GARFIELD LONG JR.
Garfield Long Jr. grew up speaking the Cherokee language at home with his grandparents, elders steeped in Cherokee traditions. As an adult, he has done academic research into his tribe’s history and culture, and works in the Office of Cultural Resources for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Through his work there, he speaks to many groups from diverse backgrounds, and often lectures onsite at the Kituwah Mound, the mother town of the Cherokee.

DRIVER PHEASANT
Driver Pheasant tells stories to schoolchildren, teachers, senior citizens, and the general public, through his position in Educational Outreach at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. He has appeared in numerous documentary films, including 500 Nations, and The Principal People, and for many years he played a leading role in the outdoor drama Unto These Hills. Driver is also a champion powwow dancer and master craftsman who carves wooden flutes and figures. Born and raised in Cherokee, in the Wild Potato Clan, he lives there today with his family.

EDDIE BUSHYHEAD
Eddie Bushyhead was born in Cherokee, and studied music at the Insitute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, specializing in ethnomusicology. In 1987, he began research on the river cane flute, and recreated one based on an original in the National Museum of the American Indian. Eddie has performed all over the United States and recently impressed audiences in Beijing, China. He has participated in The Georgia Music Hall of Fame showcase, and he frequently performs for the Young Audiences organization in Atlanta. A fine composer, he has written music for the PBS Parabola series, for a documentary film for Rhinehart College, and for the Good Moves dance theater in Atlanta. His recordings include: Who Says?, Rez Music, and the Ani-sahoni (Blue Clan) project, based on tunes collected from Cherokee elders on the Qualla Boundary.

BO TAYLOR
Raised in the Wolfetown community on the Qualla Boundary, Bo Taylor is a member of the Cherokee Long Hair clan and serves as Archivist at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Bo reads and writes the Cherokee language, and has created a series of Cherokee language lessons offered online. From elders Walker Calhoun and Robert Bushyhead, Bo learned the Cherokee stomp dances, and he learned Cherokee songs and dances from wax cylinders in the Library of Congress that Will West Long recorded in the 1930’s. He holds a degree in Anthropology with a minor in Cherokee Studies from Western Carolina University, and he has won many prizes at powwows as a grass dancer.

SHIRLEY OSWALT
Born at home in the Snowbird Community, in Graham County, Oswalt grew up speaking the Cherokee language. She attended the Snowbird Indian School, a small community school where students were encouraged to speak Cherokee language as well as English. A member of the Seven Clans Art Guild, Shirley learned basketmaking and beadwork from her family, and also carves and paints gourds. She has taught workshops at schools in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia, and regularly demonstrates at festivals, including the Fading Voices Festival in Snowbird, The Cherokee Voices Festival at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, and the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum Festival.

RICHARD TEESATUSKIE
A native of Cherokee, North Carolina, Richard has also traveled extensively and lived with American Indian people in the southwest. He has studied not only his own traditions of medicine and spirituality, but those of many other tribes. Trained as a nurse, he also brought his knowledge of traditional medicine to his work with the Indian Health Service over many years. He has spoken to many groups, including university students, medical doctors, and schoolchildren. A talented silversmith and craftsman, Richard Teesatuskie works closely with his brother Reuben at their shop in Cherokee, Full Blood Indian Traders. They travel to craft shows and powwows throughout the U.S.

MELISSA MANEY
Melissa Ann Maney studied ceramics at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe and at Western Carolina University, and makes pottery in the style she learned from her grandmother, Cora Wahneetah. She has won first place for her pottery at the Cherokee Fair, and first place in the Emerging Artist category at the Kituwah festival in Asheville. She has exhibited her pottery in North Carolina, South Carolina, and at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Now employed by the Youth Services Agency of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Maney also teaches pottery to groups within the Cherokee nation.

DAVY ARCH
For the first ten years of his life, Davy Arch lived with his grandfather on Stilwell Branch in the Painttown Community on the Qualla Boundary, where he learned to tell Cherokee stories, practice herbal medicine, and use wild plants for food. After high school, he went to work at the Oconaluftee Indian Village and Living History Museum where he learned to carve masks from elder mask maker Sim Jessam. Davy’s masks have been on display at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and his stories have been published in the award-winning Living Stories of the Cherokee. As a participant for six years in the North Carolina Arts Council’s Visiting Artist Program, he has presented programs on Cherokee culture in schools throughout North Carolina, at the N.C. Museum of History and at the N.C. Museum of Art. A member of the Board of Directors of Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Arch has demonstrated at numerous festivals, including the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville.

LLOYD ARNEACH
Born and raised on the Qualla Boundary, Lloyd’s uncles, Frell and Henry Owle, were the earliest influences on his storytelling. To the traditional Cherokee tales and style, Lloyd added stories from other sources to develop his own distinct voice. He has performed at the National Storytelling Festival, the President Carter Center, Atlanta’s High Museum, Northwestern University, Mississippi State College, the Atlanta Storytelling Festival, the Cherokee Fall Festival, powwows, and other events. He has been featured in the video documentary, Voices in the Wind, in National Geographic specials, and on Georgia Public Television. His stories are included in the book Storytellers: Folktales and Legends from the South by John Burrison, and his version of The Animal’s Ballgame has been published as a children’s book with illustrations by Lydia Halverson. Lloyd served as Senior Native America Advisor for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and coordinated the relay run of the Olympic Flame from Cherokee to Gwinnett.

GOINGS FAMILY
This talented family practices a variety of Cherokee traditions. George carves figures and masks from a variety of woods and from stone. His wife Louise makes white oak baskets. Their son Ed (shown) knaps flint into arrowheads and stone knives, and also carves and makes baskets. Ed’s wife Christine (shown) practices the complex art of fingerweaving to create belts and sashes. Together they represent some of the finest work being done in these traditions today. They have demonstrated their work at the Cherokee Voices Festival and at festivals and schools in North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee.

JERRY WOLFE
A recipient of the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award, Jerry Wolfe recounts traditional Cherokee legends, and also tells stories about his experiences growing up in Cherokee, about the boarding schools, and about stickball games. As a young man, he played Cherokee stickball and learned to carve the sticks from wood; today he is often in demand as a “caller” or announcer for these games. At present, Jerry Wolfe works in the Outreach Program of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. He has presented programs on Cherokee culture in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia, at schools, festivals, and special events. Jerry also practices stone masonry and calls the stickball games at the Cherokee Fall Fair every year.

RAVEN ROCK DANCERS
This dance group is made up of Walker Calhoun’s children and grandchildren and extended family. Named for an unusual rock formation near where they grew up in the Big Cove Community, this group presents such traditional Cherokee dances as the Quail Dance, the Horse Dance, the Bear Dance, and the Beaver Dance. They are led by Walker Calhoun, (pictured) who sings the songs and plays drum and rattle. Walker learned dance songs from his uncle, Will West Long, who learned them from Swimmer Ayuini, who lived in the 19th century, and was a principal source for James Mooney of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Swimmer’s stories formed a major part of Mooney’s work, published as History and Myths of the Cherokee. Walker Calhoun received the Sequoyah Award in recognition of his contributions to the Cherokee at a gathering of the Eastern and Western Bands of Cherokee in 1988. In 1990, he received the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award, and in 1992 he received a National Folk Heritage Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has recorded two cassettes of songs: Where Ravens Roost, and Sacred Songs from Medicine Lake. Calhoun also plays old-time three-finger style banjo, and with his son Danny, he makes blowguns and darts.

WELCH FAMILY SINGERS
The Welch Family Singers perform gospel songs in English and in Cherokee language. Their renditions of hymns in Cherokee are part of a two-hundred year old tradition of Christian music and shape note singing among the Eastern Band. Alfred Welch plays guitar and sings. He grew up in the Big Cove community on the Qualla Boundary and attended school in Big Cove and Cherokee. In 1967, he moved to the Snowbird community, and has lived there ever since. Today he works on road construction and teaches Cherokee language at the Zion Hill Baptist Church. His wife, Maybelle, sings traditional harmonies and lead vocals. She grew up in the Snowbird Community, attending the Snowbird Indian School and then public school in Robbinsville. Their son Hunter plays bass for them. The Welch Family Singers have sung in Oklahoma, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee as well as for many churches and benefits locally in western North Carolina.