SWANNANOA GATHERING STAFF CONCERTS
All shows begin at 7:30 pm in the college’s Kittredge Theatre. Tickets are $35 per concert (during Old-Time Week, ticket price includes dances following concerts). Children under 12 are $17. Limited tickets are available for check or cash only in Asheville at Malaprops Bookstore, and in Black Mountain at Acoustic Corner.
Fiddle/Mando & Banjo Weeks Concert I on Monday, July 1 is the first of three concerts combining the staffs of Fiddle Week with Mando & Banjo Week, featuring some of the world’s finest fiddle, mandolin and banjo players covering a variety of ethnic traditions. The first show will feature old-time music with fiddler Libby Weitnauer and banjo players Matt Brown and Laura Boosinger, bluegrass with mandolinists David Benedict and Casey Campbell and fiddler Emma McDowell, western swing with Katie Glassman and the always eclectic Joe Craven.
The Fiddle/Mando & Banjo Weeks Concert II on Tuesday, July 2 features the wide-ranging music of mandolin virtuoso Mike Marshall, classical mandolinist Caterina Lichtenberg, progressive bluegrass from mandolinists Emory Lester and John Reischman, and banjo player Bill Evans, Irish music & more from Andrew Finn Magill, Alan Murray and Liz Knowles, and old-time from the college’s own Natalya Weinstein.
On Wednesday, July 3, the Fiddle/Mando & Banjo Weeks Concert III will highlight an extraordinary lineup of great players featuring jazz violinists Sara Caswell and Evan Price and swing mandolinist Joe K. Walsh, bluegrass mandolinists Matt Flinner and Alan Bibey, bassist Kevin Kehrberg and guitarists Ed Dodson and Greg Ruby.
Traditional Song Week’s Concert I on Monday, July 8, features old-time & blugrass singer Joe Newberry, Appalachian singers Sam Gleaves and Kay Justice, songwriter Susan Cattaneo, gospel singers Pamela English and Shirley Smith, and the week’s Coordinator, Matt Watroba.
Traditional Song Week’s Concert II on Wednesday, July 10, features sea chanteys with Chris Koldewey, Irish singer Cathie Ryan, choir leader Saro Lynch-Thomason, freedom song activist Reggie Harris, mountain singer Josh Goforth, gospel blues singer Rev. Robert Jones and song leader Matt Watroba.
Old-Time Week Concert I, Monday, July 22 is the first of two concerts featuring some of the best old-time musicians around, many of whom are familiar faces around western NC. The first concert features guitar & banjo with Phil Jamison & Gordy Hinners, fiddle and guitar with Erynn Marshall & Carl Jones, harmonica and more with Jackie Merritt, banjoists Ben Nelson and Laura Boosinger, Cary Moskovitz & Mark Olitsky, singer Cary Fridley, fiddler Earl White, clogger Rodney Sutton, Tessa & Chance McCoy, and Kelli Jones & Chas Justus.
Old-Time Week Concert II, on Wednesday, July 24 will feature Doug Orr & friends, singer Ron Pen, Gina Dilg, autoharpist John Hollandsworth, Betty Vornbrock & Billy Cornette, dulcimer player Aaron O’Rourke, Meredith McIntosh & John Herrmann, fiddler Rhys Jones, Mick & Evan Kinney, old-time band Steam Machine, and flatfooter Thomas Maupin with banjoist Daniel Rothwell.