2019 FEATURED ARTISTS
We are so pleased to welcome back from Louisiana, Ann Savoy, this time with the Magnolia Sisters! The Magnolia Sisters are an all-woman band who play many styles of Cajun French music from southwest Louisiana. From dancehall Cajun to primitive Creole, from house music to front porch ballads, much of the body of the Magnolia Sisters' music has been gleaned from a long buried wealth of Cajun jewels found in their extensive personal music archives.
Lone Piñon is an acoustic conjunto from Northern New Mexico whose music celebrates the integrity of their region's cultural roots. Multi-instrumentalists Noah Martinez and Jordan Wax, joined by Tanya Nuñez, use the fiddle, bajo quinto, accordions, quinta huapanguera, upright bass, and bilingual vocals to play a wide spectrum of the traditional music that is at home in New Mexico. Their performances are a celebration of the vibrant landscape of their home, a complex tapestry of styles that reflect the intercultural history of New Mexico and the musical legacy it has produced.
Lone Piñon came together in 2014 out of a shared interest to explore and strengthen the oldest sounds of traditional Northern New Mexico string music, sounds that had all but disappeared from daily life. Far from the image of quaint, isolated village traditions that is often painted of Northern New Mexico, they discovered a network of related styles that cross state, national, and generational borders. The trio's active repertoire reflects this complexity and includes early conjunto duets, Hispanic Texan fiddle styles, New Mexican swing, contemporary New Mexican rancheras, huapangos from the Huasteca, and several regional styles from Michoacán.
NICK CASTILLO
Born and raised on the island of Kaua’i, Nick Castillo is well-known for his Hawaiian falsetto or better known as Leo Ki’eki’e. Winning his first falsetto competition in 1996, he has continued to perpetuate the Hawaiian culture and this art of singing by releasing two solo CDs. Nick has traveled extensively within the United States and abroad, sharing Aloha through his voice. He is truly an ambassador for the island of Kaua’i.
WALT KEALE
Keale is nephew to the Hawaiian music legend, Uncle Moe Keale, and first-cousin to Skippy and Israel IZ Kamakawiwo’ole. Together with them he brings forward the voice & presence of the Ancestors.
Keale's story is rooted in the traditions of Niihau (Hawaii's "forbidden island"), where his mother's family has been for over a thousand years. His father's Arkansas family, seeds of the Dustbowl migrations to the ag-rich farmland of the San Joaquin Valley, lived humbly among ranchers, farmers and migrant workers. In his music you will hear the sounds of Niihau, the bluegrass of the Dustbowl & the latin rhythms of jarocho, cumbia & ranchera.
DONALD KAULIʻA
Don Kaulia, classmate & close friend of Keale's Cousin IZ, was raised in the rough & tumble of the Waianae Coast where Hawaiian families are strong & maintain the old ways & traditions. He is a Grammy-nominated, master slack key guitarist playing in the Nanakuli style & has supported Keale's recording on "Kawelona" and "Aina Kaula: Motherland." Like many master musicians in Hawaii Don's rugged, road-paving hands (Project Supervisor for Grace Pacific paving company) handle the fretboard of a guitar like Michelangelo working fine marble. He is Great-Grandson to Tutu James Kaulia who hand-delivered Queen Liliuokalani's formal letter of protest to President Grover Cleveland in 1893.
KUMU NAKANA WONG
Kumu Nakana Wong is a longstanding pillar and resource in the Hawaiian and traditional music communities of Hawai’i. Fluent in the Hawaiian language and equally versed in the music of Hawai’i and traditional music styles of the continental United States, Nakana possesses the ability to bridge the gaps between these musical traditions in a supportive and educational manner. Beginning his professional music career as the bassist with legendary Hawaiian composers and virtuoso guitarists Dennis Kamakahi and George Kuo, Nakana went on to play with the seminal island bands Kahua, Kupa’aina, The Waimanalo Sunset Band, and The Bluegrass Barnstormers. Currently employed as a Mana Mele music teacher at Jarrett Middle School in Palolo Valley on the island of O'ahu by the Mana Maoli Public Charter School Program, Kumu Nakana draws on his many years as a veteran educator in Hawai'i sharing his deep passion and love of mele with students young and old.
Cameron DeWhitt is a clawhammer banjoist and Old Time musician living in Portland, Oregon. He hosts the weekly podcast Get Up in the Cool: Old Time Music with Cameron DeWhitt and Friends, which features conversations and musical collaborations with today’s most influential traditional musicians, like Jake Blount, Paul Brown, Erynn Marshall and Carl Jones, Gailanne Amundsen, John Reischman, Ken Perlman, Adam Hurt, and Spencer & Rains. As an interviewer, Cameron balances an effusive curiosity for the potential of traditional music with a dogged respect for its origins. Serving as audience surrogate, Cameron asks illuminating questions to Old Time's best and brightest while telling the larger story of the tradition's modern era. And with over 100 episodes released and no signs of slowing, Get Up in the Cool is quickly becoming one of the largest available archives of new Old Time recordings.
“Voices as sweet as songbirds in a flowering tree” - Janine Volkmar Scene Mad River Union. One foggy day while wandering the muddy shores of Northern Californiaʻs Humboldt Bay, long lost sisters Beverly Twist and Nola Pierce at last reunite in sweet harmony. Ever since, these close harmony Sirens have been navigating the deep haunted waters of early jazz and Americana music. From slow, bluesy bends in the river to wild jazzy rapids, Belles of the Levee will take you on a musical cruise into the past on a swift, modern current to share tunes so old theyʻre new!
A prolific singer-songwriter, dancer and square dance caller, the polyrhythmic heat of Evie Ladinʻs clawhammer banjo has been heard from A Prairie Home Companion to Celtic Connections, Lincoln Center to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.
Keith Terry is a renowned percussionist/rhythm dancer, and the founder of the International Body Music Festival. A pioneer in contemporary Body Music with deep ties to traditional forms, Keith produces large-scale intercultural collaborations and educational outreach. Keith brings a cinematic ear to playing bass as tonal percussion, with bells, box, body and toys.
Little Missy is a mother daughter duo featuring traditional and new old time music by Janie Rothfield and daughter, Shona Carr. These two powerhouse old time musicians meld traditional Appalachian style music with their own compositions and songs. The Little Missy sound celebrates their individuality and undeniable genetic connection! With interesting instrumental combinations that include double fiddle, clawhammer banjo, tenor guitar and guitar, hot tunes, soulful ballads and great harmonies, Little Missy doesn't miss!
Janie Rothfield is an American Fiddler and American Old Time clawhammer banjo player who is widely recognized for her traditional and inventive style and her own award winning original tunes. She has been performing, recording and teaching music that is rooted in Traditional American and Celtic Music since her teens when she started playing with older generation musicians from New England, North Carolina and Quebec. Janie has traveled the world with her unique brand of traditional based music including the UK, France, Germany, Holland, Australia, Canada and throughout the USA. She has over 15 recordings to her credit.
Janie currently performs as a solo artist and with HEN’S TEETH (with cellist Nathan Bontrager), with Scottish Singer/Guitarist ALLAN CARR (her husband), with CORACREE (Contra Dance and Folk Band), with Breton Fiddle star, YUNA LEON and with LITTLE MISSY (with her daughter SHONA CARR).
Janie has taught both fiddle and banjo at camps, festivals and workshops around the world and is the founder and director of Janie’s Jumpstart Weekend Music Camps.
SHONA CARR
Shona Carr is an award winning singer and song writer who was born into a musical family rich in traditional Old Time and Celtic Music. She grew up surrounded by fiddle and banjo music from her mother Janie Rothfield, and Scottish traditional singing and Celtic music from her father, Allan Carr who is from Aberdeen, Scotland. Shona’s music and singing reflects the fusion of these musical styles and she is known for her unique voice, song and tune writing. Her original tune “Fly Bird” won the 2014 Best Original Tune at the Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival and she has performed at festivals such as the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Old Songs Festival, Merle Fest, New Bedford Folk Festival and Freshgrass. She has toured with bands The Buck Stops Here and Lost Indian, and is currently in a collective called Cartoon Graveyard that last year learned all of Paul Simon’s Graceland; they have yet to figure out what to do next but it will both be a challenge and a way bring joy to others, which is something Shona is very passionate about. She lives in Staunton, VA and she is also working on a solo release full of originals, which will be out very soon.
NOA LINCOLN
Noa Kekuewa Lincoln is from Keʻei, Moku o Keawe. He is a researcher in Indigenous Crops and Cropping Systems with the University of Hawaiʻi. He is the president of Mala Kaluʻulu, a cooperative farm on Hawaiʻi Island that seeks to restore the traditional breadfruit belt of Kona. He serves on the board of the Kona Producers Cooperative, Ulu Mau Puanui, and ʻAina Momona, and is an advisory council member for Kaulunani Urban and Community Forestry, the Hawaiʻi Ulu Producers Cooperative, and Kuleana Farms. His work focuses on traditional land and agricultural management, and application of indigenous and scientific principles into contemporary land management for improved environmental and social health. Noa will lead a talk during our ʻulu cookoff entitled “Fruitful Future: The current and future state of ‘ulu in Hawai’i”.