Fall Newsletter - Nov. 2008 - Recap of Last Summer
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Dear Friends,
   
Welcome to this year’s edition of our newsletter, the Postcard from Swannanoa. Each year, when I sit down to write the newsletter, I say to myself, “This time I’m not going to start by talking about how beautiful the mountains are in the fall,” but really, it’s impossible. If you can ever get away in the autumn, some year, come see it for yourself. And, of course, drop by the college to say hello. We’re now entering our 18th season, and we’re as excited as we’ve ever been, looking ahead to next year’s Gathering. You can read more about it in the Coming Next Summer section elsewhere in this newsletter.

Our spring Celtic Series, a part of the Mainstage Concerts at Asheville’s Diana Wortham Theatre, continues to showcase many of the world’s finest Celtic acts and last year featured concerts by such artists as Celtic acts as Dougie MacLean, Lúnasa, Grada, Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas, and Buílle. See the P.S. section for details on next spring’s Celtic Series

In late May, some of the support structures in the roof of Bryson Gym, one of our primary activity spaces, collapsed, taking the building offline for the summer. We managed to find alternative spaces to replace Bryson, mainly by expanded use of the Pavilion, but it made for an interesting summer, to say the least

Fiddle Week moved to our first week to partner with our new Traditional Song Week, and new coordinator Julia Weatherford introduced a re-tooled format with a number of new classes, instruments and fiddle styles as well as a Children’s Program. The staff was packed with fiddle greats such as A Prairie Home Companion’s Andy Stein, improvisational wild man Joe Craven, Cape Breton fiddler Kimberley Fraser, old-time fiddler Alan Jabbour, Scottish fiddlers Calum MacKinnon and Jamie Laval, bluegrasser Nicky Sanders, Cajun musician Kevin Wimmer, creole fiddler Jeffery Broussard, cellist Mike Block, Irish fiddler Séamus Connolly, guitarists Mike Dowling and David Surette, mandolinist Ashley Broder, bassist Jeff Hersk and Natalya Weinstein offered classes for beginners.

Our brand-new vocal program, Traditional Song Week, debuted in our first week, paired with Fiddle Week. Coordinator Julee Glaub put together a marvelous and diverse staff of traditional singers, including Irish singer & guitarist Daithi Sproule, former Red Clay Rambler Jim Watson, gospel singer Connie Badgett Steadman, shape-note choir leader Matt Wojcik, Scottish singer Ed Miller, early country & honky-tonk specialist Mark Weems, Warren Wilson choir director Milt Crotts, old-time singer & songwriter Carl Jones and folk song collector and singer Jeff Warner. Kim & Reggie Harris, shared freedom songs and other celebrations of the African-American experience, while legendary documentarian and musician John Cohen premiered a new film on his life and work with the seminal New Lost City Ramblers. Denisa Rullmoss again offered a pirate-themed program for children during Traditional Song/Fiddle, Celtic, and Old-Time Weeks. The highlight of the week was a special performance by folk legend and Master Music Maker award winner Jean Ritchie, who was interviewed by a long-time friend of the Gathering and fellow Master Music Maker, the Thistle and Shamrock’s Fiona Ritchie. The interview was recorded and will be featured on a future edition of the program. Check your local NPR station’s schedule for details.

Dulcimer Week’s usual top-flight staff included hammered dulcimer masters Jody Marshall, Guy George, Ken Kolodner, Bill Troxler and Joe Holbert. The mountain dulcimer staff was led by week coordinator Lois Hornbostel, and included Neal Hellman, Stephen Seifert, Rob Brereton, and Wayne Seymour. This year’s guest artists included banjo wizard Akira Satake, and that master of exotic instruments, Ken Bloom.

Celtic Week, our biggest program, offered up perhaps its strongest staff lineup in years, featuring fiddlers Martin Hayes, Liz Carroll, Gerry O’Connor, Jamie Laval, Pete Clark, and newcomers John Carty and Kimberley Fraser, singers Jim Malcolm and Aoife Clancy, guitarist and singer John Doyle, ex-Danu and Solas guitarist Dónal Clancy, guitar/banjo player Eamon O’Leary, Lúnasa’s flute virtuoso Kevin Crawford, uilleann piper Ivan Goff, Scottish singer and folklorist Michael Newton, accordionist Martin Quinn, tenor banjoist Angelina Carberry, harper Billy Jackson, bodhran player Stephanie Johnston, multi-instrumentalist Robin Bullock, dance instructor Eileen Mulligan Evans and tinwhistle player Kathleen Conneely, who again brought along her father Michael, a terrific whistle and fiddle player. John Skelton once again served as Celtic Week Host, and Scottish fiddle champ Jane MacMorran offered a fiddle class for complete beginners, an intro to Celtic fiddle for advanced beginners and a class in fiddle technique for all levels. Our sister program, the Swannanoa School of Culinary Arts ran in tandem with both Celtic & Old-Time Weeks, offering tasty treats for our folks, while our staff members provided songs about food.

Old-Time Music & Dance Week saw the return of several old friends to the staff, with quite a few new faces as well. Newcomers Erynn Marshall, Paul Kovac, Susie Goehring, Kinney Rorrer, Jeremy Stephens and Trevor & Travis Stuart joined with staff mainstays John Herrmann, Gordy Hinners, Meredith McIntosh, folklorist and shape-note singer Ron Pen, clogger Rodney Sutton, dulcimer ace Don Pedi, Carol Elizabeth Jones, Beverly Smith, Carl Jones and ballad singer Sheila Kay Adams, as well as some folks who hadn’t been here in a while, including fiddlers Bruce Greene, Rayna Gellert and Kirk Sutphin, autoharpist John Hollandsworth and dancer Ira Bernstein. The highlight of the week was the presentation of our Master Music Maker Award for lifetime achievement to Old-Time Week coordinator Phil Jamison. This year’s Guest Master Artists were dancers Robert Dotson and Thomas Maupin, banjo player Lee Sexton, ballad singer Bobby McMillon, and fiddler Benton Flippen.

Contemporary Folk Week featured a tremendously talented group, including Vance Gilbert, Peter Mulvey, Anais Mitchell, David Wilcox, the week’s Host Brooks Williams, Kate Campbell, Cliff Eberhardt, Kyler England, Siobhan Quinn, and Ray Chesna, with special sessions on Alexander Technique taught by Meredith McIntosh, entertainment law taught by Bob Hicks, and a film on the current state of the recording industry. This year’s integration with partner program Guitar Week was tighter than it’s ever been, and the two programs combined made it our biggest week. We plan on strengthening that relationship even further next year.

Guitar Week continued its steady growth, exploring a variety of guitar styles as well as banjo, mandolin and dobro. Coordinator Al Petteway assembled a staff of breathtaking skill, including master fingerstylists Peter Finger, Pat Donohue, Pat Kirtley, Rolly Brown, Michael Chapdelaine, Doug Smith, and the percussive pyrothechnics of Vicki Genfan, veteran blues players Mary Flower and Scott Ainslie, flatpicker extraordinaire Scott Nygaard, bluegrass player Ed Dodson, Celtic fingerstylist Robin Bullock, mandolinist Ashley Broder, Grammy-winning dobro player Sally Van Meter, and slack-key guitarist Patrick Landeza. The week also featured demonstrations from instrument repairman Randy Hughes and was highlighted by daily displays of the guitars of master luthiers Michael Bashkin, Gerald Sheppard, Kathy Wingert and John Slobod, along with selected inventory from Dream Guitars, a local shop specializing in high-end instruments.

Dulcimer Week’s ran alone in our fifth week for the first time, and enrollment surged in response to a first-class staff that included included hammered dulcimer masters Dan Landrum, Bill Robinson, Ken Kolodner, Bill Troxler and Jody Marshall. The mountain dulcimer staff was led by week coordinator Lois Hornbostel, and included Steve Eulberg, Stephen Seifert, Lorinda Jones, and Terry Lewis. This year’s guest artists included folklorist David Brose, and that master of zany instruments, Jim Miller.

Check out the Coming Next Summer section below for a sneak preview of the 2008 lineup.