Bruce Greene
Bruce GreeneBruce Greene has been playing and preserving the traditional music of Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina for more than fifty years. Born in New Jersey, he studied at Western Kentucky University, after which he lived and worked in various parts of the state for many years, befriending and apprenticing with older generation musicians, especially fiddlers. He is known for introducing the music of Hiram Stamper, John Salyer, Mannon Campbell, the Helton family, Jim Bowles, and many other Kentucky fiddlers to the contemporary old time music world. He performed for many years with North Carolina fiddler Oscar “Red” Wilson, and from time to time with his friend Lee Sexton. He has many recordings, both collaborative and unaccompanied, the most recent of which is his solo record River in Time: Traditional Songs and Fiddle Tunes from the Toe River Valley.
Rich Kirby
Rich KirbyRich Kirby has been soaked in mountain music for longer than he cares to mention, beginning in the lap of his Kentucky ballad-singing grandmother Addie Graham of Wolfe County, Ky. That began a lifelong involvement with the music—learning, performing, collecting, recording and teaching. Besides solo work he performed in Wry Straw with John McCutcheon and Tom Bledsoe and later with Bledsoe as a duet; more recently he led the Kentucky-based band Rich and the Po’ Folk. He was one of the founders of Appalshop’s June Appal Recordings in 1974, recording several albums for the label and producing many more. He retired in 2013 after 24 years at Appalshop’s community radio station WMMT. He teaches at the Cowan Creek Mountain Music School in Letcher County, and produces a weekly old-time music radio show on Appalshop’s WMMT. He lives in Dungannon, Virginia, across the hill from the homeplace of Fiddlin’ Cowan Powers.
Barb Kuhns & Doug Smith
Barb Kuhns and Doug Smith live in Springfield, Ohio. Barb began playing fiddle as a teenanger began to play square dances in 1975 with friends who became the Corndrinkers string band. They still play together to this day. She began going to festivals in Kentucky including the Fraley Family Mountain Music Festival in 1976 where she was very taken with the music of J.P. and Annadeene Fraley as well as many others. Since 2001, she has directed the Fraley Festival of Traditional Music held every fall at Carter Caves State Park. In 2002 she won first place at the Galax Fiddlers' Convention. Accompanying Barb on guitar is Doug Smith, accomplished singer, guitar player, steel guitar player and trick roper.
Randy Wilson: Roving Story-teller
Randy Wilson: Roving Story-tellerRandy Wilson is a fifth generation eastern Kentuckian who worked for the Hindman Settlement School for 30 years doing songs, stories, and dances in the elementary schools. He plays traditional and original tunes on banjo, guitar, autoharp, and mountain dulcimer. Randy has played in many festivals across the country- Appalshop’s Seedtime on the Cumberland, Hindman Settlement School’s Family Folk Week, The Great American Dulcimer Festival at Pine Mountain State Park, The Smithsonian Festival of Folk Music on the national mall, cultural exchange festivals with native peoples of Alaska and Puerto Rican folks in the Bronx, NYC. Included are concerts and cultural exchanges at the University of Rome, Rome, Italy and a recent tour of music in Japan. Randy is steeped in dance calls from eastern Kentucky and beyond- the Kentucky running set, squares, circles, reels, and play party games.
For twenty years Randy produced Kid’s Radio for WMMT at the Appalshop in Whitesburg, Ky, airing children’s voices and oral histories from across the region. He made numerous recordings with students in addition to his own recordings- albums from children’s music to blues to Christmas songs.
