Cayman Islands
fiddle, guitar, grater, cooking

Swanky Kitchen Band is on an essential quest to revive the traditional music of the Cayman Islands. Set amidst the crystal blue waters of the Caribbean Sea, the three tiny islands are home to kitchen dance music, an infectiously danceable fiddle-driven style. The kitchen dance sound, created through a crossroads of European and African influences, might have disappeared save for the efforts of Swanky Kitchen Band, the last of the Caymanian Kitchen Bands.…

with Terri  McMurray and Chester McMillian
North Carolina
fiddle, banjo, guitar

Paul Brown is an award–winning fiddler and banjoist who offers unique insights into evolving fiddle styles of southwest Virginia and northwest North Carolina

As a young man who’d learned his first songs from his mother’s Virginia repertoire, heimmersed himself in the old, nearly Celtic-sounding fiddle styles of Virginia artists Luther Davis, Parley Parsons and others, plus the stunningly rich Round Peak community tradition of players including Tommy Jarrell, Kyle Creed, Earnest East and Fred Cockerham.…

Alabama
fiddle and guitar

In the early 1980’s Jim and Joyce Cauthen began seeking out fiddlers in Alabama who had learned to play from their mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, and neighbors in the years prior to the rise of bluegrass and contest fiddling. They especially encouraged these fiddlers to play family tunes that were no longer being played in their communities; this resulted in the  unearthing of several real treasures. …

and Ramon Gutierrez
Texas
fiddle, bajo sexto

(written by Dan Margolies) – It’s not only hard to describe Belen Escobedo’s gardens, it’s hard even to comprehend what you are seeing. Flowers, trees, vegetables, vines, and who-knows-exactly-what of local and Texas native plants grow everywhere, in, over, and through things in two yards. Plants assert themselves alongside terraces, awnings, containers of all descriptions, bird baths, signs, statuary, old rusted things, compelling little tableaux of children’s toys, collectibles, antiques.…

with Kevin Wimmer
Louisiana
button accordion, fiddle

Preston Frank’s musical journey was deeply rooted in the intimate setting of his family’s home, where the rich sounds of Zydeco and Creole music filled the air. His early exposure to music, a tradition passed down through generations, came through his father and uncles, who were all musicians, forming the warm and traditional bedrock of his initial inspiration.…

One of the founders of the famous string band, The Hotmud Family, Rick Good is an accomplished guitarist, banjo player, singer and songwriter. A performer of traditional and original music, Good’s career has spanned nearly four decades.

Over the past decade, Tatiana Hargreaves has been on the forefront of an up and coming generation of old time, bluegrass and new acoustic musicians. From placing first at the Clifftop Appalachian Fiddle Contest, to her bluegrass fiddling on Laurie Lewis’ GRAMMY-nominated album The Hazel And Alice Sessions, Hargreaves shows a musical fluency that flows between old time and bluegrass worlds with ease.

Tennessee
fiddle, banjo, guitar, singing

The Tennessee Hillbuddies like their stringband music in the traditional style: rhythmic, rowdy, and all but refined. They are about good music and good times, and their performances are known for causing hats to fly. The band is comprised of Henry Barnes, Conner Vlietstra, and Trevor Holder.

Henry Barnes, originally from Washington Courthouse, OH, is now residing in Carter County, TN.…

Virginia
fiddle

Rhys Jones has been playing traditional Appalachian, French-Canadian and Irish fiddle music for 30 years. Born in Chicago, he began his fiddling at age 7 in the fertile environment of the Chicago Barn Dance Company. Soon after, his family moved to southern West Virginia where he learned from the older generation of fiddlers, including Ernie Carpenter, Melvin Wine, Glen Smith and Wilson Douglas.…

Massachusetts
fiddle, guitar

Laura and Nathan are two of America’s most highly regarded young players of traditional Irish music. Their playing is steeped in lifelong study of the Irish tradition, and is at same time colored by their American roots. They have developed a unique style of twin fiddling, sometimes playing in taut unison, sometimes exploring chordal harmonies and rhythmic and melodic variations.…

with George Guthrie (bio coming)
California
fiddle

For nearly four decades, Laurie Lewis has gathered fans and honors for her powerful and emotive voice and her versatile, dynamic songwriting. And she is an inspiration and a ground-breaker – across genres, across geography and across gender barriers. Laurie has shown us how a woman can blend into any part of the classic bluegrass singing trio, and she showed us how a great voice could move fluidly between bluegrass and other types of music.…

Jim Nelson is a veteran of the old-time music scene, having honed his guitar skills through many years of playing with senior dance fiddlers, especially Bob Holt of Ava, Missouri and Lotus Dickey of Paoli, Indiana, and by keeping a close eye on some of the older guitar players. He has been playing with Geoff Seitz for the past 40 years, and along with Geoff and Curt Buckhannon.

Liette grew up in the Gaspesie region of Quebec in a small municipality called Petit-Pabos. Music happened only at home, when her father’s fiddler friends would drop by, and at family get-togethers, once or twice a week, where music (along with a glass of gin and food) was the focus. They’d mainly sing popular songs, with traditional songs and fiddle tunes mixed in among them.

Ann Savoy is a musician, an author, a record producer, and a photographer. Her most recent endeavor is the acclaimed newly released “Adieu False Heart”, a CD of duets with the legendary Linda Ronstadt. As a musician she, has played guitar, fiddle, and accordion and traveled throughout the world with her husband accordionist Marc Savoy and fiddler Michael Doucet in the Savoy Doucet Cajun Band, with her all-woman band The Magnolia Sisters. and with Marc and their talented sons in the Savoy Family Band.

Wilson was born into a musical family in Eunice, Louisiana, and grew up surrounded by Cajun music among other styles. As a teenager, under the spell of Jerry Lee Lewis and Ray Charles, Wilson fell in love with rock n’ roll and blues piano, and taught himself to play. A little later, he picked up one of his dad’s accordions, and later still, Cajun fiddle.

Daniel has been a musical performer and teacher for over 45 years, with a particular fascination with the traditional music and dance from diverse cultures around the world. He plays piano and flute with the contra dance band Hillbillies from Mars and with New England fiddler Rodney Miller, and has performed with many luminaries of the fiddle music scene, as well as several Latin American and African ensembles.

Fiddle, Louisiana. Linzay is a versatile fiddler, soulful singer and a talented songwriter. A founding member of the notorious Red Stick Ramblers of Louisiana, he is a true link in the chain of Cajun Music and Culture whether he’s wielding a fiddle bow, playing his accordion or cooking in a blackpot.