September 29, 2005
Folk Festival this Saturday
The Athens Folk Music and Dance Society Presents
21st Annual North Georgia Folk Festival; Saturday, October 1, 2005.
Sandy Creek Park, Athens. 1PM - 9PM.
This year's festival features the music of:
Phil Tanner's Skillet Lickers
The Skillet Lickers, started in the 1920's by Phil's grandfather, James 'Gid' Tanner, born near Monroe, Georgia and was one of the pioneers of early country music recordings. University of Georgia Professor, Art Rosenbaum, will be sitting in with the Skillet Lickers. Rosenbaum is widely recognized, not only as a musicologist and documentarist, but also for his wide knowledge and talent as an instrumentalist and singer of old-time bluegrass. ...
The Meyers Family
They have long been a preserver of old-time ballads and songs of the Blue Ridge Mountains. With the passing of two sisters last year, Helen Meyers McDuffie and daughter, Leasie Whitmire have re-formed the group with niece Edna Mullinex, maintaining the three-woman harmonies. Festival favorite Ed Teague, one of the great old-time North Georgia two-fingered banjo pickers, will join in.
Bible Outreach Choir
Rev. Willie Mae Eberhart and Sister Fleeta Mitchell lead the choir in old-time gospel music. Sister Mitchell is going strong at 92 and attended the Georgia School for the Blind with Blind Willie McTell. She plays piano and Rev Eberhart accompanies on tambourine and washboard.
Bobby McMillon
Storyteller and singer from Lenior, North Carolina, McMillon is heir to different strands of Appalachian tradition. From his father's family in Tennessee he learned Primitive Baptist traditions ; traditional songs, stories and old customs. From his mother's family in North Carolina, he learned tales and old ballads, and went to school with relatives of Tom Dula ( "Tom Dooley" of the famous song), learning their family stories. He has become widely known as a singer and musician; (banjo, guitar, dulcimer, harmonica and jews harp) and storyteller. He has performed at The Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife; numerous Festivals and in film, radio, and television.
Leah Calvert
Leah Calvert is a fiddler and vocalist who took up the fiddle at age 5. She was introduced to bluegrass by her father, and was eventually recruited by the Atlanta bluegrass band, Courthouse Creek. While attending college at the University of Georgia, Leah joined the eclectic world-music band Calliope Fair. She has focused incororating more singing in her performances and is an actively sought after fiddler and performer.
The Little Country Giants
The core of Little Country Giants is the duo of Cameron and Russell Cook on upright bass and guitar and dual vocals. They have a revolving team of tasteful musicians to back them. A main focus of the band is harmony singing, forming a seamless blend which hearkens back to their family roots in Appalachia and Mississippi. Russell’s songs are based on a folk and mountain tradition, with a healthy dose of that intersection of early jazz and country music.
Moira Nelligan (and The Mansitters)
Moira Nelligan was born on St. Patrick's Day in Savannah and grew up learning to sing from her Irish Catholic parents. She studied piano and violin in childhood, and embraced traditional Irish music during a trip to the West Coast of Ireland as a young adult. She then picked up her daddy's fiddle, which he had given her when she graduated from high school, and set out to learn jigs, reels and hornpipes. Later, in summer workshops at the Augusta Heritage Arts Center in West Virginia, Moira learned Irish fiddle tunes from great fiddlers like Liz Carroll, Kevin Burke and Eileen Ivers, as well as Cajun tunes from Dewey Balfa and Quebecois tunes from Lisa Ornstein.
The Solstice Sisters
Formed in 1994 in Athens, Georgia, The Solstice Sisters are: Susan Staley, Maggie Hunter and Anna Durden. The three share a love of the harmony singing traditions of early country and folk music, in the Carter Family tradition. They are a tradition in vocal harmonies, guitar song and appear at many regional festivals.
Alcovy Station
Georgia bluegrass combo, Alcovy Station, is comprised of Andy Dingus on banjo, Ash Raymond, fiddle, Tim Latimer, dobro, James Tate, mandolin, Bobby Tate, guitar, and Bruce Pruitt, bass. Their blend of traditional tunes and instruments and obvious joy of entertaining have 'brought the house down' at the Athens' Hoots.
Neal Pattman Tribute Band
In remembrance of local blues harmonica master Neal Pattman’s passing this year, musicians; Jim Kautz, Danny Esposito, John Lee, Lee Fowler, Lee Moody and special guests, will reunite for a full-tilt tribute to “Big Daddy” Pattman. Neal’s niece, Sarah Armstrong, will also be joining in. Neal Pattman was a frequent Folk Festival performer, and was known world-wide for his ability to 'slap a harp chord' with only one hand, having lost one arm in a farm accident when he was a child. Some of Neal's musical collaborators were Taj Mahal and Cootie Stark.
Folk Festival Crafters this year:
Benny Barr.... Mountain laurel carving
Chip Chandler...log cabin building
Mark Davis ...Blacksmithing
Catherine Haley...Plants & herbs
Barney James... Split oak baskets & poplar bark baskets
Peter Loose... (visual artist/author) Painting
Tina McCullough.... (Blue Bell Studio) Pottery
Ike Stovall...Pine needle baskets & tatting
Gae Stovall.... Spinning
The Zorbanos Brothers...Apple cider making
Beth Kelley Zorbanos....Cornshuck dolls
And for the hungry, great Owen's BBQ, Joan's Pies, (natural ingredients), Four varieties of Indian cuisine by The Indian Gourmet, Goobers On The Halfshell and more...
Arts and crafts will also be on sale.
Tickets available at Sandy Creek Park October 1st , and Online at AthensMusic dot net, with a modest service charge. Adult tickets (ages 17 and over, are $10 and $3 for ages 4-17). Children 3 and under are FREE. Sandy Creek Park fees are included in all ticket prices. Sponsored by the Athens-Clarke County Leisure Services, Athens Folk Music & Dance Society and it's University of Georgia affiliate chapter, Flagpole Magazine and AthensMusic.net
Park info: http://www.sandycreekpark.com/
Athens Folk Music & Dance Society: http://www.afmds.info/
Q & A: email NorthGAFolkFest@aol.com