2024 Showcases
Singing the Gospel, Saturday 12:30pm
with Alice Vines and Anthony Daniels, plus Jake and Sarah Owen
Gospel can refer to any style of religious music performed by individual artists, quartets, or choirs. From old-time mountain praise to urban spirituals rooted in late nineteenth-century blues, and ragtime, North Carolina is rich in this musical tradition, in all its varied forms. We are delighted to offer our first-ever gospel showcase featuring artists from across this musical spectrum.
Alice Vines is a pastor and singer from the eastern NC town of Farmville. She is part of the sibling group of musical matriarchs, the Glorifying Vines Sisters, with sisters, Dorothy, Audrey and Mattie. Since 1958, the group has been tearing up the road and every church they visit. Thankfully for us, they don’t confine themselves to churches.
“If we’re going to do like Jesus did,” she says, “then we’re going to go wherever we’re called to go. And we’re going to enjoy ourselves when we get there.” Styled to family singing, Alice will be singing with her nephew, Anthony Daniels.
Jake and Sarah Owen bring some old-time gospel songs from the mountains of Madison County, NC. Jake and Sarah have been singing traditional gospel music since they were children with their families. They combine their upbringing with their old time country church experience to share traditional gospel harmony. Located in the Dance Tent.
Field Recorders’ Collective Presents: Learning from the Old Generation, Saturday 2pm
The Field Recorders’ Collective is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and distribution of noncommercial recordings of traditional American music — material that has been unavailable to the general public. Founded by Ray Alden in 2003, its purpose is to produce albums that are predominantly sourced from unissued home and field recordings.
The FRC and Hoppin’ John are proud to present the following lifelong musicians, all of whom visited with and learned from ’source’ musicians of an older generation, now passed on. They’ll be sharing some stories and playing some music from their musical mentors, and talking about the impact that these experiences have had on their lives and musicianship.
Stop by this showcase and the FRC tent for a visit! More information about this showcase and the FRC can also be found here. Located in the Dance Tent.
Alice Gerrard is legendary in the world of traditional music. Best known as a musician and songwriter, her passion for the old sounds and th people who gave them to us has underpinned her entire career. During years spent living in Galax, Alice became friends and shared music with a host of musicians including Luther Davis, Tommy Jarrell and Parley Parsons. Alice has donated hundreds of her own field recordings to the Southern Folklife Collection.
A native of Raleigh, Jim Collier is a master musician on fiddle, guitar, mandolin and banjo. He has played with a variety of bands including Big Medicine, the Red Squirrel Chasers, the County Commissioners, the Rocky Creek Ramblers and the Rye Mountain Boys. During his younger days, Jim regularly visited and played with members of the Watson family, including Arnold Watson and Doc’s father-in-law, Gaither Carlton.
Not only is he a wonderful old-time fiddler, Wayne Martin has led a distinguished career as a folklorist and arts administrator. Wayne is a founder of PineCone and served for decades in leadership positions at the NC Arts Council. He has produced recording projects with artists such as Etta Baker, Joe and Odell Thompson, Marcus Martin, Doug and Jack Waller, Lauchlin Shaw and AC Overton. He is a respected authority on Piedmont music traditions!
Raised in the rich traditional music community around Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau, Joseph Decosimo is a musician and folklorist with a deep respect and love for the older sounds. At 16, Joseph began making regular visits to learn from fiddler Charlie Acuff, and eventually started playing gigs with Acuff’s band, the Lantana Drifters. He has dedicated himself to spending time with master fiddlers like Charlie McCarroll and Clyde Davenport. By grounding himself in regional repertoire and style, Joseph crafts music for the present with a deep understanding of place, and a reverence for the past.
Tom Mylet grew up playing folk guitar. He attended his first fiddlers convention in 1967 , and hasn’t been the same since. Tom moved to southwest Virginia in the spring of ’76 and began playing banjo with Kyle Creed on fiddle in a later version of the Camp Creek Boys. In 1978 Tom received an NEA grant to study with Kyle, whose lessons went far beyond the banjo to construction projects, plumbing repairs, and cutting wood! In 2009 Tom produced a CD for Old Blue Records entitled Banjo Lessons on Kyle’s Back Porch.
The Music of Charlie Poole and the Rorrer Family, Saturday 4pm
Piedmont stringband sound around the country and influencing generations of rural musicians. This showcase will feature guitarist Doug Rorrer — great-nephew of both Charlie Poole and NC Ramblers fiddler Posey Rorer — and his son, multi-instrumentalist Taylor Rorrer. Through performances and interviews with Doug and Taylor we will introduce the music of Charlie Poole, explore the broader community of stringband musicians in the NC-Virginia border region, and highlight the unique talents of Doug and Taylor themselves. Hoppin’ John regular and friend, Clay Shelor will also be joining in.Noites Carolinas Plays Brazilian Choro, Friday 7pm
Born in North Carolina with Brazilian roots, Noites Carolinas (“Carolina Nights”) is a choro ensemble based in the Triangle. The group’s members hail from Brazil, the United States, and Mexico.
Choro (or “chorinho”) is Brazil’s first home-grown genre of popular music, credited as the precursor to both samba and bossa nova. Choro originated in the late 1800s, when European classical and dance music were being imported to Brazil; Brazilian musicians began reinterpreting these songs, combining African, Portuguese, and indigenous Brazilian influences. Choro remains a living and evolving genre today.Explore the interconnectedness of traditional music from around the world with the North Carolina ensemble. The band features Julia Illana on 10-string bandolim (mandolin), Leandro Almeida playing cavaquinho, Chris Bennett on 7-string guitar, Aaron Sanchez-Guerra playing pandeiro, and Israel Dias on percussion. Located on Carson’s Grove Stage.
Thank you to our WONDERFUL sponsors! We couldn’t do it without these folks:
