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Our 36th Season
Sponsoring the World's Best in Traditional Music and Dance
Sponsoring the World's Best in Traditional Music and Dance
ARTISTS
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Music that can transport you to another dimension
ALASH are masters of Tuvan throat singing (xöömei), a remarkable technique for singing multiple pitches at the same time. What distinguishes this gifted trio from earlier generations of Tuvan throat singers is the subtle infusion of modern influences into their traditional music. One can find complex harmonies, western instruments, and contemporary song forms in Alash’s music, but its overall sound and spirit is decidedly Tuvan.
Trained in traditional Tuvan music since childhood, the Alash musicians studied at Kyzyl Arts College just as Tuva was beginning to open up to the West. They formed a traditional ensemble and won multiple awards for traditional throat singing in international xöömei competitions, both as an ensemble and as individuals. At the same time, they paid close attention to new trends coming out of the West. They have borrowed new ideas that mesh well with the sound and feel of traditional Tuvan music, but they have never sacrificed the integrity of their own heritage in an effort to make their music more hip. Members:
Bady-Dorzhu Ondar Ayan-ool Sam Ayan Shirizhik This engagement of Alash is made possible through the West Virginia Special Presenters Initiative program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.
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Harmonies to make your heart sing
As part of FestivALL Fall, FOOTMAD will present the Early Mays, a traditional Appalachian group of women based in Pittsburgh who burst on the folk music scene in 2014, winning station WYEP's Artist of the Year award. The Early Mays feature folk songs with deep country sensibilities, masterful ballad singing, and a sweet old-time sound. Fiddle, banjo, guitar, and harmonium accompany their tight vocal harmonies. Members:
Emily Pinkerton Ellen Gozion Rachel Eddy |
"Session Americana has developed into a travelling medicine show which eschews snake oil in favour of an ongoing grail quest for the perfect collaboration"
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A rock band in a tea cup / A folk band in a whiskey bottle
This band/collective of talented musicians crafts a musical experience unlike any other. On stage is a collapsible bar table wired with microphones, a vintage suitcase recast as a kick drum, an old Estey field organ, a pre-war parlor guitar, a mandocello and all of its smaller siblings, a harmonica case fire damaged when Jack's bar went up in flames and graffitied by Depeche Mode roadies, and an assortment of other instruments that get passed around in this freewheeling modern hootenanny. The anything-could-happen feel of a Session show depends on craft that's not accidental or easily won; they bring a kind of ease and genuineness to this timeless music, sometimes presenting the latest batch of original songs, sometimes reaching back into depths of the American "song bag".
Members:
Billy Beard - drums, vocals Ry Cavanaugh - guitar, bass, mandolin, organ, vocals Jim Fitting - harmonica/vocals Dinty Child - mandocello, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, guitar, accordion, keyboards, vocals Kimon Kirk - bass, guitar, vocals |
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With this band, the legacy of renowned country music artist Hank Williams is celebrated by an all-star group of singers and musicians. Formed in 2002 in honor of the 50th anniversary of the death of Hank Williams, the band is marking its 15th year. John Lilly, Rob McNurlin, Hall of Fame steel guitarist Kayton Roberts, Grand Ole Opry veterans Buddy Griffin (fiddle) and Roger Carroll (bass), and lead guitarist Ritchie Collins recreate the vintage sound of Williams’ Drifting Cowboys band, while adding a fresh and creative spin to its classic songs.
Interesting anecdotes about Williams and his music add context, while good-natured banter between the musicians keeps the show lively and entertaining. 
The Hank Williams Tribute Concert is presented by the Woody Hawley Concert Series sponsored by Unity of Kanawha Valley and co-sponsored in part by FOOTMAD.
www.WoodHawleyConcerts.com |
ETSU Pride Band
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Bluegrass and Old-time
In 1982, when Jack Tottle initiated Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies at East Tenessee State University (ETSU), no four-year university had ever attempted anything like it. In fact, there were more than a few in the academic community, some highly placed, who were quite dismissive of the notion that these musical styles were appropriate for university-level study.
Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies at ETSU has clearly played a major role in renewed excitement about the region's music. It regularly attracts students from ETSU's traditional East Tennessee service area, but also from the entire United States (Texas to New England, Florida to Alaska, plus a multitude of points in between) and from foreign countries as well. Its alumni have won Grammy awards, and honors from the International Bluegrass Music Association, the Academy of Country Music, and the Country Music Association. Members:
The lineup for the February performance will be made up of 9 students within the academic/performance program, accompanied by a faculty advisor. |
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From harp-accompanied Sean-Nós songs to feral, unkempt sets of reels ...
Skipper’s Alley are a 7-piece ensemble whose dynamic take on traditional Irish music has garnered wide critical praise and has been featured on stages across three continents.
With a sound described as “from unaccompanied song through to full Chieftains frenzy” (Folk World), the Dublin-based group arrange and interpret traditional Irish folk music on Uilleann pipes, harp, fiddle, whistles, bodhrán, banjo and more, taking influence from such early bands as Planxty, Dé Dannan and The Bothy Band. Skipper’s Alley first came to prominence in the summer of 2013 after winning the Loic Raison Trophy at Le Festival Interceltique de Lorient, an award previously won by such established acts as Danú and Clannad. Members:
Patrick “Paahto” Cummins – Banjo, Mandolin John Flynn – Guitar, Voice, Flute, Whistles Eilís Lavelle – Harp Fionnán Mac Gabhann – Uilleann Pipes, Whistles Ultan O’Brien – Fiddle, Viola Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin – Concertina, Voice, Flute, Viola, Whistles Macdara Yeates – Bodhrán, Percussion, Guitar |
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Hard hittin' rural American music
The Foghorn Stringband is the present day shining gold standard for American string band music, with eight albums, thousands of shows, over a decade of touring under their belts, and an entirely new generation of old-time musicians following their lead. Through all this, they’ve never let the music grow cold; instead they’ve been steadily proving that American roots music is a never-ending well of inspiration.
Onstage, the Foghorn Stringband gather around one microphone, balancing their music on the fly, and playing with an intense, fiery abandon. The music of The Foghorn Stringband today revolves around four master musicians. Each member of The Foghorn Stringband comes not only from a different part of the American roots music spectrum, but leads the pack in their field as well. Caleb Klauder’s wistful, keening vocals and rapid-fire mandolin picking are as influenced by Southern roots music as much as by his upbringing in Washington State. Also from Washington, Reeb Willms grew up in the state’s Eastern farmlands singing hard-bitten honky-tonk with her family. Nadine Landry’s roots lie in the rural backroads of Acadian Québec, but she cut her teeth as one of the best bluegrass bassists in Western Canada. Minnesotan Stephen ‘Sammy’ Lind, simply put, is one of the best old-time fiddlers of his generation and has a voice that sounds like it’s coming from an old 78. Members:
Caleb Klauder - vocals, mandolin, fiddle Reeb Willms - vocals, guitar Nadine Landry - vocals, upright bass Stephen ‘Sammy’ Lind - vocals, fiddle, banjo |
FOOTMAD
PO Box 1684
Charleston, WV 25326
304-729-4382 (info line)
kvfootmad@gmail.com
www.footmad.org
PO Box 1684
Charleston, WV 25326
304-729-4382 (info line)
kvfootmad@gmail.com
www.footmad.org
This concert series is presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
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Update: 2016-11=07
