Meghan Bryant (Beginning Fiddle) from Floyd County, Kentucky made her first appearance on the CCMMS stage with her teacher Jamie Wells at age eight. She continued to study with Jamie at the Mountain Arts Center and later with Jesse Wells as CCMMS’s first Charlie Whitaker Memorial Apprentice. Meghan recently graduated with a BA in traditional music performance and elementary education from Morehead State University. She teaches fiddle in the Hindman Settlement School’s Pick & Bow afterschool program, as well as offering private lessons. She is a featured performer in the Mountain Arts Center’s Kentucky Opry.
John Harrod (Early Intermediate Fiddle) of Shelby County, Kentucky has been documenting, playing, and teaching Kentucky music for 50 years. Although he started out playing bluegrass in high school, he credits Mark Wilson and the late Gus Meade with introducing him to the world of pre-bluegrass traditional music. With them, he produced a series of field recordings that are available from Rounder Records and the Field Recorders’ Collective. He has also taught fiddle at the American Festival of Fiddle Tunes, the Augusta Heritage Center, Swannanoa Old Time Week, and Centre College. He performs with Kentucky Wild Horse, a band that brings together many strands of Kentucky music including old time songs and fiddle tunes, bluegrass, original songs and hillbilly swing. His recordings include Living in the Promised Land, Spirits of the Lonesome Hills and Wild and Free with Kentucky Wild Horse and a fiddle CD, Johnny Come Along.
Erynn Marshall (Intermediate/Advanced Fiddle) is a Canadian fiddler who lives in Hillsville, Virginia and is known internationally for her music. Erynn learned the nuances of Appalachian old-time fiddling from visits with elder southern fiddlers and through her love of archival recordings. She was the first woman to win the fiddle competition at the Appalachian Stringband Festival in Clifftop, Virginia. Erynn is featured in the 2023 exhibit, Women of Old-Time Music, at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, Virginia. Erynn tours and teaches music with her husband Carl Jones across the globe; their most recent recording together is the two-volume Old Time Sweethearts. She has numerous other recordings, is featured in five films, three books and is coordinator for the Swannanoa Old-Time & Dance Week in Ashville, North Carolina.
Blakeley Burger (Advanced Fiddle) is from Lexington, Kentucky, with roots in Estill and Owsley Counties. She is a fiddle player who has studied with mentors such as John Harrod, Daniel and Amy Carwile, and Jesse Wells. Blakeley is a 2023 Berea College Media Archive Fellow, researching the musical techniques and lives of Kentucky fiddlers such as Doc Roberts, Ed Haley, Emma Lee Dickerson, Lella Todd, and Buddy Thomas through field recordings and oral histories. She holds a BA in Music from the University of Louisville. Blakeley performs nationally and in South America and has recorded on June Appal and Dolceola Recordings. She frequently performs with Kentucky Wild Horse and in a duo with banjo player/singer-songwriter Grace Rogers. Blakeley also teaches fiddle for the Happy Hollow Hootenanny, the Kentucky Arts Council and Louisville Country Dancers.
https://www.facebook.com/blakeley.burger
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Don’t wait until CCMMS 2024 to learn some new tunes! Check out the instructional videos for all levels of fiddlers.
Bruce Greene teaches “The Field Lark” for beginning or early intermediate fiddlers, along with tips on bowing.
Another great beginner tune from Meghan Bryant with tips for starting from scratch.
Carrie Wells Carter teaches a couple of fun Snake Chapman tunes for early intermediate fiddlers.
John Harrod teaches “Red Lick” and “Manassas” for intermediate fiddlers. And John brakes down bowing for Kentucky tunes (a series of 3 videos), highly recommended for all fiddlers!
Visiting Master Barb Kuhns shares some sweet tunes from Jimmy Wheeler and J. P. Fraley.