ANDY STEIN
Andy Stein calls himself “a musician with a checkered past” which is as good a way as any to describe an amazingly eclectic career that includes recording, performing, producing, composing, and arranging music for radio, television, symphonies, Broadway and film. He entered the popular music field as a founding member of Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, where his distinctive style on violin and saxophone added a swing element to this beloved rock & roll band of the early 70s. A brief list of his credits includes work with Asleep at the Wheel, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Dr. John, Willie Nelson, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Smashing Pumpkins, Dionne Warwick, Ray Charles, B. B. King, Eric Clapton, Whitney Houston, Tony Bennett, Carole King, James Taylor and Michael Jackson. Andy won a Grammy award for Best Country Instrumental in 1978, wrote the score for an Oscar-winning cartoon, and has performed for two Presidents of the United States, the President of the Dominican Republic, four mayors of New York, and for the Native American occupying force on Alcatraz. He has recorded with Itzhak Perlman and Placido Domingo and composed for Joshua Bell, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and the symphonies of Dallas, Baltimore, Boston, New York, Munich, London, and the National Symphony in Washington. In the jazz field, he has been a featured soloist with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Paquito D’Rivera, Manhattan Transfer, Dick Hyman, Jon Hendricks, Eddie Daniels, Turtle Island String Quartet, Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, John & Bucky Pizzarelli and many others. Since the 1980s, Stein has been known for his recreations of the early work of Joe Venuti, considered the first jazz violinist of the 1920s, whose recordings inspired the careers of Stephane Grappelli and many others. He has been featured on Late Night with David Letterman, Saturday Night Live, Great Performances, and for thirteen years performed in the ‘house band’ of A Prairie Home Companion, where he continues to be a frequent special guest. www.andysteinmusic.com

SÉAMUS CONNOLLY
A native of Killaloe, County Clare, Séamus picked up the fiddle at age twelve and was soon a regular performer on Irish radio and television and the BBC. He went on to win the All-Ireland Fiddle Championship ten times, a feat unequalled by any other Irish musician, and toured extensively with the enormously influential Kilfenora Céilí Band. Séamus won immigrant status to the United States in 1976, in large part for his unique ability to teach the regional styles of Irish fiddling, as further indicated by three consecutive Master/Apprenticeship Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has performed at every major American folk festival including the National Folk Festival, Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife and the Wolftrap Irish Folk Festival; the Folkmasters series on NPR; and appears on many recordings, including two solo releases on Green Linnet Records, Notes From My Mind, and Here and There, and two recordings, Banks of the Shannon, and Warming Up, selected among the top 10 Celtic releases for 1993. Séamus was the founding Director of the Gaelic Roots Summer School and Festival, and currently serves as Director of Irish Studies Music & Dance Programs at Boston College. In 2002, Séamus became the eighth recipient of our Master Music Maker Award for lifetime achievement. We are pleased to welcome him back for his seventh Gathering. www.seamusconnolly.com

JOE CRAVEN
Joe Craven is a madman with anything that has strings attached; violin, mandolin, tin can, bedpan, cookie tin, tenor guitar, mouth bow, banjo, berimbau, balalaika, boot ‘n lace plus a world of percussion instruments including animal bones, squeeze toys, cake pans, waste cans, umbrella stands, martini shakers and: Himself. An advocate of the folk arts, Joe’s educational mission is to empower individuals to take possession of their own music and tell their stories by “demystifying” art through self-expression as a daily ritual. Educator, former museum curator, visual artist, actor/storyteller, festival emcee and former 17-year fiddler for mandolinist David Grisman, Joe has recorded and played with folks ranging from jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli to Grateful Dead Guitarist Jerry Garcia to The Persuasions. www.joecraven.com

KEVIN WIMMER
Kevin was raised in a musical family and began playing the violin at age three under the tutelage of his mother Shirley Givens, a world-renowned violin teacher. He strayed from the classical tradition when he was in his teens, first venturing into bluegrass and old-time, and then, after meeting Dewey Balfa, immersing himself completely in Cajun music. Kevin completed his formal study with a degree in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University, and has studied and played with a remarkable lineup of fiddle legends, including Tommy Jarrell, Svend Asmussen and Johnny Gimble, and, in Louisiana, Carlton Frank, Canray Fontenot, Wade Fruge, Dennis McGee, Calvin and Bebe Carriere, and, of course, his long-time mentor, Dewey Balfa. He has taught fiddle at numerous camps and festivals, including the Ashokan Fiddle and Dance camps, the Augusta Heritage Workshops, the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes and the Dewey Balfa Cajun and Creole Heritage Week. Among the highlights of his many recordings are Adieu False Heart, by Linda Ronstadt and Ann Savoy, a song featured in the film All The King’s Men with Ann Savoy and her Sleepless Knights, and a cut with Byron Berline in an episode of HBO’s Deadwood. Kevin is currently a member of Balfa Toujours, the Red Stick Ramblers, and the recently Grammy-nominated band, Racines. www.balfatoujours.com

KIMBERLEY FRASER
Kimberley Fraser was born on Cape Breton Island, and nurtured within its rich musical heritage. She first began to impress audiences at the age of three with her step-dancing talents, and soon thereafter took up both the fiddle and the piano. Like many in Cape Breton, music is not new to Kimberley’s family. She proudly owns the fiddle of her great-great-grandfather, spanning the musical tradition within her family over a hundred years. Though still in her 20s, Kimberley’s career is already a distinguished one. With two recordings to her credit, she has played with Cape Breton’s finest, including Ashley MacIsaac, Natalie MacMaster, Buddy MacMaster, Brenda Stubbert, Jerry Holland, Gordie Sampson and the late John Allan Cameron, and shared the stage with such notables as Alasdair Fraser, Lúnasa and Danú. In 2004, she was the pianist for Cherish the Ladies, during their tour of Sweden. Kimberley holds an honours degree in Celtic Studies and a minor in Jazz from St Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, and is currently studying at the Berklee College of Music. She has been a long-time instructor at Cape Breton’s renowned Gaelic College and Ceilidh Trail Music School and conducted workshops at the University of Wisconsin and the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention in Aberdeen, Scotland.

NICKY SANDERS
Nicky Sanders is fiddler with Steep Canyon Rangers, the bluegrass band from Asheville, NC, that was named “Emerging Artist of the Year” at the 2006 IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards in Nashville, TN. The past year also saw the title track from their One Dime at a Time recording rise to #1 on Bluegrass Unlimited’s National Bluegrass Survey. Born in Vermont and raised in San Francisco, Nicky moved east in 1998 to attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, where he studied improvisation under Matt Glaser & Eugene Friesen. Nicky now makes his home in Southern Appalachia as a member of an up-and-coming group that can regularly be seen on the Grand Ole Opry, and on international tours from California to Sweden. On the heels of their recent success comes a third release on Rebel Records, Lovin’ Pretty Women, produced by bluegrass heavyweight Ronnie Bowman and engineered by guitarist Wyatt Rice, affirming the band’s arrival at the highest circles of acoustic music. www.steepcanyon.com

D'JALMA GARNIER (Due to cancellation, D'Jalma will be replaced by JEFFERY BROUSSARD)
A long-time contributor to creole music, fiddle and guitar player D’Jalma Garnier III is the grandson of New Orleans jazz bandleader, coronetist, and fiddler ‘Papa’ Garnier. As one of Louisiana’s finest ambassadors of creole-style fiddle playing, he has been a leader in preserving the history and culture of that music. His recording and production credits are considered classics in the tradition of creole and old-time zydeco music. He is a founding member and guitarist with the creole zydeco band Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys, and fiddler with Filé compatriot Ward Lormand in the Cajun/creole band, The Lucky Playboys. He is featured on a number of recordings, including Terence Simien’s, The Tribute Sessions, Chubby Carrier’s Ain’t No Party Like A Chubby Party, Poullard, Poullard, and Garnier, Goldman Thibodeaux and the Lawtell Playboys’ Gumbo at Goldman’s, Goldman Thibodeaux and Calvin Carrière’s Les Misère Dans Le Coeur, Morris Ardoin’s Le Tracas de Morris, and has also played with Joe Hall, Dexter Ardoin and the great Canray Fontenot.

ALAN JABBOUR
Alan Jabbour is a fiddler and world-renowned folklorist. While a graduate student at Duke University in the 1960s, he began documenting old-time fiddlers in the Upper South. This led to apprenticeships with fiddlers Henry Reed of Glen Lyn, Virginia and Tommy Jarrell of Toast, North Carolina. Many common fiddle tunes entered the national old-time repertoire through Alan and his band, the Hollow Rock String Band, who were at the center of the old-time music scene in Durham and Chapel Hill in the late 1960s. In 1969, Alan was appointed head of the Archive of Folk Song at the Library of Congress and supervised the development of the collection of folk music and folklore for the National Archives. In 1974, he went on to become the founding Director of the Folk Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 1976, the founding Director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, the principal repository for field documentation of American folklore and folklife. Since his retirement from the American Folklife Center, he has resumed an active life of performing and teaching the fiddle as well as lecturing, consulting, and writing. He has toured extensively both in the U.S. and abroad, and, in recent years, has released two new CDs and an instructional DVD. www.alanjabbour.com

CALUM MACKINNON
Calum hails from the island of Tiree in the Hebrides. He started learning fiddle at an early age from a neighbor Willie Kemp who had himself studied with James Scott Skinner. Calum came to the US in the 1960’s and is today nationally-known as a tradition-bearer of the art of Scottish fiddling. He retired early from his aeronautical career, as he puts it, “giving up Boeing for bowing” He was runner up in the 1988 U.S. National Scottish Fiddling Competition, has returned to judge the Nationals on five occasions and has coached and tutored several National Champions. The infectious energy and sensitivity of Calum’s playing has made him a highly sought-after performer and teacher. His schedule of concerts workshops and dances has taken him across the U.S., Canada, Scotland England and Japan. Calum plays extensively for Scottish Country Dancing and conducts workshops on playing for dancing. He performs with Muriel Johnstone, Scotland’s premier country dance pianist, in concert and as a dance music duo, and the two have released a CD entitled It’s About Time. Calum has taught at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Pinewoods, Ramblewood, The Mastery of Scottish Arts Winter School in Washington State, and four previous years at Swannanoa. At home in Edmonds, WA, he offers private lessons and is musical director for the Northwest Scottish Fiddlers. www.calummackinnon.com

MIKE BLOCK
Mike Block performs in many genres and groups, including his own band for which he also sings and writes. In addition to playing in Mark O’Connor’s Appalachia Waltz Trio, Mike is a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, Kristjan Jarvi’s Absolute Ensemble, as well as the Flux Quartet, the Sirius String Quartet, and the Hanneke Cassel Band. A graduate of the Juilliard School and the Cleveland Institute of Music, Mike’s former cello teachers include Richard Aaron, Joel Krosnick, and Darrett Adkins. Mike also trained with Pamela Devenport to become a Suzuki teacher. In the summers, Mike regularly teaches and performs at Mark O’Connor’s String Camps and the Kansas City Cello Clinic.

DAVID SURETTE
Widely acclaimed as one of New England’s premiere instrumentalists, David Surette is highly regarded for his work on the guitar (both flatpick and fingerstyle), mandolin, and bouzouki, in a wide variety of settings. As a soloist, he is nationally-known as a top player of Celtic fingerstyle guitar, yet his diverse repertoire also includes original compositions, blues and ragtime, traditional American roots music, and folk music from a variety of traditions, all played with finesse, taste, and virtuosity. He has performed as a duo with his wife, singer Susie Burke, for 20 years, recording several albums and building a reputation as one of New England’s top folk duos. Surette was a founding member of the Airdance band with fiddler Rodney Miller, with whom he recorded four albums and toured nationally. David is an accomplished and gifted teacher who has taught at workshops and camps throughout the U.S., and the U.K. He is folk music coordinator at the Concord (NH) Community Music School, and artistic director of their March Mandolin Festival. He has authored a book of Celtic fingerstyle guitar arrangements for Mel Bay Publications, and is a regular contributor to Acoustic Guitar and Strings magazines. www.burkesurette.com

JAMIE LAVAL
Jamie’s music making was born out of his Scottish and Irish heritage and further influenced by his studies in classical music, jazz, and ethnic music from around the world. In 2002, Jamie won the U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Championship and now concertizes throughout the U.S. and Scotland. He has been acclaimed as “one of North America’s finest practitioners of traditional Scottish music,” – San Jose Mercury News and “the next Alasdair Fraser,” – Scotland Press and Post. After his student years at the Victoria Conservatory of Music Jamie simultaneously pursued careers as a solo fiddler and a professional symphony violinist. He has been an active contra dance and ceilidh band fiddler in the Pacific Northwest and recently moved to Asheville. Jamie has performed for Her Majesty, The Queen; on NBC’s Today Show, numerous Highland Games, and well-known venues throughout the U.S. His critically acclaimed CD, Shades of Green, can regularly be heard on NPR. Last year, Jamie met mandolinist Ashley Broder, with whom he now tours full-time. Their inaugural album, Zephyr In The Confetti Factory was one of five nominees for Best Traditional Song in the 2007 IMA Independent Music Awards. www.jamielaval.com

ASHLEY BRODER
Ashley began playing the violin at age 8 with Charl Ann Gastineau, who smartly combined classical and fiddle music, as well as mandolin, into her regime. For the next several years, Ashley competed in local, state, and national fiddle and mandolin competitions, winning many, including the Western Open Master Picker Championship in ’03 and ’04. Throughout high school she performed with local bands, worked as a studio recording musician, and taught violin and mandolin privately and in class settings. Ashley majored in music at Moorpark College, where she studied cello with Stephen Custer of the L.A. Philharmonic and violin with Diane Gilbert. She assisted Mike Marshall with his Mike Marshall’s Mandolin Method books, and in 2005 she served on the faculty of the Mandolin Symposium in Santa Cruz, CA. Ashley now tours full-time throughout the U.S. and Scotland with Celtic violinist Jamie Laval. With Jamie she has forged a new duo style, rendering traditional Scottish, Irish, Bretagne and bluegrass music with innovative hints of classical refinement and ethnic music from around the world. www.ashleybroder.com

MIKE DOWLING
When master fiddler, Vassar Clements, heard Mike Dowling play guitar back in 1975, he did the sensible thing. He hired him. Thirty years later Clements called him, “One of the finest guitar players there is, anywhere.” Before embarking on a solo performance career, Mike also worked and recorded with music legends Jethro Burns and jazz violin great Joe Venuti, and contemporary fiddle masters Buddy Spicher, Paul Anastasio, and Randy Sabien. Mike has released seven albums of roots-based music, and three swing guitar instruction DVDs for Homespun Tapes. He’s a popular swing guitar instructor at music camps and workshops throughout the world, including two previous years at the Swannanoa Gathering’s Guitar Week. Mike has been a frequent guest on NPR’s, A Prairie Home Companion, and his original songs have been recorded by such artists as the Del McCoury Band, Emmy Lou Harris, Kathy Mattea, Tim O’Brien and the Nashville Bluegrass Band. He recently won a Grammy for his contribution to the Hanry Mancini tribute compilation, Pink Guitar. www.mikedowling.com

JULIA WEATHERFORD
Fiddle Week Coordinator Julia Weatherford has been a full time artist/musician for more than 25 years. She played cello for 13 seasons with the Asheville Symphony, while moonlighting as a square dance fiddler. Julia has toured internationally as a dance musician, and performs regionally with Akira Satake, the string band, Far Horizons, a contra dance band, Fly by Night, and a classical trio, Trillium. Among her performance and teaching venues are the LEAF festival, the Black Mountain Festival, Berea Country Dance School, Pinewoods, Folkmoot International, and the Biltmore Estate. Julia teaches both cello and fiddle and has worked extensively as a cellist on recordings by various artists. In 2004, she released her debut CD, The View from Here, which was voted a top Celtic release by the listeners of public radio’s WNCW. She was the Artistic Director of the legendary Black Mountain Festival for many years, and as a textile artist, Julia is a long-time member of the Southern Highlands Crafts Guild. Her fabric work is locally available at the Folk Arts Center and the Arts and Heritage Gallery in the Grove Arcade. Julia has been the Swannanoa Gathering Logistics Assistant since 2005. www.juliaweatherford.com

NATALYA WEINSTEIN
Natalya is an accomplished teacher and performer in a variety of fiddle styles, including bluegrass, old-time and country. She began her musical career in Massachusetts as a classical violinist before gravitating towards American roots music and relocating to Asheville, NC. She is currently a lead teacher with the Junior Appalachian Musician Program, is a sought-after private teacher and studio musician, and is a member of two regionally touring bands, Polecat Creek and Lo-Fi Breakdown. www.natalyaweinstein.com

JEFF HERSK
In his five years in Asheville, Jeff has quickly become a fixture on the local music scene, playing and touring with jazz, swing, old-time, contradance, klezmer and bluegrass bands, and most notably with Grammy Award-winners David Holt, and Grand Ole Opry fiddler Bobby Hicks. Jeff recently recorded on the Ordinary Seasons project from Greensboro-based folk group, Polecat Creek, and also added his bass tones to This Piece of Ground, the latest CD from Asheville bluegrass group, LoFi Breakdown.

DENISA RULLMOSS
Denisa (known as “The Queen” to kids everywhere) will once again bring her exuberant, creative energies to the Gathering. She is a multi-talented and innovative organizer who has managed to retain a child’s viewpoint on the world while remaining a fully-functioning adult! In addition to being the homeschooling mother of two teens, and part-time nanny to toddlers, Denisa is the Coordinator for the Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF) Kid’s Village. With shaving cream, parachutes and donuts being tools of her trade, she also provides wild & wacky games and activities for families and kids at LEAF. Her past accomplishments include co-founding the newspaper Mothertongue: A Progressive Parenting Source; Panther Paws, a public school newspaper for and by kids (funded by a grant from the Asheville City Schools Foundation), Kindred Kids, the Mothertongue paper for kids, and the newsletter HOME (Homeschooling Opens Minds Everyday). As a kid’s crafts & games specialist Denisa is excited to bring her silly songs, cool crafts and good times to the Gathering for the 14th year, as she teaches and coordinates the Children’s Program during Traditional Song/Fiddle, Celtic and Old-Time Weeks.