2017 Performers

Aarun Carter & Jonathan Trawick  ★ Amy Hofer  ★  Annalisa Tornfelt  ★  Betsy Branch ★  Bow Weevils  ★  Brittany Newell & Johnny Fitzpatrick  ★ Brooks Masten  ★  Canote Brothers ★ Caroline Oakley  ★  Charmaine Slaven and Charlie Beck  ★  Double File  ★  Flat Rock String Band  ★ Foghorn Stringband  ★   Grace Forrest & Friends ★ Gros Brouillard Cajun Band ★  Hanna Traynam  ★  Hi-O Squirrel Stringband  ★  Jack Dwyer ★  Jack Dwyer and Nathan Royal  ★ Jane Palmieri  ★  Janie Rothfield’s Old Time Trio  ★  John Luna ★  Kate O’Brien-Clarke  ★  Kelsey Nelsen  ★  Leela Grace  ★  Maggie Lind  ★  Marian Macrae Herrmann ★  Maris Otter ★ Marta King  ★ Meghan Merker ★ Nadine Landry ★ Ned Leager ★ Pete Peterson  ★  Portland Sacred Harp ★ Portland Stringband Class ★ Ray and Barb LeachRed Yarn  ★ Ron Kane ★ Sammy Lind  ★  Steph Noll ★   Tatiana Hargreaves ★   Thick Biscuit ★ The Horsenecks ★  The Waysiders Country Band  ★  Thompsonia  ★ Tony Mates  ★  WB Reid and Bonnie Zahnow


Aarun Carter & Jonathan Trawick

Square dance, Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor Saturday, January 14, 2017 10-11:00 pm

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Aarun & Jonathan are a musical match made in heaven. Known for his smooth, clear voice and authentic phrasing, Jonathan “JT” Trawick continues a rich tradition of singing from deep within the Ozark hills. Just this year, Aarun was crowned 2016 Oregon State Fiddle Champion, 2016 Spirit of the West Champion and finished Top 10 in the Grand National Fiddle Championships and Top 5 in the Grand National Swing Championships. In 2013, Aarun & Jonathan were hand-picked to record Volume 1 of the Deep End Sessions, a widely acclaimed project lauded by both the Los Angeles Times and The Huffington Post. Volume 1 was released in May 2014 and voted a Top 5 Album of the year by Northwest Music Scene. In October 2015, Aarun & Jonathan released Ida Red, a cover of the Bob Wills classic with their western swing dance band, Well Swung. The recording was voted Top 5 in the Western Swing Song category by the Academy of Western Artists. Quickly becoming known for their tight harmonies and expert performances of classics, Aarun & Jonathan carry the flame of authenticity into the future.


Amy Hofer ↑↑

Square Dance Caller – Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 8-9:00 Pm

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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.


Annalisa Tornfelt ↑↑

Kids’ Open Mic – Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 1-1:50 pm – Sign up 12:45 – 1:00 pm
Saturday Concert – Tiffany Center, 2nd Floor Crystal Room East – Saturday, January 14 – 6-6:50 pm
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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.

Kids’ Open Mike: Share your talents and see the next generation of POTMG performers! One song per child. 12:45 pm – sign up with Annalisa at the stage.


Betsy Branch ↑↑

Appalachian Clogging Workshop – Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 5:00 – 6:00 pm

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Betsy Branch is a Portland-based fiddle teacher and dance fiddler, playing regionally for contra and English Country Dances, as well as fiddling for clogging and Sean-nós dancing. She has also been the Associate Music Director for Portland’s Christmas Revels company since 2006. She has collaborated with Leela Grace since 2011. She teaches out of her home in SE Portland.


Bow Weevils ↑↑

Family Square Dance, – Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 3-3:50 pm
Teen Jam – Tiffany Center, Conference Room 3rd Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 4-4:50 pm

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The Bow Weevils are Olympia, WA kids who love camping at music festivals together, playing for dances, and busking. They are excited to be playing for the family dance this year, and will also be leading the teen-jam. The Bow Weevils are: Rizley Cox, Hatcher Cox, Ellie Davis, Annie Davis, and Ruby Neatherlin. They play various and ever-changing combinations of fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, washboard, and their voices.


Brittany Newell & Johnny Fitzpatrick ↑↑

Saturday concert – Tiffany Center, 2nd Floor Crystal Room East – Saturday, January 14 – 9-10:00 pm
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We met years ago as students in Seattle where we caught the old time bug, by way of the Tallboys and Foghorn Stringband. Since then, we have been active participants in the Seattle Subversive Square Dance Society (S4), while exploring this old music a little deeper in our own directions.
Brittany is primarily a fiddle player, and Johnny is primarily a banjo player, though dabbling in other instruments and singing together is a joy we both share. We tend to come together on a random assortment of fiddle tunes, with a few bits of blues, bluegrass and old country songs strewn along as well. We find joy in the particulars of the music, as well as the friends we’ve made along the way, which is why we keep playing!


Brooks Masten ↑↑

Host of Sunday Cabaret – Spare Room – Sunday, January 15 – 1:30-4:30 pm
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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.


Canote Brothers ↑↑

Saturday Concert – Tiffany Center, 2nd Floor Crystal Room East – Saturday, January 14 – 7-7:50 pm

Back-up Old Time Guitar Workshop – Crystal Room East – Saturday, January 14 1-1:50 pm- Jere Canote

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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.

Old Time Guitar Workshop – How to keep the fiddler happy! We’ll work on a nice, solid Boom Chuck rhythm, some bass runs, and how to figure out which chords to play when! (for folks who know the basic handful of chords and can hold onto a flatpick!)


Caroline Oakley ↑↑

Family Square Dance, – Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 3-3:50 pm
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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.


Charmaine Slaven and Charlie Beck ↑↑

Cranky Show/Workshop -Tiffany Center, Conference Room 3rd Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 5-6:00 pm
charmaine-slaven_500Crankies are not just grumpy people, they’re a beautiful art form that visually illustrates a story or song with a moving scroll of paper or fabric, often employing shadow puppets, and lots of imagination. Join Squirrel Butter, Charlie Beck & Charmaine Slaven, as they perform a few different crankies for you, and do a bit of show and tell of their crankie theaters, shadow puppets, and hopefully get you started on creating your own!


Double File ↑↑

Square dance – Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 8-9:00 pm
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Double File includes multi-instrumentalists Sophie and Isaac Enloe, and Maggie and Patrick Lind.


Flat Rock Stringband ↑↑

Square Dance – Velo Cult – Thursday Night – 8 – 9:00 pm
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Featuring Linnea Spitzer on fiddle, Brooks Masten on banjo, Robin Wilcox on bass, and Eric Bagdonas on guitar, the Flat Rock Stringband has been playing old-time tunes together around the Portland area since 2009. The band’s name can be explained by a phrase found twice in Kesey’s Sometimes a Great Notion that refers to how much it rains in the Northwest.


Foghorn Stringband ↑↑

Friday Concert – Tiffany Center, Emerald room 4th Floor – Friday, January 13 – 9:00-10:15 pm
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Credited for igniting the Old Time Renaissance in the Northwest, Foghorn Stringband continues to stand out as the shining gold standard for American Stringband music. With their 8th album in hand, Devil in the Seat, thousands of shows and over a decade of touring under their belts, it’s no surprise that this band, as proclaimed by Stuart Mason, The Fiddle Freak, “has blossomed into a full-blown force of nature that threatens world domination”. Through all of this, they’ve never let the music grow cold; instead Foghorn has been steadily proving that American Roots music is a never ending well of inspiration. Today Foghorn Stringband features the intertwining harmonies of founding members Stephen “Sammy” Lind and Caleb Klauder, along with powerhouse vocalists Reeb Willms and Nadine Landry, all of whom bring a wealth of songs, instruments and traditions making them a festival favorite from coast to coast and around the globe.


Grace Forrest ↑↑

Square dance -Tiffany Center, Crystal Room East 2nd Floor – Friday, January 13 – 10:30-11:30 pm
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This band brings you driving dance music played the only way we know how. With Grace Forrest on Fiddle, Maggie Lind on banjo, Thomas Angell on Guitar, and Patrick Lind on bass, their dynamic playing, combined with a commitment to the tradition is guaranteed to get you on your feet and dancing.


Gros Brouillard Cajun Band ↑↑

Wednesday Kick off Party – The Spare Room – Wednesday, January 11 – 8:30-10 pm
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(Comprised of Foghorn Stringband and Eric & Suzy Thompson)
A new band of old favorites, Gros Brouillard makes “kickass Cajun music,” according to fiddler Suzy Thompson. Meaning “big fog” in Cajun French, Gros Brouillard is Portland’s Foghorn Stringband with Berkeley’s Eric and Suzy Thompson. The sextet features two fiddlers and other multi-instrumentalist members who will be switching off throughout the night. The Thompsons are steeped in Cajun music, from Suzy’s studying with Dewey Balfa, to their leading California Cajun Orchestra for many years, and their longtime current band, the Aux Cajunals. In Portland, the Foghorns are the shining gold standard for old-time string band music. They have issued seven albums and put on thousands of concerts and dances around the country and beyond. When the Cajun bug bit the Foghorns, they added it to their American roots repertoire.


Hanna Traynham↑↑

Song Session – Tiffany Center, Conference Room 3rd Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 1-1:50 pm
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Hanna Traynham grew up in rural Southwestern Virginia in a family steeped in Old Time music. She learned to play banjo from her father on a banjo he made when she was born. Hanna loves to sing unrefined duets of old gospel music and lonesome traditional ballads. She is a member of The Barn Owls which plays a collection of vintage country, old time tunes, and songs with multi-part harmonies. She will be leading the song session with Marian Macrae Herrmann for the first time this year.


Hi-O Squirrel Stringband ↑↑

Square dance – Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 9-10:00 pm
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Hi-O Squirrel is a band comprised of two duos; Devin Champlin, fiddle, and Katy Harris, bass, are the Hi-O Revelers. Charmaine Slaven, guitar, and Charlie Beck, banjo, are Squirrel Butter. All lovers for the old music and dance, they aim to rock your face in the traditional fashion.


Jack Dwyer ↑↑

Mandolin Workshop – Tiffany Center, Crystal Room East 2nd Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 2-2:50 pm
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Jack Dwyer is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, and teacher based in Portland, OR. He performs and teaches around the country and works as an adjunct on the faculty of Lewis and Clark College. He has taught at various Northwest festivals and workshops including, the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Wintergrass, the Mandolin Symposium, the Olympia Old-Time Festival, The Bellingham Folk Festival, and the Portland Old-time Gathering.

The mandolin workshop will teach some standard festival repertoire, covering a range of difficulty. We’ll go through each song phrase by phrase. Recording devices are encouraged. Also, we’ll discuss some essential techniques for playing both up tempo fiddle tunes as well as slower tunes and waltzes.


Jack Dwyer and Nathan Royal ↑↑

Bar Band – Tiffany Center, Crystal room 2nd floor , Friday night – 5:30-6:30 pm
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Jack Dwyer and Nathan Royal blend bluegrass, oldtime, western swing, and gypsy jazz in an exciting duo performance featuring precision instrumental work, well-matched harmony singing, and powerful original compositions.  Jack (mandolin, guitar, vocals) and Nathan (guitar, vocals) both have roots in Anchorage Alaska where they met years ago teaching at the Alaska City Folk Arts Camp.  After playing together informally at various festivals and jams they have recently begun touring and are currently recording a CD.


Jane Palmieri ↑↑

Square Dance Caller – Velo Cult Thursday, January 12, 2017 9-10 pm
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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.


Janie Rothfield’s Old Time Trio ↑↑

Square dance – Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 7-8:00 pm

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Janie Rothfield’s Old Time Trio is led by award winning old time fiddler, banjo player, tune maker and recording artist, Janie Rothfield who is bringing with her to the NW two of old time music’s finest; Pete Peterson and Kellie Allen (from The Orpheous Supertones with Walt Koken and Claire Milliner). Pete is a master of the Charlie Poole style 3 finger and clawhammer banjo, as well as a fine guitarist and singer and Kellie is known for her outstanding guitar and bass playing and excellent singing. The combination of Janie’s fine traditional fiddling with Pete and Kellie’s fine accompaniment on guitar, banjo and upright bass, and tight harmony singing creates a sound that is part of old time music’s traditional past and present. Traditional old time songs (Carter Family, Louvin Brothers, Charlie Poole), traditional and original Janie tunes, with great singing-Jane’s Gang Trio is a whole lot of fun!


John Luna ↑↑

Square Dance Caller – Velo Cult – Thursday Night – 8 – 9 Pm
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John got hooked on old time music and dance in the late 1970’s while living in Gainesville, FL and dancing with the Cross Creek Cloggers, a dance troupe that performed at music festivals across the South. Moving to Blacksburg VA in 1980, John began playing the fiddle, learning from old time musicians in the area and playing for dances. John honed his dance calling skills from many dance callers in the Appalachian region, developing his own lively style of calling. Since moving to Corvallis in the early 90’s, John has continued to call old time square dances at Grange halls, community centers, and festivals up and down the Pacific Northwest. He and his wife Sue live near Corvallis. Photo by David Paul Bayles.


Kate O’Brien-Clarke ↑↑

Kids’/Family Jam – Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 12-12:50 pm
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Kate is a classically trained violinist with 10 years teaching experience, teaching from the classical perspective, utilizing many aspects of the Suzuki Method as well as her training in the Western Classical school. She has played violin and sung in various rock/pop and folk bands in Portland, OR and also plays and sings in a band called Calico Rose. Recently, she is enjoying time spent writing her own music. She believes that everyone and anyone can learn to play an instrument. She plays and teaches Old-Time fiddle and improvisation techniques.


Kelsey Nelsen ↑↑

Square Dance Caller-Tiffany Center, Crystal Room East 2nd Floor – Friday, January 13, 10:30 – 11:30 pm

Cranky Workshop – Tiffany Center, 3rd Floor Conference Room, Saturday, Jan. 14, 5:00 – 6:00 pm

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Kelsey Nelsen is an artist and square dance caller who lives on Lopez Island in Washington state’s San Juan Islands. She recently took up square dance calling and has been actively organizing and putting on square dances in the San Juans for the last few years. She also calls at dances around the northwest and at the Every Sunday Square Dance here in Portland. This is her first time calling at the Gathering. She created the beautiful poster for last year’s Gathering.


Leela Grace ↑↑

Appalachian Clogging Workshop – Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 5:00-6:00 pm
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Leela is a nationally-known singer, songwriter, banjo player, recording artist, percussive dancer and teacher of music and dance. Originally from Missouri, she spent a beautiful 8 years in Portland, teaching popular banjo, by-ear harmony singing, and Appalachian clogging classes. In 2014, Leela embarked on the new adventure of motherhood and in late 2015, Leela and her family moved to northern Vermont following a job opportunity for her husband. After many “adventures” in the snowy northern lands of the east, she has returned to the Pacific Northwest, inspired and ready to resume teaching and performing in her home community.

Leela has performed and taught nationally for over 25 years, first with her family, and now as a solo musician and with her sister Ellie Grace (as Leela and Ellie Grace – check this video of them clogging together). As a teacher of music and dance, Leela has inspired literally thousands of school children, banjo students, percussive dancers, and singers of all ages through the classes, school assemblies, week-long camps, and lessons that she has taught across the U.S. and Canada since she was little more than a child herself. She is a kind, entertaining, experienced teacher who offers clear, understandable instruction to singers, musicians, and dancers of all levels.


Maggie Lind ↑↑

Claw Hammer Banjo Workshop – Tiffany Center, Crystal Room East 2nd Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 4-5:00 pm
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Maggie Lind has been playing music for and calling square dances for more than a decade. She has drawn much of her calling repertoire from her mentors Bill Martin and Phil Jamison. Her enthusiasm, skillful teaching, repertoire of traditional square dances, and sung calling style inspires novice and experienced dancers alike. She has performed, called dances, and taught old-time music at Seattle’s Folklife Festival, the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, the Berkeley Old-Time Music Convention, Pickathon Roots Music Festival, and the Portland Old-Time Music Gathering, as well as countless weddings, parties, corporate events, hoedowns, street fares, house parties and campgrounds.

Claw hammer banjo workshop – Jamming Skills: This workshop is for players that have a pretty good grasp of the basic clawhammer “bum ditty” rhythm and want to improve on playing with others. We will learn one or two tunes to work on playing by ear, backing up a fiddler, and using melody, rhythm and knowledge of basic chords to make jamming more comfortable.


Marian Macrae Herrmann ↑↑

Song Session – Tiffany Center, Conference Room 3rd Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 1-1:50 pm
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Portlander Marian Macrae Herrmann (The Macrae Sisters) is a fiddler and music educator who has been involved in music from a very early age. She loves singing and will be leading the song session with Hanna Traynam. Bring your instruments and play and sing along.


Maris Otter ↑↑

Wednesday Kick off Party – The Spare Room – Wednesday, January 11 – 7-8 pm

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Maris Otter is an old-time stringband from Portland, Oregon. Sean Burke and Andy Sheie formed the band as a duo in 2008 based on their shared love of old-time fiddle tunes and harmony singing, and, as a duo, freely switched between guitar, banjo, and fiddle as the tunes required. The duo expanded to a full band in 2013 with the addition of Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Bagdonas, and Lucas Jones, but even as a full band the members continue to trade instruments over the course of their sets. The band has performed at venues around the Willamette Valley and at the annual Portland Old-Time Music Gathering, and can be found on the first Sunday of every month playing tunes in the corner booth at Saraveza in North Portland.


Marta King ↑↑

Thursday Square Dance Caller – Velo Cult – Thursday, January 12 – 7-8 pm
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Growing up in Portland, Marta has been attending square dances since she was a rascally teenager. She first started calling three years ago at a Dare To Be Square West event in LA, and now serves on the Every Sunday Square Dance organizing committee. Marta is grateful for all the support and guidance she has received from Portland’s amazing community of callers and musicians!


Nadine Landry ↑↑

Upright Bass Workshop – Tiffany Center, Conference Room 3rd Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 2-2:50 pm
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Nadine Landry was born and raised in a musical family on the Gaspe Peninsula on the east coast of Quebec. Equally comfortable on guitar and upright bass, she has lent her talents to various bands ranging from old time to honky tonk to swing and Cajun. She is a member of The Foghorn Stringband, The Cajun Country Revival and plays as a duo with Stephen “Sammy” Lind.

Upright bass workshop:
This workshop, for intermediate players, will emphasize providing a solid rhythm for jams and band settings. Participants will get to practice good left and right hand techniques while familiarizing themselves with the fingerboard. Sure there’s gonna be lots of 1-5 but we’ll work on incorporating and understanding bass runs too!
Please bring your own bass – we’re sorry we can’t provide any.


Ned Leager ↑↑

Square dance Caller – Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 7-8 pm
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Ned Leager started calling dances way back in the 20th century during the Carter administration. He claims the North Carolina tradition of running sets as his foundation and has built a rickety and haphazard, but entertaining, edifice of dance calls from there. He ventured into contra dance calling but has reformed and has been clean for quite a while now. His favorite figure is the Georgia Rangtang and he loves to rhyme “big left toe” with “Mexico” when directing dancers where to grab ’em and where they should go once they have ’em.”


Pete Peterson ↑↑

3 Finger Banjo Workshop – Tiffany Center, Conference Room – 3rd Floor – Saturday January 14 – 3-3:50 pm,
Pete Peterson fell in love with old-time banjo more than 50 years ago, and says “When everyone else wanted to sound like Tommy Jarrell, I wanted to sound like Charlie Poole.” In fact, he owns one of Poole’s banjos. “It seems to know some tunes better than others,” Peterson says. He used that banjo to win the Grand Prize Three-Finger Banjo award at the Charlie Poole festival in Eden, NC and has been a frequent prizewinner at Clifftop. He currently plays banjo in the Orpheus Supertones (with Walt Koken, Clare Milliner, Hilary Dirlam, and his wife Kellie Allen) and in several other bands, including the Jane Rothfield Trio (with Jane and Kellie). He writes articles and reviews for the Old-time Herald and lives in Oxford PA, where he and Kellie host music parties and house concerts.

3 Finger Banjo Workshop
We will start by learning a basic thumb-lead two-finger banjo style and then add third finger to play in Charlie Poole’s style. Poole played in a band with fiddle and guitar; Jane Rothfield (f) and Kellie Allen (g) will show how the banjo fits into a string band sound and teach some of Poole’s greatest hits. Most importantly, we hope to show how much fun one can have playing these tunes and songs.


Portland Sacred Harp ↑↑

Shape Note Singing – Tiffany Center, Conference Room 3rd Floor – Saturday, January 14 12-12:50
Sacred Harp is a uniquely American tradition that brings communities together to sing four-part hymns and anthems. It is a proudly inclusive and democratic part of our shared cultural heritage. Participants are not concerned with re-creating or re-enacting historical events. Our tradition is a living, breathing, ongoing practice passed directly to us by generations of singers, many gone on before and many still living.

All events welcome beginners and newcomers, with no musical experience or religious affiliation required. Look here for more info on the Portland chapter.


Ray and Barb Leach ↑↑

Thursday Jam – Moon & Sixpence – Thursday, January 12 – 7-10 pm
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Fiddler Ray Leach and banjo player Barb Leach love to jam. They have been running the Centralia Campout for 14 years and can be found hosting jams at their home and at many a music festival and campout. They join us for the first time this year as hosts of the Moon and Sixpence jam on Thursday night. Come play some tunes!


Red Yarn ↑↑

Kid’s Concert-Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Saturday, January 14 -2-2:50 pm
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Andy Furgeson was born and raised in Austin, Texas. Since committing himself full time to Red Yarn in June 2012, Andy has performed at hundreds of venues and events, taught music and puppetry to thousands of students, and touched the lives of countless families. Red Yarn is a dynamic family performer who weaves folksongs and puppetry into engaging shows for all ages. With his energetic performances and lush folk-rock recordings, this red-bearded bard shares positive values while reinvigorating American folklore for younger generations. In June 2015, Red Yarn released Deep Woods Revival, the follow-up to his debut album. With two albums, a national tour, and a TV pilot under his belt, Red Yarn is taking his creative folklore project to a national scale.


Ron Kane and Meghan Merker ↑↑

Meghan Merker and Ron Kane have informed us that they regretfully will not be able to participate in the Gathering this year. Their ranch sitter is having an emergency medical situation and they are not able to find replacement at this late date. To further complicate matters they are snowed in in SW Montana. We will miss them and we hope they can join us next year.

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Sammy Lind ↑↑

Fiddle Workshop – Tiffany Center, Crystal Room East 2nd Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 3-3:50 pm
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Sammy Lind was born and raised in a musical family in Minnesota. He moved to Portland in 1996 for college and soon after, co-founded The Foghorn Stringband with some buddies who shared his passion for traditional old time music. Sammy travels the globe performing and teaching a vast repertoire of tunes from Appalachia, the Midwest and anywhere else he finds “a keeper”. His playing reflects tremendous respect and passion for all the fiddle players and old recordings he has learned from. Sammy left Portland in 2013 to live in Whitehorse, Yukon and now resides in Pointe-A-La-Croix, Quebec with his wife/bandmate, Nadine Landry.

This workshop is an advanced/intermediate old time fiddle workshop. Sammy will teach 2 tunes, breaking them down phrase-by-phrase, showing the bowing and relaying any historical information that is significant, or just plain hilarious. Come play some tunes!


Steph Noll ↑↑

Square Dance Caller – Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 9-10:00 pm
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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 six year olds have taken an interest in dancing squares (in between stage diving and running circles around the hall.)


Tatiana Hargreaves
with Allison deGroot and Leo Shannon
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Friday Concert – Tiffany center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Friday, January 13 – 8-8:45 pm

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Tatiana Silver Hargreaves is a violin player from Oregon. Since releasing her first solo album “Started Out To Ramble” in 2009 (produced by Bruce Molsky and featuring Sarah Jarosz, Mark Schatz, Alex Hargreaves, and more), Tatiana Hargreaves has toured with musicians from Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch, to Laurie Lewis, Bruce Molsky, and Darol Anger. From being the second woman to place first at the Clifftop Appalachian Fiddle Contest in 2009 to the 2015 release of an EP with bassist Ethan Jodziewicz featuring traditional and original material, Tatiana is dedicated to respecting and preserving oldtime and bluegrass traditions while simultaneously seeking her own musical voice and exploring new ways of approaching these styles. In 2012 and 2013 she attended the Acoustic Music Seminar at the Savannah Music Festival, collaborating with other young acoustic musicians to explore contemporary approaches to traditional American roots genres. In the winter of 2015 she participated in the Dosti Music Project, a State Department funded program that brings together musicians from Pakistan, India and the US for a month of musical diplomacy and collaboration. Early 2016 saw three months of intensive study at La Fundación Alejo Carpentier in Havana, Cuba researching the role of the violin in Cuban music. She is most recently featured on Laurie Lewis’s new release The Hazel And Alice Sessions. Currently, Tatiana is pursuing a degree in ethnomusicology at Hampshire College and researching “the fiddle camp phenomenon.”

Allison and Tatiana brings together two women on the forefront of American traditional acoustic music. In this new duo, clawhammer banjo innovator Allison de Groot (Molsky’s Mountain Drifters) and fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves (Laurie Lewis, Dave Rawlings Machine) join forces to explore the boundaries of Appalachian stringband music. Having both studied with musicians such as Bruce Molsky and Darol Anger in addition to more traditional masters, Allison and Tatiana share a musical vocabulary that reflects on tradition while also utilizing new techniques and sounds.

Allison has toured all over the world with various groups, performing at venues such as Trafalgar Square in London, Newport Folk Festival and other major festivals across the US and Canada. She combines love and passion for old-time music, technical skill and a creative approach to the banjo. Allison has immersed herself in American roots music through festivals such as the Appalachian String Band Festival in West Virginia, making pilgrimages to musical communities in North Carolina and participating in the acoustic music scene in Boston, MA.

Leo Shannon is from Seattle and has been a member of the Onlies, an accomplished old time trio, with two of his childhood friends since a young age. He grew up going to old time campouts and music festivals. A multi instrumentalist and singer, he and his band mates are currently attending college.


Thick Biscuit String Band ↑↑

Thursday Square Dance – Velo Cult – Thursday, January 12 – 9-10:00 pm

Thick Biscuit String Band is delighted to play the last shift of the Thursday night square dance at the Velo Cult. Thick Biscuit is composed of Portlanders Hanna Traynam on banjo, Jinny Macrae on mandolin, Bobby Winstead on guitar, Seattleite Tony Mates on bass and new Californian Chris Miller on fiddle.


The Horsenecks ↑↑

Thursday Square Dance – Velo Cult – Thursday, January 12 – 7-8:00 pm

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The Horsenecks play hard hitting Old Time and early Bluegrass string band music. Made up of veterans of the Portland old time music scene, they include Portlander Gabrielle Macrae on fiddle, Liverpudlian Barry Southern on banjo, and the infamous Brian Bagdonas and Kevin Sandri on bass and guitar.


The Waysiders Country Band ↑↑

Wednesday Kick off Party – The Spare Room – Wednesday, January 11 – 10:30 – Midnight
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The Waysiders are from Portland, OR and play classic and original country music, featuring the songwriting of Gabrielle Macrae. Sisters Joanna and Gabrielle Macrae front the band with close vocal harmonies of the kind that only happens between siblings while the band brings a distinctively vintage sound to the new and old music they play. Drawing on the traditions of Swing, Rock and Roll, Old Time, Rhythm and Blues, and Cajun music, The Waysiders deliver a new brand of classic country all their own. Rounding out the band are Jamie Herrmann on bass, Don Lawry on drums and Barry Southern on guitar.


Thompsonia ↑↑

Saturday concert – 2nd Floor Crystal Room East – Saturday, January 14 – 8-8:50 pm
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Thompsonia combines Eric & Suzy Thompson’s deep devotion to southern roots music with daughter Allegra’s fresh perspective, creating feel-good music that richochets between the rowdy and the sentimental, with an abundance of groove and a bit of a quirky edge. Suzy and Allegra’s genetically-matched vocals (dubbed “The Everly Sisters sound” by Geoff Muldaur) are featured, along with stellar lead playing from Eric on mandolin and guitar. In addition to the Cajun, blues and old-time music for which Eric and Suzy have long been acclaimed, the trio also performs witty originals alongside obscurities in styles ranging from rockabilly to hokum to Americana.


Tony Mates ↑↑

Square Dance Caller – Tiffany Center, Emerald Room 4th Floor – Saturday, January 14 – 10-11 pm
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Tony says: “I started dancing and calling dances quite by accident, but I was in good company, back in the late 1970s, with Sandy Bradley, the Gypsy Gyppo Sring Band and many other fine trouble-makers to help out. Nearly 40 years later it’s a thrill to see such a vibrant square dance scene all over the country. I like to call dances that aren’t too hard, and let the pleasure of the enterprise come partly from the dancers dancing to the music and the musicians playing to the dancers.”


WB Reid & Bonnie Zahnow ↑↑

Friday Concert – Tiffany Center, Emerald room 4th Floor – Friday, January 13 – 7-7:45 pm
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This husband and wife duo present a wide range of musical traditions: old-time country songs and fiddle tunes, 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.