Arlo Barnette (Old Time String Band) grew up steeped in traditional music in Bath County, Kentucky, and began learning guitar from none other than his fellow CCMMS instructors: Karly Dawn Milner and Don Rogers. At 12 years old, he decided to get serious about playing guitar after hearing Don play Tony Rice’s “Plastic Banana” and was soon helping him accompany square dances at the local 4-H extension office. He first attended CCMMS in 2011 and there met his wife, fiddler Zoey Barrett, a year later. In recent years he has served as a teaching assistant and offers private lessons for guitar, piano, drums, and ukulele. With a multi-instrumental education in old-time, classical, jazz, rock, and other styles, Arlo is currently a member of Zoe Speaks, Cornmaíz, and Cornbread & Tortillas, and is a producer/accompanist for Maizie Manna.
Sue Massek ( Singing) has been a singer/songwriter, banjo player and folklorist for over 50 years. She performs solo and for 40 years with the Reel World String Band, “Kentucky’s feminist hillbilly band”. Her performance credits range from picket lines to the Lincoln Center with innumerable international and regional festivals, concerts and square dances in between. Sue was a Kentucky Folklife apprentice to Blanche Coldiron, and was mentored by Lilly May Ledford, one of the original Coon Creek Girls. She is now a master musician herself and has had several apprentices over the past decade. Sue’s picking and original songs can be heard of seven Reel World albums and three solo projects including Precious Memories: The Songs of Sarah Ogan Gunning, a companion recording to her one-woman play, written for her by Si Kahn.
http://reelworldstringband.com/
THE NEW SONGS SHOWCASE 2020
Our first new song “Divided We Fall” comes from faculty member Don Rogers. And visiting master Sam Gleaves gives us “Welcome as the Flowers in May”. Have you written a new song in the last couple of years? All music school faculty, teaching assistants and students are invited to share.
New songs from Larah Helayne, our 2019-2020 Charlie Whitaker Memorial Apprentice and teaching assisant Pierceton Hobbs.