The 2008 BLUFF COUNTRY GATHERING, May 15-18, Lanesboro, MN

Thursday  Potluck supper, 6 pm
                Staff Introductions and Concert, 8 pm

Friday     Workshops, 9 am-5 pm
                Concert (open to the public), 8 pm

Saturday   Workshops, 9 am-5 pm
                 Barn Dance (open to the public), 8 pm

Sunday      Brunch, 9:30 am

BEG- Very little experience with your instrument, need basic skills.

INT- Have basic skills, be able to tune your instrument, play scales or chords, play a few tunes.

ADV- Very at ease with your instrument and want to learn tunes quickly, focus on technique.

OPEN- Might consist of a mini-concert, folkloric discussion, a repertoire of tunes to tape, demonstrations of different tunings, etc.

Registered students are free to attend any workshop.

Mac and Jenny Traynham are a husband and wife duo, native to Virginia, who specialize in the early country duet style of singing and playing old-time country and mountain music, such as that of the Original Carter Family, the Delmore Brothers and The Blue Sky Boys. Their repertoire includes ballads, sweetheart songs, western and gospel numbers.

Tom, Brad and Alice These three musicians are renowned for their contributions to traditional American music. Tom Sauber, Brad Leftwich, and Alice Gerrard are “musicians’ musicians.” Their stunning vocal harmonies over the bedrock of their fiddle, banjo and guitar work cover a range of emotion that can move you by turns to smiles, to dance, or to tears.

Stephanie Coleman A senior at Duke University, Stephanie grew up around Chicago learning from the great musicians there. Her fiddling has consistently placed her in the finals at the prestigious Appalachian Stringband Festival fiddle contest at Clifftop, WV. She currently plays dances and performs with the Stephanie Coleman Band.

Steve Rosen is known for his creative and driving guitar rhythm and stellar melodic
and highly rhythmic banjo playing and is a favorite dance musician at the dances in Chicago and around the Midwest. He is a founding and longtime member of the Volo Bogtrotters, a legendary Midwestern string band. Did we mention what a great singer he is?

Chirps Smith has played fiddle for more than thirty years, specializing in Midwestern dance tunes. Over the years he has played with the Indian Creek Delta Boys, The Polecats, The Volo Bogtrotters and the New Bad Habits. In 1997 he was recognized by the state of Illinois as a Master Fiddler for their Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program.

Dave Rice With the old 78 rpm recordings of DeFord Bailey, Dr. Humphrey Bate and others as models, Dave has helped revive the lost art of old-time harmonica, once an integral part of the string band sound. He currently performs solo and with the Hoover Uprights, an award winning stringband. Dave has over ten years experience teaching harmonica. Please bring a C harp to class !

Dot Kent, from Grayslake, IL, is our dance caller this year. She always brings a bunch of fun dances and she's also a champion clogger, so bring your dancing shoes.