Band and Mariachi Swing Ensemble, San Diego with the Rhythm Rascals specializing in music from the 1920s and 30s, and since 1986 has been a Bay Area fixture on the music scene joining forces with Laurie Lewis as her ideal harmony partner. He plays primarily mandolin, but is also an accomplished fiddle, mandola, and guitar player. His rhythmic approach to mandolin especially punctuates the band’s repertoire, adding a verve and excitement to their on-stage shows, and has become a distinctive feature of their performances. Tom is best known for the “The Oak and The Laurel,” his Grammy-nominated album of duets with Laurie.

• http://www.tomrozum.com/

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ADDITIONAL FIDDLE TUNES STAFF

The mighty Macrae Sisters, Marian (fiddle/vocals), Gabrielle (banjo/vocals), and Joanna (vocals) will lead an all-girls string band in the afternoon. The sisters originally hail from Portland, Oregon, but now call Asheville, North Carolina, their home and play an old time music that belies their age with sweet vocals, driving banjo and bowing authority on the fiddle.

The Canote Brothers, Greg and Jere, the official mascots of the workshop, consider themselves "proud links in the chain of musical brother duets" like the Stanley Brothers, Blue Sky boys, Sam and Kirk Magee or the Everlys.  You’ll find them firmly planted in the tradition of American Roots music, helping out with spirited tutorials in fiddle, guitar, banjo, or maybe even uke, and leading jam sessions throughout the day and night.

Luther Black for 25 years has officially coordinated evening dances at Fiddle Tunes, but in truth has pulled the late shift acting as nighttime maestro coordinating various elements for multiple dances throughout the week -- he lines up dancers with callers and matches styles of dance with faculty styles of music; officially in two time slots per side of 204, and -- of course, as needed.

David Cahn will conduct the Beginners Band Lab, as he has since its inception. The versatile instrumentalist (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, bass, and accordion) hails from Seattle, Washington and has played in numerous bands over the past 20 years. He's toured with Rodney Miller, and appears on two of his CDs which include several of David's original tunes. He's also recorded with Clyde Moody, Charlie Moore, Wade Mainer, Helen Carter, and Mark Simos, and is featured on the Rounder recording "Young Fogies II" with his old-time band "The Queen City Bulldogs" (1st place, Clifftop, 1994). He's taught at the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Pinewoods, Augusta, and many other camps and festivals around the country.

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TUTORIAL STAFF

Tutorial Coordinator

• Kevin Carr is a singer, storyteller, player of fiddle, bagpipes,  and banjo and consummate expert on the web of tutorials offered in the afternoon at Fiddle Tunes. The licensed family therapist from the Bay Area also has a colorful background in traveling, storytelling and playing traditional music with the Hillbillies from Mars for contra, square, Irish, Scottish and Galician dancing, as well as performing with Wake the Dead, the world's only all-star Grateful Dead Celtic jam band and Les Tetes De Violon. Kevin is the go-to man throughout the week for support in technique and style.

Introductory-level tutorials will be offered after lunch, when most of the band labs are taking place. These sessions focus on technique, and include:

Fiddle

• Anna Roberts-Gevalt is a banjo player, fiddler and vocalist who left the hills of Vermont to plunge into the lives and music of six women -- fiddlers and banjo players -- from Kentucky. Her recently completed project: In Her First Heaven, documents the stories of these women with sound clips and photographs. Anna currently lives in a little village in the hills of Virginia where she teaches music and performs with her bands Old Sledge and the Blind Tiger String Band. In her words, “These fiddle tunes, turns out, are the kind of thing you spend your whole life working at, trying to get to the bottom of them."

• Joe Fulton, a fiddler from Iowa, has been playing since boyhood and with the four-piece Seattle based old time string band, The Tallboys, since 2003. Leading melody with his impressive fiddling, the foursome is well versed in traditional fiddle tunes and mountain songs and stays honest to their inspiration, yet, is known to "charge up the sound with the raw edge of gritty enthusiasm conjured from years of street performing.” The band consistently delivers exciting stage performances and hard-driving dance tunes, with everyone sharing vocals. The group, including Charlie Beck (banjo), Charmaine Slaven (guitar) and John Hurd (bass), organizes a monthly square dance at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard and a weekly old-time jam at Conor Byrne Pub. All four musicians will be on staff as tutors at The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, again this year.

Banjo

• Charlie Beck, from Indiana, plays both clawhammer and three-finger style banjo with the four piece old time string band, The Tallboys and brings over a decade of musical experience to the group. Charlie is partner in an old time variety duet with Charmaine Li Lei Slaven, performs solo, and is a talented songwriter, creating several original composition. In addition, he "enjoys unearthing obscure and beautiful old time tunes from America's past."

Guitar

• Charmaine Slaven, fills out the sound of The Tallboys with solid rhythm guitar and is one of the finest buckdancers on the West Coast. The Montana native has the unique ability to dance and play guitar simultaneously. "Lady Li-Lei performs percussive dance in the Appalachian mountain tradition which contributes exciting energy and visual elements to old time music, a traditional relationship. This strong sense of rhythm and energetic drive carries through in her guitar and ukulele playing, too. Her clear, and somewhat raw singing style is reminescent of artists such as the Carter Family, Bessie Smith, and the Coon Creek Girls.

Piano

• Laurie Andres

Intermediate-level tutorials will be offered in the late afternoon, with a focus on style (the Beginners Band Lab is also offered in this time slot). These tutors include:

Old Time fiddle

• Earl White is one of a distinguished few black Americans reviving the music that was once an integral part of rural black communities and life on the plantations in the South. In 1971 he helped found the North Carolina based Appalachian dance group, The Green Grass Cloggers, and bequeathed his name to a popular syncopated dance step “The Earl,” still taught at clogging workshops today. He received his first fiddle in 1974 and spent long periods collecting fiddle tunes in the mountains, mostly from white fiddlers who at times credited black sources for tunes and stylistic elements, such as “Riley and Spencer” which Earl learned from Tommy Jarrell. Widely known for having an extensive and unusual repertoire and a driving, energetic style, Earl currently makes his home in Portland, Oregon.

• Michael Ismerio
  loves music and turning strangers into friends. The old time, bluegrass and Son Jarocho fiddler has spent the last 15 years playing, teaching, traveling and building community from Portland, Oregon. His first trip to Mexico in 1996 led to a love for Son Jarocho, a  rhythmic mix of Spanish, Afro-Caribbean and native Americ music, and annual return visits. His introduction to old time music came from The Dickle Brothers in 1997, originally a duet, which turned into a 5-piece out of the box old time musical ambush on noisy bars. Within five years, Ismerio was totally lost in the fiddle, started the Government Issue Orchestra, a twin fiddle string band, and helped create Bubbaville, The Portland Oldtime Music Gathering, annually held in January.

• Tony Goldenberg is a Port Townsend-based fiddler who has been a citizen of The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes since at least 1979.
  
  

Irish fiddle

• Kellam Throgmorton is a 26 year-old fiddler who has been playing Irish traditional music since he was 11.  Many of his musical tendencies were picked up while living in the Chicago area during his teenage years.  Recently moving to Colorado after 2 years in Portland, Oregon, he is currently a graduate student in archaeology at the University of Colorado.

Quebecois fiddle

• David Boulanger was born in 1983 in Saint-Hubert, Québec, and started his musical education at the age of 8; by age 18, studied jazz violin composition & arrangement at Cégep de St-Laurent in Montreal. At the same age, he started playing traditional music with LaPart du Queteux, went on to perform with Le Cirque Alfonce: La Brunante, a circus that combined traditional music with acrobats, dancers and actors, and then took up old time music with two good friends Yann Falquet and Alexandre ''Moulin'' De Grosbois-Garand, both from Genticorum, for fun. Since 2007, David has been an instrumental part (vocals, fiddle, foottapping, and percussions) of  La Bottine Souriante, a group  that has come to represent the vitality and pride of Quebecois cuture, based in Montreal.

Cajun fiddle

• Joel Savoy, son of Cajun musicians Marc and Ann Savoy, was raised among all of the greats in Cajun music. As a baby, he sat in Dewey Balfa's lap as he played the fiddle, and played with legendary fiddlers Dennis McGee and Wade Fruge. The finest musicians of most folk cultures were frequent visitors to his childhood home. At this point, Joel has played fiddle and bass for many years  throughout the world, in the Savoy Doucet Cajun Band with his parents and Michael Doucet, as well as Jeunes Gens de la Prairie, and Cajun/gypsy group The Red Stick Ramblers; his fiddle style reflecting the great artist friends with whom he has been raised. Joel performs with longtime friend, Jesse Lége as Bayou Brew. 

Cajun accordion

• Jesse Lége defines traditional Louisiana dance hall music. His unmistakeable hard driving style of accordion play and his powerful voice will get even the most staid listener up on the dance floor. Whether he is performing with Bayou Brew or his many friends, Jesse can crank up any old tune to something new and very different than you have ever heard before. Awarded Vocalist of the Year, Band of the Year, Song of the Year (for "Mémoires Dans Mon Coeur"), in nearly 40 years of playing, singing and living Cajun music, Jesse Lége has seen and done it all. In 1998 he was inducted into the Cajun Music Hall of Fame.  

Piano

• Laurie Andres

Singing

• Laurel Bliss ’s early exposure to the Carter Family, Doc Watson, the Louvin Brothers, and Jimmy Martin inspired a lifelong dedication to unearthing and learning vocal chestnuts. She played dobro and sang in Southfork in the 80s, and then in a duet with Cliff Perry for many years. Her heartfelt vocals have made her a stand-out in acoustic and bluegrass music. The joys of playing by ear, learning to sing with others through the festivals of Weiser, Fiddle Tunes and the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop shaped her interest in the music. In addition to playing with Carol Elizabeth Jones, Laurel plays with the Happy Valley Sluggers of Bellingham, Wash. and teaches country and bluegrass vocals at workshops, camps and festivals throughout the region.

Bass

• John Hurd, a bass player from Dallas, Oregon, is the one who lays down that driving foundation that is essential to The Tallboys' rhythm. Starting out on the trombone in 5th grade, it wasn't school bands that made the biggest impression on him. It was when he picked up the electric bass at 14, that he developed a bias toward bass and the rhythm part of music. By the time he finished college in 1998, he had taken an interest in Irish music, blues and through Jerry Garcia, was pointed to old time music. He also credits the Holy Modal Rounders with he decision to move to Seattle for the music scene. By 2003, he was part of the performing unit called The Tallboys along with Charlie Beck and Joe Fulton. In 2005, Charmaine Slaven joined the group and in 2010, all four are tutoring at Fiddle Tunes.

Banjo

• Jason Romero, acclaimed banjo maker, player and singer, is a member of a band from Vancouver Island, The Haints Old Time Stringband, along with Erynn Marshall (fiddle, vocals, banjo-uke) and his wife Pharis Romero (lead vocals and guitar). Formed in 2007, the group has performed at festivals, concerts and camps and recently produced the CD Shout Monah. The word “haint” is a southern expression for spirit or ghost and these Haints glean inspiration and repertoire from a wealth of sources old and new. Sometimes learning tunes from favorite archive recordings and other times from older tradition bearers – the group draws from fiddlers or singers who are no longer with us. The music lives on, adapting and breathing in a living tradition of which The Haints are a part.

Guitar

• Pharis Romero, an outstanding singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitar player, and a repected member of the music community, has been declared a "B.C. historical treasure" by the B.C. Folklore Society. A festival favourite since she was 4 years old, Pharis comes from Horsefly, deep in the Cariboo interior of B.C. She found both classical and old country mentors while growing up singing Italian arias, German operettas, and French folk art songs, and performing with her family’s country band, The Patenaude Family. She went on to be a founder of the western Canadian roots favourite, Outlaw Social (Best Roots/Folk Recording 2008 nominee (Western Canadian Music Awards). Most recently, playing with her husband, noted banjo maker/player Jason Romero, and Erynn Marshall, highly respected old time fiddler, in The Haints Old Time Stringband, the group has been nominated for two 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards, Best Ensemble and Best Traditional Music Album for "Shout Monah."

Mandolin

• Eric Thompson, writer, teacher, and virtuoso roots musician, specializes in the down-home sounds of the American South with a palette that includes Appalachian story-songs and bluegrass breakdowns, classic country blues, Louisiana Cajun dance music, and paso dobles from Puerto Rico. Eric's flatpicking on guitar and mandolin is exceptional for its purity of tone, speed, and soulfulness; Founding members of many influential roots music groups including the Black Mountain Boys, Any Old Time, the Klezmorim, and the California Cajun Orchestra, Eric and and his wife SuzyThompson (an equally accomplished fiddler and a faculty pillar at The Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival) have also worked with Jerry Garcia, Maria Muldaur, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Darol Anger, Laurie Lewis, the Savoy Doucet Cajun Trio, and many other fine musicians.