Greenwood Furnace |
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Folk |
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 Simple Gifts |
Folk Gathering's host band is three women (Linda Littleton, Karen Hirshon & Rachel Hall) playing twelve instruments, performing styles that range from old time to Celtic to Klezmer and beyond. Combining tradition with innovation, Simple Gifts creates some of the finest arrangements in folk music today: swing fiddle creeps into a Romanian dance, spoons show up in an Irish reel, and the concertina ventures far beyond styles considered traditional for that instrument. Based in the hills of central Pennsylvania, Simple Gifts switches with ease among two violins, concertina, mandolin, banjolin, recorders, bowed psaltery, hammered dulcimer, baritone fiddle, guitar, piano, and percussion. |
2011 Instructional Staff
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| Rustical Quality String Band | Patty Lambert & Holly Foy |
Rustical Quality String Band plays an eclectic mix of old-time string band music, novelty tunes, and originals. The group has been together for 30 years and includes Tim Craven on vocals and guitar, Karen Hirshon (also of Simple Gifts) and Mike Rovine on fiddle, Celia Millington-Wyckoff on bass, and Mick Smyer on washboard. |
Patty Lambert and Holly Foy play with Callanish, a traditional Celtic band where Patty plays flute, whistle and concertina and Holly plays guitar. Patty has studied with National Heritage Fellowship award winner, Mike Rafferty as well as with Chris Norman. Patty has traveled through Ireland twice to collect tunes and to sample Guinness beer with bandmate Holly Foy, who will back her up on guitar. Holly has studied guitar with Daithi Sproule, guitarist from the band Altan, and with Matt Heaton and others. |
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| Joe DeZarn and Keith Carr | John Lamancusa |
Joe DeZarn and Keith Carr are active particpants in the Mid-Atlantic traditional music community. Their music, ranging from Irish, Quebecois and traditional American fiddle tunes, is in demand at ceilis, contradances, feiseanna, sessions and house parties - anywhere people gather to make and enjoy authentic music. Joe plays the fiddle, Keith plays a nice variety of instruments including Irish bozouki, banjo, mandolin and piano. They both teach on their respective instruments, and with any sort of encouragement at all, Keith will expound upon Biological Informatics. |
John Lamancusa is an old-timey fiddler and mandolin maker from central PA. He has performed with a variety of groups over 30 years including Al Hahn and the Barnburners, the Allegheny String Band, Steele Hollow, Crooked Stovepipe, and the Carpal Tunnel String band. His Old Time Fiddle Tunes website is the most visited fiddle music site on the web. |
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| Henry Koretzky | |
Henry Koretzky is a mandolinist/ guitarist/singer from Harrisburg, PA, who has performed in a wide variety of styles and groups, from bluegrass with Cornerstone, Sweetwater Reunion, and High Strung, klezmer with The Old World Folk Band, old-time with the duo Rootbound, as well as swing, celtic, contemporary folk, and contradance music. He has taught at Folk College in previous years as part of The Keystone Rebels and as part of a duo with singer/songwriter/ guitarist Kevin Neidig, and has also been a staff regular at Greenwood Furnace Folk Gathering. |
Also known as The Allegheny Mountain Dulcimer Players, Clark and Cindy focus on old time and gospel songs, accompanying themselves on mountain dulcimer, guitar, strum stick, hammered dulcimer, autoharp, and bass. They are also the founders and organizers of the Heart of the Alleghenies Festival in north-central Pennsylvania. Now that Clark and Cindy have retired, they split their time between Florida and their sail boat on Lake Erie. |
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| Jerry Trusty | |
RJerry grew up in Mississippi where he learned and played traditional music at an early age. He has a bachelor’s degree in music education and a master’s degree in music performance (French horn). Jerry was a high school band director for several years, and he is now a professor in counselor education at Penn State. His current musical passions include playing, researching and building clawhammer and old-time banjos. |
Diana Wagner is an acoustic musician and folksinger who collects and preserves folk music. Diana plays acoustic and classical guitar, mountain dulcimer, a bit of banjo and diddley-bow. She also plays multiple percussion hand instruments. Folk audiences know that her show-opening trademark is to begin without any instruments and an a capella mountain song or ballad. Whether singing Civil War songs, blues, Irish love ballads, or indie folk from contemporary backroads, Diana is committed to telling the personal stories and sharing the histories of the lives preserved in song. Diana is also a classical guitarist with a variety of musical interests. In addition, she directs the Maryland site of Guitars in the Classroom, an innovative program that brings guitars and music integration to classroom teachers across the country. |
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| Kelly Parker | Linda Huber |
Kelly e. Parker is founder and artistic director of ABAFASI. Her life’s roles include: sistah, mother, grandmother, drummer, drum-maker, student, teacher, social worker, composer, craftswoman, wordsmith, jewelry-maker, and welder. Kelly’s first drumming experience occurred in 1994, and it recharged her life, since then drumming has been the soundtrack of her path. The drum is in her walk, talk, hair, children and spirit. Her travel to Africa in 2005 affirmed the influence that West African drumming has had on all genres of music. That influence has informed her rhythmic expressions. |
Linda Huber has been a festival attendee for many years and now returns as staff. An accomplished autoharp player and vocalist, Linda's repertoire ranges from old time fiddle tunes to songs by contemporary composers. She teaches private lessons, leads workshops at festivals, teaches adult education classes, and arranges music that is published in Autoharp Quarterly. Linda lives with her husband in the Pigeon Hills outside of Hanover PA, along with a dog and six cats. She has two grown children who are both professional musicians. |
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| Bob Nicholson | Paul Fagley |
| Based in Syracuse, NY, Bob is in demand as a contradance teacher and caller. His dances are easy for beginners while still being fun for accomplished dancers. |
The Cultural Interpreter for Greenwood Furnace State Park, Paul is knowledgeable about the history of the people and places at Greenwood. |
| Pennsylvania Heritage Musicians | |
A goal of the Greenwood Furnace Folk Gathering is to identify and preserve traditional music of Pennsylvania. Towards this goal, a project was initiated at the 2006 Folk Gathering to invite musicians with a long history of playing music in Pennsylvania to share their history and early experiences. |
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| 2011 Heritage Musician: Clyde & Dale Wilson | |
Greenwood Furnace Folk Gathering honors octogenarian brothers Clyde (guitar and vocals) and Dale (fiddle) Wilson. The two grew up five miles from Greenwood Furnace and have been playing music just about their whole lives. They are founding members of the Stone Valley Boys, which plays country, gospel, and old time music. |
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Sponsored by the Huntingdon County Arts Council
huntingdonarts@comcast.net
(814) 643-6220