2015 Performers

Barn Owls  ★  Betse & Clarke  ★  Ava Honey Bliss  ★  The California Clodhoppers  ★  Canote Brothers   ★  Coupe Duet  ★  Crankset String Band  ★  Cully Cutups ★  Larry Edelman  ★  Flat Rock Stringband  ★  The Forks  ★  The Gallus Brothers  ★  Rich Hartness and Tolly Tollefson  ★  Hi-O Revelers  ★  Amy Hofer  ★  The Horsenecks  ★  Evie Ladin  ★  Jinny Macrae  ★  Brooks Masten  ★  Tony Mates  ★  Lisa McAvoy  ★  Missouri Turnaround  ★  Steph Noll  ★  Kate O’Brien-Clarke ★  Caroline Oakley  ★  Old Time Highway ★ Maris Otter  ★  Jane Palmieri ★  Peas and Carrots Stringband  ★ Peckin’ Out Dough  ★  Port de Berk Cajun Ramblers  ★  Portland Sacred Harp  ★  Professor Banjo  ★  Rattletrap Ruckus  ★  Paul Silveria ★  Charmaine Slaven  ★  The Tallboys  ★  Annalisa Tornfelt  ★  Reeb Willms  ★  Bobby Winstead and the Long Goodbyes  ★  Bonnie Zahnow and WB Reid

Complete List of 2015 Performers

 


 Barn Owls    ↑↑

Concert – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Saturday, January 17 – 12:30p-1:30p

jessicas-favorite

The Barn Owls are an old-timey, country trio from Seattle. One late summer evening, Brittany Newell, Hanna Traynham and Kate Lichtenstein spent hours trading tunes around the woodstove. By the end of the night, they were a band. The Barn Owls bring an intuitive and inventive bent to the old-time and early country music tradition, mixing high energy dance tunes with tight three-part harmonies on traditional and original songs.

  [bio from the Barn Owls website / photo by Jessica C. Levine]

 


Betse & Clarke    ↑↑

Concert – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Friday, January 16 – 9:45p-10:30p

Betse&Clarke

Betse & Clarke explore their love of old time music with
an inventive spirit, taking listeners on a field trip across mountain folkways and new landscapes. Their music is familiar… and totally different; a fiddle and banjo duo with a sense of adventure. Betse Ellis plays fiddle and sings like nobody’s business. Her years with The Wilders proved her passion for Ozark tunes and an unstoppable stage presence. Her early violin studies continue to shape her musicianship through technique and composition. Clarke Wyatt has an original and innovative approach to three-finger banjo. His background as a pianist and composer inform his banjo method as much as his love for old time music. Together, Betse & Clarke give every listener something to appreciate. They perform traditional tunes learned from cherished sources, creative arrangements of familiar and forgotten songs, and original compositions. You can expect to hear something new that reminds you what makes the old music so good.

 


Ava Honey Bliss (caller)    ↑↑

Dance – Tiffany Center Emerald Room  – Friday, January 16 – 10:30p-11:30p

Ava-Honey

Ava Honey spends most of her time in Boise Idaho. She calls dances twice a month, plays guitar and sings with Idyltime. Travels when she can and can break an apple in half with her hands. Peace out.

 


The California Clodhoppers    ↑↑

Family Dance – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Saturday, January 17 – 4:30p-5:30p

Evening Dance – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Saturday, January 17 – 9:45p-11:00p

California-Clodhoppers-2

Straight from sunny northern California, The California Clodhoppers bring driving, dance music played the old way. With Grace Forrest on Fiddle, Jordan Ruyle on banjo, Thomas Angell on Guitar, and Allegra Yellin on bass, their dynamic playing, combined with a commitment to the tradition is guaranteed to get you on your feet and dancing.

 


Canote Brothers    ↑↑

Calling Workshop – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Saturday, January 17 – 4:30p-5:45p

Evening Dance – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Saturday, January 17 – 8:30p-9:45p

Canote

Greg and Jere Canote are identical twins whose music is all about having a good time. They do, you will. It’s steeped in vintage Americana — forgotten fiddle tunes, swing classics, and quirky novelty songs — but with their own twists (and a few of their brilliant original takes on the world around us). They’re fabulous musicians, moving effortlessly among fiddle, guitar, banjo, ukulele, and various hybrids, and their genetically-matched voices recall brother duets from the Blue Sky Boys to the Everlys.

 [bio from the Canote Brothers website]

 


Coupe Duet    ↑↑

Concert – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Saturday, January 17 – 1:30p-2:30p

Coupe-Duet---chris-and-joanna

Joanna Macrae and Chris Miller are the Coupe Duet, a vocal powerhouse that takes inspiration from early American music, singing about heartbreak, the love of a good woman, and murder.

 


Crankset String Band    ↑↑

Evening Dance – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Friday, January 16 – 10:30p-11:30p

Cranksetbw2

Crankset Stringband is a high-geared old-time stringband from Portland, Oregon. It features that notorious catgut scratcher Lisa Ornstein, digging into her old-time roots, helped along by Scott Killops on banjo, Joe Moore on guitar, and Robin Wilcox on stand-up bass. Scott and Joe found Lisa fiddling on a rooftop and joined her on banjo and guitar at a garden party in Portland’s Hawthorne district. In early 2012, she drafted them to back her up on a set of old-time tunes at the end of a weekend-long Contra-dance extravaganza, in an attempt to subvert those folks to square-dance. It was so much fun that they decided to do it again, drafted Robin, and gave themselves a name: Crankset Stringband. You’ll want to be there when they crank out a set of dance tunes at the 2015 Portland Old Time Music Gathering..

 


Cully Cutups    ↑↑

Dance – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Saturday, January 17 – 7:00p-8:30p

Cullybw

Cully Cutups are Caleb Klauder (fiddle), Reeb Willms (guitar), Pete Leone (banjo), and Brian Bagdonas (bass), and are the longest continuously standing NE Portland old time string band, haling from the urban hollers of the Prescott/Alameda Ridge.  Despite the rigors of a grueling schedule of up to one gig a year, and fueled by frequent lineup changes, the Cutups have managed to retain their unique Old Time Highway sound. Sights and sounds of trains, river barges, and the #75 bus, along with the gray rainy weather of the Maritime NW, have left its mark on this group. Shrouded in residual PDX jet fuel and thick woolen clothing, these four unique individuals are charged by the struggle to maintain a cheerful disposition during the long winter months.

The Cutups’ energy is reminiscent of the Mighty Stickervillle Throb. Even a crippled old woman couldn’t resist the urge to cut-a-rug to this Portland powerhouse.

 


Larry Edelman (caller)    ↑↑

Calling Workshop – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Saturday, January 17 – 4:30p-5:45p

Dance – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Saturday, January 17 – 8:30p-9:45p

Larry-Edelman

Larry Edelman has called and played for dances for going on 40 years, delighting both novice and veteran dancers with his humor, enthusiasm, skillful teaching, knowledge of dance history, and colorful calling. Also a musician, he plays fiddle, mandolin, and guitar in the Soda Rock Ramblers, the Percolators, and the Prairie Chickens. Larry travels widely and has called dances and taught hundreds of workshops at camps throughout the U.S. and in Europe, including the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Ashokan, Augusta, Pinewoods, Lady of the Lake, Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp, and many more. He has served as the coordinator of Dance Week at the Augusta Heritage Arts Workshop and the Country Dance and Song Society’s American Dance Week at Pinewoods.

Larry’s calling workshop is titled “A Travelogue of Square Dance Styles,” and he says “During this brief, yet action-packed, session we’ll have a ton of fun dancing as we explore the differences among square dances from a variety of places and periods of time.”


Flat Rock String Band   ↑↑

Dance – Velo Cult – Thursday, January 15 – 8:30p-10:00p

flatrock by Sika Stanton

The Flat Rock Stringband plays Old-Time American stringband music. Originating before the commercial recording industry, before electricity, radio, and mass media, Old-Time music is rooted in a time when people made their own entertainment.

This tradition has continued through the ages much in the same way. It is not so much a kind of music that people perform as a kind of music that people socialize to. It’s a way to turn a living room into a dance hall or a way to enliven a gathering of friends or family.

As much of a tune session between friends as a band, we play the music in the manner that we imagine the old-timers must have: to renew themselves after a day of work, to ennoble the joys of the day or to sweeten its troubles, and to just kick back and enjoy the evening.

While the sky unleashes on us Portlanders for six months straight every year, we’re rocking out in living rooms, rental halls, and pubs with fiddles and banjos, dancing, playing tunes, and enjoying each other’s company.

Flat Rock Stringband is: Brooks Masten (banjo), Robin Wilcox (bass), Linnea Spitzer (fiddle), Eric Bagdonas (guitar).

[bio from the Flat Rock String Band website / photo by Sika Stanton]


The Forks    ↑↑

Clogging Workshop – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Saturday, January 17 – 3:30p-4:30p

Forks

The Forks are an old-time string band from Seattle that plays traditional American country dance music, mostly from rural Appalachia. They especially favor the lively and haunting melodies of Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. They are Paul Michel (fiddle), Dave Leddel (banjo), and Johnny Calcagno (guitar).

 


The Gallus Brothers    ↑↑

Concert – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Friday, January 16 – 8:00p-8:45p

Gallus-Brothers-2

The Gallus Brothers are a country blues duo based in Bellingham, WA. Initially brought about through a series of chance encounters involving pancakes, spoons and a guitar, the brothers have now spent the last decade performing and making music together. Generally you will find Devin Champlin fingerpicking his heart out on the guitar while Lucas Hicks holds down rhythm with a suitcase full of tomfoolery. They are both known to sing, bust down some fiddle/banjo duets, and occasionally jump on a table, stand on each other and juggle while playing a good ol’ tune from way back.

 


Rich Hartness and Tolly Tollefson    ↑↑

Concert – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Saturday, January 17 – 2:30p-3:30p

Rich-and-Tolly-2

Musicians Rich Hartness and Tolly Tollefson live in Greensboro, NC. Both are outstanding fiddlers; Rich is also a great guitar player and Tolly seems to be able to play anything with strings, including ukulele, bass and guitar. Apart from their musical abilities, Rich and Tolly have earned the love and respect of many for their support of friends and colleagues in the old-time music community.

[bio from the Jardown Music website / photo from Su Mo]

 


Hi-O Revelers    ↑↑

Concert – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Saturday, January 17 – 3:30p-4:30p

Hi-O-Revelers

The Hi-O Revelers are Katy Harris and Devin Champlin, currently of Seattle, WA. They love to sing and play a mix of fiddle blues, mandolin rags, and guitar duets with a passion. They draw heavy inspiration from listening to old records, and hanging out in fields at three in the morning.

 


Amy Hofer (caller)    ↑↑

Dance – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Saturday, January 17 – 7:00p-8:30p

Amy Hofer is a caller and fiddler who lives right here in Portland. She helps organize the Every Sunday Square Dance at the Village Ballroom.

[photo by Jeff Lefferts]


Evie Ladin (caller / workshop instructor)    ↑↑

Clogging Workshop – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Saturday, January 17 – 3:30p-4:30p

Family Dance – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Saturday, January 17 – 4:30p-5:30p

EvieLadin-18

Evie Ladin is a banjo player, step-dancer, singer, songwriter and square-dance caller with a lifetime of experience in traditional American cultural arts. She grew up in a trad folk scene up and down the Eastern Seaboard of the US, tours the world, and calls Oakland, California home. The polyrhythmic heat of Evie’s banjo, resonant voice and rhythmic dance have been heard from A Prairie Home Companion to Celtic Connections, Lincoln Center to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Known as a driving force behind San Francisco’s Stairwell Sisters, Evie has two solo releases, co-produced by her duo partner Keith Terry, with whom she tours frequently. She also has two levels of Clogging Instructional DVDs Buckdancing for Beginners and Freestyle!

 


The Horsenecks   ↑↑

Concert – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Friday, January 16 – 8:45p-9:30p

barrygab

Coming from different backgrounds and different continents, Portlander Gabrielle Macrae and Barry Southern of Liverpool, England find common ground playing traditional music on fiddles, guitars, and occasionally two banjos at once. They are joined in the Horsenecks by guitar hero Kevin Sandri and bass master Brian Bagdonas.

 


Jinny Macrae    ↑↑

Song Session – Tiffany Center 3rd Fl. Conference Room – Saturday, January 17 – 2:00p-3:00p

Jinny Macrae likes nothing more than to bust out into song, preferably in three part harmony and depending on the room has been known to not need a microphone – dispensing with the need for pesky equipment. She has played and sung in a variety of bands including Old Time, Gospel, Rhythm and Blues, jazz, Vaudeville, Jug, and Cajun.

 


Brooks Masten    ↑↑

Host of Sunday Cabaret – Spare Room – Sunday, January 18 – 1:30p-4:30p

Brooks not only makes amazing banjos, he plays them as well. As he has the past few years, he’ll be serving as the genial host of our big Sunday cabaret.

 


Tony Mates (caller)  ↑↑

Dance – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Saturday, January 17 – 9:45p-11:00p

A fine fiddler, bassist, guitarist, singer, teacher and dance caller, Tony has appeared at festivals across the nation and is well known in the Pacific Northwest for his work with Northwest Folklife, The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, and Dare to Be Square.

[photo by Dean Wenick]


Lisa McAvoy (caller)   ↑↑

Dance – Velo Cult – Thursday, January 16 – 7:00p-8:30p

Lisacalling2

“Once you step on the dance floor with Lisa calling there will be no stopping the laughter and smiles. It’s often hard to tell who is having a better time at the dance, Lisa or the dancers. She currently resides in Bellingham, WA and calls square dances up and down the west cost.”

 


Missouri Turnaround    ↑↑

Dance – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Saturday, January 17 – 9:15p-10:15p

MTA

Missouri Turnaround plays straightforward midwestern hoedown tunes for dancing, many of them from the repertoire of the legendary fiddler Uncle Bob Walters. Their unusual instrumentation–fiddle (Dave Mount), piano (Martha Thompson), and electric guitar (Brent Martens)–is inspired by recordings of midwestern fiddle music from the 50s and 60s, and in particular by the band “The Mountain Express,” featured in Larry Edelman’s film “Dance to the Music, Listen to the Calls,” documenting a Pennsylvania square dance in 1978. The phrase “Missouri Turnaround” refers to a characteristic midwestern chord progression that the band uses in almost every single tune. Though two of the members can claim midwestern roots, the one who’s most obsessed with midwestern fiddle tunes is from Southern California.

 


Steph Noll (caller)    ↑↑

Dance – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Saturday, January 17 – 7:15p-8:15p

StephNoll

Steph Noll called her first dance around 2007 in the parking lot of Liberty Hall during a workshop given by Bill Martin. Since then she has enjoyed picking up dances from fabulous West Coast callers (and occasionally from a visiting Easterner). She has yet to not feel total delight at the sight of a hall full of grinning, dancing people. Playing music with friends and singing and dancing with her young kids are among her deepest joys, and she’s thrilled that her almost-four year olds have taken an interest in dancing squares (in between stage diving and running circles around the hall.)

 


Kate O’Brien-Clarke    ↑↑

Kids/Family Jam – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Saturday, January 17 – 1:30p-2:30p

KateOBrienClarke

“You’ll find Kate playing with rock bands, country bands, an orchestra and in many living-room jams. She runs a private violin studio in town and has hostessed the kids/family jam at POTMG for 3 years. Send yer kids down to jam with us and learn a new tune!”

 


Caroline Oakley (caller)    ↑↑

Dance – Velo Cult – Thursday, January 15 – 8:30p-10:00p

Caroline2

Caroline Oakley is a musician and dance calling machine who has been teaching and calling old-time community square dances for over a decade. She enjoys fiddling, playing guitar, singing old country songs, growing vegetables, sewing, fermenting things, dancing, and numerous other forms of physical activity. She has called at many of the West-Coast’s premier old-time and bluegrass music festivals. Caroline also teaches music to young families through Music Together, teaches community square dancing in local schools, and with her husband Pete Leone, raises three young boys.

 

 


Old Time Highway    ↑↑

Dance – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Saturday, January 17 – 10:15p-11:15p

oldtimehighwaybw

Old Time Highway features Simon Leone on fiddle, Caroline Oakley on guitar, Pete Leone on banjo, and Mark McIntire on bass until Gus or Benjamin get big enough to complete the family band. Simon’s been listening and moving to old-time dance music since long before he was born. He loves playing fiddle almost as much as he loves playing soccer. He is flanked by his parents and fellow soccer enthusiast Mark Mcintire, to round out one helluva dance band.

[graphic by Bruce Zick]

 

 


Maris Otter    ↑↑

Bar Band – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Friday, January 16 – 7:00p-8:30p

maris-otter

Sean Burke and Andy Sheie founded Maris Otter as an old-time duo in the late aughts as a vehicle for singing tunes with great harmonies (albeit with a healthy dose of fiddle tunes thrown in for good measure). After taking a couple of years off for various significant life events, Sean and Andy restarted the band and started looking beyond the duo, adding Lucas Jones in 2013 and Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2104. Then as now, the fiddling duties are shared around the band; otherwise, Sean plays banjo (and some guitar and mandolin), Andy plays guitar (and occasional banjo), Ryan plays mandolin (and guitar when needed) and Lucas holds down the bass (and drinks the beer). And, if you don’t know what Maris Otter really means, the boys would be happy to tell you over a couple pints of beer.

 

 


Jane Palmieri (caller)    ↑↑

Dance – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Saturday, January 17 – 10:15p-11:15p

Jane-Palmieri

Jane Palmieri is a local Portland caller who has a special fondness for collecting and calling gender-free dances or outright changing dance calls to fit her gay agenda. She puts energy locally into organizing the lively Every Sunday Square Dance. Sometimes you can find her calling at community events, fundraisers, hoedowns, and weddings in the Pacific Northwest.

 


Peckin’ Out Dough    ↑↑

Dance – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Saturday, January 17 – 8:15p-9:15p

peckin-5When two fiddles, a banjo, a guitar and a bass collide, sparks fly! David Cahn and Tony Mates have sawed away on their fiddles for many, many years, and lately David has added the reedy voice of the button accordion. Catherine Alexander has a deft and driving touch on the guitar, and Brigid Blume, brought up in the rough and tumble Chicago Barn dance scene, operates a mean banjo. We met Emily Orling in a bar in Seattle, and it just keeps getting better- she drives us fiercely! We’ve played many a dance.

 


Peas and Carrots Stringband    ↑↑

Dance – Velo Cult – Thursday, January 15 – 7:00p-8:30p

peasandcarrotsbw2

“The Peas & Carrots Stringband has been entertaining NW Oregon audiences for at least 2 months with their unique blend of banjo, fiddle and bass in the Old Time tradition. They are Amy Hofer, Colin Harris, Isaac Enloe, and Jamie Herrmann.

 


Port de Berk Cajun Ramblers    ↑↑

Concert – Spare Room – Wednesday, January 14 – 10:00p-11:00p

Port-to-Berk-bw

The Port de Berk Cajun Ramblers are: Suzy Thompson (fiddle, Cajun accordion, vocals); Eric Thompson (guitar); Allegra Thompson (bass and vocals) all from Berkeley CA; PLUS the Portland OR contingent: Caleb Klauder (drums and vocals) and Reeb Willms (guitar and vocals) of Foghorn fame, PLUS Lisa Ornstein (fiddle). Port de Berk Cajun Ramblers will rock the house with old-style Cajun accordion dancehall classics, plus the early two-fiddle Cajun sounds of Dennis McGee and Ernest Fruge. The band includes four excellent singers and they’ll probably do some honkytonk songs mixed in with the Louisiana Cajun and Creole music. Eric and Suzy were founders of the California Cajun Orchestra (featuring the late great Louisiana-born accordion player Danny Poullard), with whom they played for nearly 20 years, recording 2 award-winning CDs for Arhoolie and winning the Prix Dehors De Nous from the Cajun French Music Association in Louisiana. Suzy did an apprenticeship with fiddler Dewey Balfa in the early 1980s and learned accordion from Danny Poullard. Eric got into Cajun music in the early 1960s after buying a Harry Choates 78. Allegra grew up with the music (her middle name is Danielle, after Danny Poullard) and has recently been playing with the Midnight Ramblers, a fine Bay Area Cajun group. Lisa Ornstein spent time in Louisiana back in the 1970s, researching the links between Cajun and Quebecois music. She leads Portland’s monthly Cajun jam session. Caleb and Reeb have toured and recorded in the Cajun Country Revival with Jesse Lege and Joel Savoy and their Foghorn cohorts, Sammy Lind and Nadine Landry. Together again for the first time!!!

 


Portland Sacred Harp    ↑↑

Intro Workshop – Tiffany 3rd Floor Conference Rm – Saturday, January 17 – 12:30p-1:00p

Singing – Tiffany 3rd Floor Conference Rm – Saturday, January 17 – 1:00p-2:00p

Sacred Harp shape note singing is a community musical and social activity, emphasizing participation, not performance. Everyone is invited to come and sing (or just listen), regardless of musical experience or ability.

 

 


Professor Banjo   ↑↑

Kids Concert – Tiffany Center Emerald Room – Saturday, January 17 – 2:30p-3:30p

Professor-Banjo

Paul Silveria performs for families as the banjo-slinging, old-time singing “Professor Banjo” entertaining children with great old-time music that parents will enjoy too! Paul has been performing for families for since 2007, and for the past two years, he has been bringing his interactive shows to schools across Vancouver BC.

 

 


Rattletrap Ruckus    ↑↑

Concert – Spare Room – Wednesday, January 14 – 7:30p-8:30p

rtr_john_hutchins_somewhere_in_alaska

Crooked waltzes, wicked tangos and rob-you-blind ragtime stomps led by a cacaphonic quartet of accordion, tenor banjo, cello and bass. Rattletrap Ruckus is Jenny Rosa Lara, Casey Connor, Clea Taylor, and Lucas Hicks.

“We’re in an age when everyone’s doing everything that’s ever been done. But nobody sounds like Rattletrap Ruckus.” – Peter McCracken, Director, Festival of American Fiddle Tunes.

 


Paul Silveria (caller)   ↑↑

Dance – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Saturday, January 17 – 8:15p-9:15p

Paul-calling

Paul Silveria has been calling traditional square dances for more than a decade. He began studying with legendary dance caller Bill Martin back in 2002. Since then he’s performed at hundreds of festivals, venues, and community events across the west coast! He currently lives in Vancouver BC, where he will be hosting Dare To Be Square West in the fall of 2015!

 

 


Charmaine Slaven (caller)   ↑↑

Dance – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Saturday, January 17 – 9:15p-10:15p

Charmaine-4

Based in Seattle, Charmaine Slaven started calling dances after inspiration from attending the POTG & Dare to be Square in 2006. Charmaine has become well known around the NW as an instigator of all things music and dance, she brings great energy & pizazz to the dance floor and her concise teaching of dances is appreciated by dancers of all levels. She’s also a fine guitarist, singer, and flatfooter, and plays old-time, country, and blues with The Tallboys and Squirrel Butter.

 


  The Tallboys   ↑↑

Dance – Tiffany Center Crystal Room – Saturday, January 17 – 7:15p-8:15p

Tallboys

The Tallboys formed up in 2003, and have been rockin’ the PNW Old-Time Scene since. Anchored in Seattle, WA – they hold forth as the house band on 2nd & 4th Mondays at the popular Tractor Tavern Square Dances. The current line-up of Joe Fulton – Fiddle; Charlie Beck – Banjo; Charmaine Slaven – guitar; John Hurd – bass are sure to stir up the dances at this year’s Portland Old Time Gathering!

 


Annalisa Tornfelt   ↑↑

Kids Showcase & Open Mic – Emerald Room – Saturday, January 17 – 12:00p-1:15p

Host of Teens Jam – 2nd Floor Parlor Room B – Saturday, January 17 – 3:30p – 4:30p

Annalisa-Tornfelt

Annalisa Tornfelt grew up in Anchorage, Alaska and moved to Portland, OR as soon as she turned eighteen. She was the oldest of five kids and some of her fondest memories were playing music with her siblings, falling asleep to Mom and Dad’s string quartet rehearsals in the evening and playing violin in Handel’s Messiah. When she was twelve, Annalisa attended the Anchorage Folk Music Camp. There she discovered the joy of songwriting, fiddle playing, square dance, jamming, and making friends through playing music. Her family went to the Hunter Creek Bluegrass Festival and Annalisa was witness to “playing tunes around the campfire” experience. Enough said. Currently, Annalisa plays fiddle and sings in the band, Black Prairie and runs her own private violin and fiddle studio, teaching lessons to adults and children. She is also releasing a new solo album March 10th, 2015.

 

 


Reeb Willms   ↑↑

Vocal Workshop – Tiffany Center 3rd Fl. Conference Room – Saturday, January 17 – 3p-4p

Reeb

Reeb Willms hails from the high desert plateaus of Central Washington state and the small wheat farming town of Waterville. Music was always a source of joy while growing up surrounded by vast spaces, big skies, the distant North Cascade mountains, and the breathtaking colors of the desert. Her father and uncles are musical, and she was often encouraged to join them. While singing was always a part of life, Reeb didn’t start performing until her early twenties in Bellingham, WA, where she lived for many years. Things grew from there as she discovered old time music and met musicians with whom she formed bands and lasting friendships. These days you can find her teaching guitar and singing at various workshops as well as performing and touring the globe with the Foghorn Stringband, and the Caleb Klauder Country Band.

 


Bobby Winstead & the Long Goodbyes   ↑↑

Concert – Spare Room – Wednesday, January 14 – 8:45p-9:45p

Bobby-Winstead

Recent upstarts in Portland’s buzzing honky tonk scene, Bobby and the Long Goodbyes hope to get your boots on the dance floor with a blend of early country gems and honky tonk originals. Inspired by the tradition of the straight-backed stalwarts of the genre, they hope to channel both the exuberance and tenderness of that era with renewed energy for today’s honky-tonkers. Band members include Jack Dwyer on electric guitar and mandolin, Ellie Hakanson on fiddle, Barry Walker on pedal steel, Robin Wilcox on bass, and widely-acclaimed banjo craftsman Brooks Masten on the drum kit. It’s music to bring people together in the dance hall, and to put a spring in your two-step and perhaps even a tear in your eye. The band is honored to make their first POTMG appearance!

 

 


 Bonnie Zahnow and WB Reid   ↑↑

Jam Session Leaders – Moon and Sixpence – Thursday, January 15 – 7:00p-10:00p

This husband and wife duo present a wide range of musical traditions: old-time country songs and fiddle tunes, string blues music from Mississippi and Memphis, and Mexican songs and dance tunes. Both play fiddle and guitar, and WB also plays a variety of other stringed instruments.

[bio from WB and Bonnie’s website…]


Complete List of 2015 Performers    ↑↑

Ava Honey Bliss
Barn Owls
Betse & Clarke
The California Clodhoppers
Canote Brothers
Coupe Duet
Crankset String Band
The Cully Cutups
Larry Edelman
Flat Rock String Band
The Forks
Gallus Brothers
Rich Hartness
Hi-O Revelers
Amy Hofer
Evie Ladin
Gabrielle Macrae and Barry Southern
Jinny Macrae
Brooks Masten
Tony Mates
Lisa McAvoy
Missouri Turnaround
Steph Noll
Kate O’Brien-Clarke
Caroline Oakley
Old Time Highway
Maris Otter
Jane Palmieri
Peas and Carrots Stringband
Peckin’ Out Dough
Port de Berk Cajun Ramblers
Portland Sacred Harp Singers
Professor Banjo
Rattletrap Ruckus
Paul Silvera
Charmaine Slaven
The Tallboys
Annalisa Tornfelt
Reeb Willms
Bobby Winstead and the Long Goodbyes
Bonnie Zahnow and W.B. Reid