Fall Newsletter - Nov. 2009 - Recap of Last Summer
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Dear Friends,
   
Welcome to this year’s edition of our newsletter, the Postcard from Swannanoa. They tell us El Niño is responsible for all the rain we’ve been getting this fall, but things are finally starting to dry out a bit and the autumn colors are pulsing in the sunlight. A few mornings ago, I opened the blinds to find a rainbow-colored hot-air ballon floating over a mountaintop near my house. It made me feel better all day long.

After record-breaking attendance this summer, the Gathering is now heading into its 19th season, and we’re also starting to think about our 20th anniversary coming up in 2011. We’d like you to think about it too, and email your suggestions on how we should celebrate our first two decades to gathering@warren-wilson.edu. We’re looking forward to another great summer, and you can read more about how things are shaping up 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, presents some of the world’s finest Celtic artists, and last year featured concerts by Tannahill Weavers, Greenfields of America, GiveWay, and Téada. See the P.S. section for details on next spring’s Celtic Series

The renovations to the roof of Bryson Gym, one of our primary activity spaces, took longer than expected, and Bryson was unavailable to us again last summer Once again, we managed to find alternative spaces to replace Bryson, but having done so for a season already, we were able to cope with the situation fairly smoothly. Our thanks go to the folks in our theatre department for again allowing us to use the lobby for our vendors, as well as the theatre for a few of the student open mikes.

Fiddle Week continued its partnership with our newest workshop, Traditional Song Week, and coordinator Julia Weatherford presented another great program that included new classes in blues and Swedish fiddle. The staff lineup featured such fiddle greats as swing fiddle master Paul Anastasio, improvisational wild man Joe Craven, Cape Breton fiddler Kimberley Fraser, old-time fiddler Brad Leftwich, Swedish fiddler Andrea Hoag, Scottish fiddlers Calum MacKinnon and Jamie Laval, bluegrasser Barbara Lamb, Cajun & creole fiddlers David Greely and Dennis Stroughmatt, cellist Mike Block, Irish fiddler Liz Knowles, guitarists Roger Bellow and Flynn Cohen, mandolinist Carl Jones and bassist Jeff Hersk. Natalya Weinstein offered classes for beginners.

Our vocal program, Traditional Song Week, was paired with Fiddle Week for the second year. Coordinator Julee Glaub built on last year’s successful debut by adding overview classes on American roots music and blues and a special preview of a new book on the migration of the music of Britain and Ireland to Appalachia, by the Thistle and Shamrock’s Fiona Ritchie and Gathering founder, WWC President Emeritus Doug Orr. The staff included Irish singer & guitarist Dáithí Sproule, ballad singer Sheila Kay Adams, blues singer Rev. Robert Jones, shape-note choir leader Matt Wojcik, Scottish balladeer 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 folk historian and radio host Matt Watroba traced the history of American roots music. Denisa Rullmoss again offered a fairy-tale-themed program for children during Traditional Song/Fiddle, Celtic, and Old-Time Weeks. Fiona Ritchie conducted interviews with both Dáithí Sproule and Sheila Kay Adams which were recorded for later broadcast on the Thistle and Shamrock. Check your local NPR station’s schedule for details.

Celtic Week, once again our biggest single program, featured several new staff members including fiddlers Manus McGuire and Ed Pearlman, Irish singer Robbie O’Connell, dancer Danny Tighe, percussionist Matthew Olwell, and, returning after a long hiatus, fiddler Kevin Burke and piper Cillian Vallely, who joined fiddlers Martin Hayes, Liz Knowles, Jamie Laval, and Kimberley Fraser, singers Ed Miller and Aoife Clancy, guitarists Dónal Clancy, and Eamon O’Leary, Lúnasa’s flute virtuoso Kevin Crawford, Scottish singer and folklorist Margaret Bennett, accordionist Martin Quinn, tenor banjoist Angelina Carberry, harpers Billy Jackson, and Gráinne Hambly, multi-instrumentalist Robin Bullock, and tinwhistle player Kathleen Conneely. 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 featured the return of several old friends we haven’t seen for a while, as Paul Brown, Terri McMurray, Greg & Jere Canote, Ginny Hawker, Tracy Schwarz, Alice Gerrard, Mike Bryant, Adam Hurt, Rich Kirby and Paul Kovac joined with Bruce Greene, Rayna Gellert, autoharpist John Hollandsworth and staff mainstays coordinator Phil Jamison, John Herrmann, Gordy Hinners, Meredith McIntosh, folklorist and shape-note singer Ron Pen, clogger Rodney Sutton, dulcimer ace Don Pedi and Carol Elizabeth Jones. This year’s Guest Master Artists were dancers Robert Dotson and Thomas Maupin, old-time band the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers, gospel singers Jerry & Evelyn Hyatt, and fiddler Benton Flippen.

Contemporary Folk Week maxed out its enrollment this year on the strength of an all-world staff that included two-time CMA Vocalist of the Year Kathy Mattea, Grammy-winning songwriter Jon Vezner, the effervescent Sara Hickman, Vance Gilbert, Peter Mulvey, Anais Mitchell, the week’s Host David Roth, Kate Campbell, Cliff Eberhardt, Siobhan Quinn, and Ray Chesna. The close partnership with Guitar Week program continued as many took classes in each program, and the combined programs again proved to be our biggest week.

Guitar Week welcomed new staff Adam Rafferty, Craig D’Andrea, Orrin Star and Pure Prairie League and Little Feat guitarist Craig Fuller, as well as staff alums Stephen Bennett, Paul Asbell, Mike Dowling, coordinator Al Petteway, Pat Donohue, Doug Smith, blues players Mary Flower and Scott Ainslie, Ed Dodson, Celtic fingerstylist Robin Bullock, 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. The week ended with our now-traditional luau, complete with hula dancers, coordinated by Patrick Landeza.

Dulcimer Week settled in to its solo spot in our fifth week for the second year, featuring an exciting staff that included hammered dulcimer masters Dan Landrum, Ken Kolodner, Bill Troxler, Ruth Smith and Cindy Ribet. The mountain dulcimer staff was led by week coordinator Lois Hornbostel, and included Jeff Hames, Susan Trump, Lorinda Jones, and Bill Taylor. This year’s guest artists included that builder and player of unusual and exotic instruments, Ken Bloom, and Doug & Darcy Orr, who helped lead some of the jams and singalongs.

Check out the Coming Next Summer section below for a sneak preview of the 2010 lineup.