First of all – this is not the rockabilly star Eddie Bond!

The Eddie Bond who will be at Fiddle Tunes next summer is about the age of the rockabilly Eddie’s grandkids (I have no idea whether they are related.)  I’ve heard him tear it up on fiddle, banjo, autoharp, and guitar, sing, yodel, tell stories, and his flatfooting is exceptional.  Like so many of our finest Fiddle Tunes faculty, music is Eddie’s avocation rather than his job; he works full-time for Pepsi and so those of us on the “Left Coast” have rarely had the chance to see him perform since he hardly ever tours. Thank you Pepsi for letting us have him for a whole week!

Kirk Sutphin has been at Fiddle Tunes many times before –  I don’t know him well, but I think of him as  an old soul in a young man’s body. A protégé of Tommy Jarrell starting in childhood,  he carries on the legacy of his Round Peak forebears with a sort of relaxed yet expert panache – no “hey look at me” stuff, but he is one of those gifted people who make whatever they are part of sound better without doing anything obvious. I also greatly admire his Charlie Poole-style work in the New North Carolina Ramblers, with Kinney Rorer, Darren Moore and Jeremy Stephens. It is a pleasure to welcome Kirk back to Fiddle Tunes!

–Suzy Thompson