George Gibson ~ Master in Residence
George R. Gibson was born in Knott County, Kentucky, an area with a rich musical heritage. He learned an older east Kentucky style of banjo ca. 1950 from his father and a few neighbors. This style features different tunings, singing with the banjo, and the use of the left hand to add fill notes. He also learned some fifteen different banjo tunings from his father, which he still uses today.
George first appeared on stage in 1994 as the guest of honor at the Florida Old Time Music Championships. He has since played at the Seedtime Festival and Banjer Days at Appalshop in Whitesburg, Kentucky; Home Craft Days in Big Stone Gap, Virginia; Berea College in Kentucky; Cowan Music School in Letcher County, Kentucky; and Augusta Heritage in Elkins, West Virginia. He also performed in a special Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour program devoted to the African origins of the banjo.
George collects banjos, dulcimers, and related ephemera. He has a banjo history exhibit at the non-profit Kentucky Music Museum and Hall of Fame at Renfro Valley. This exhibit features instruments from Africa to about 1900, along with related ephemera. The last section of the exhibit has photographs and prints of lady banjo players, ca. 1900. George is also a banjo scholar, and writes articles that explore the history of the banjo in Appalachia. His work has been published in Kentucky Explorer, Appalachian Quarterly, and more. George has a CD, Last Possum up the Tree, which contains some 24 banjo songs and stories. He also has five banjo songs on a compilation CD, Banjer Days. Both recordings were published by June Appal Recordings, which can be found at juneappalrecordings.bandcamp.com.
Sarah and Ron Howard
Sarah and Ron Howard are a sibling duo from Perry Co. Kentucky. They have strong ties to CCMMS where they were students in its infancy, and worked their way through as teaching assistants, teachers, and visiting masters. They both had a desire to learn and pass on their musical heritage at a young age. Sarah was a fiddle student and apprentice of the late Ray Slone who introduced the pair to many of the original teachers and founders of the CCMMS and gave them their earliest opportunities to perform in festival and square dance settings.
With strong roots in the Old Regular Baptist Church, they attribute much of their style of singing and tight harmonies to the melodies they heard lined out in church. They traveled with their parents on weekends for many years in KY, TN, VA, and WV as family bluegrass gospel band, The Howard Family. Their sound was a rich mix of folky, mountain gospel and original songs accompanied by tight mountain harmonies and the many instruments that each played, as well as the acapella Old Regular Baptist ballads they grew up singing.
In 2015, Ron’s musical wife Kinsee joined the family. As both Ron and Sarah’s families grew, traveling slowed significantly but they still sing and perform together at square dances and CCMMS, and with The Howard Family when schedules allow. Their music can be heard on Rich Kirby’s radio documentary, “A Fiddle Runs Through It”, PBS documentary “The Rhythm of My Soul: Kentucky Roots Music”, “The Very Day I’m Gone: Songs of Addie Graham” cd, as well as the following CDs by the Howard Family: “The Same Today”, “Follow Me”, “The Potter’s Hands” and “Our Style”.
George first appeared on stage in 1994 as the guest of honor at the Florida Old Time Music Championships. He has since played at the Seedtime Festival and Banjer Days at Appalshop in Whitesburg, Kentucky; Home Craft Days in Big Stone Gap, Virginia; Berea College in Kentucky; Cowan Music School in Letcher County, Kentucky; and Augusta Heritage in Elkins, West Virginia. He also performed in a special Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour program devoted to the African origins of the banjo.
George collects banjos, dulcimers, and related ephemera. He has a banjo history exhibit at the non-profit Kentucky Music Museum and Hall of Fame at Renfro Valley. This exhibit features instruments from Africa to about 1900, along with related ephemera. The last section of the exhibit has photographs and prints of lady banjo players, ca. 1900. George is also a banjo scholar, and writes articles that explore the history of the banjo in Appalachia. His work has been published in Kentucky Explorer, Appalachian Quarterly, and more. George has a CD, Last Possum up the Tree, which contains some 24 banjo songs and stories. He also has five banjo songs on a compilation CD, Banjer Days. Both recordings were published by June Appal Recordings, which can be found at juneappalrecordings.bandcamp.com.
Derek Wall
Derek Wall was born and raised in Magoffin County, Kentucky, and currently lives in Morgan County, Kentucky. He was reared in a household of musicians and singers. His grandfather Hassell Helton sparked his interest in music at a young age. Hassell Helton initially learned to play a banjo from his father Claude Helton, but soon realized he preferred the fiddle. At the age of 9, Derek picked up the fiddle just like his grandfather. Derek and his uncle Jackie Helton played together nearly every Sunday, during which time he discovered that he loved the drop thumb banjo. In the inverse of his grandfather, he laid the fiddle down and began to teach himself clawhammer banjo. Through the years, he has learned to play three-finger Scruggs style banjo as well, but his love has always been the drop thumb style of banjo music that his family played.
Randy Wilson
Randy 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. Mr. Wilson 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.Mr. Wilson is steeped in dance calls from eastern Kentucky and beyond- the Kentucky running set, squares, circles, reels, and play party games.
For twenty years Mr. Wilson 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.