Legendary Cajun and Old Time Musicians to Spend a Week in Whitesburg

Dirk Powell will be in Whitesburg as part of a week-long music residency -

Internationally acclaimed Cajun and Old Time musicians Dirk Powell & Christine Balfa will be in Whitesburg from Tuesday, Oct 24th through Saturday, Oct 28th as part of a week-long music residency.

Residency activities will include classroom performances at local schools. Events that are open to the public begin on Tuesday, Oct 24 at 4 pm when Dirk Powell and Christine Balfa will perform live on WMMT-FM.

Two workshops will be held at Appalshop at 7pm Tuesday night: Cajun singing and guitar with Christine Balfa and Old Time Fiddle with Dirk Powell.

Balfa and Powell will perform at Jenkins Middle High School at 4 pm on Wednesday, Oct 25. A potluck dinner that evening at Appalshop at 6 pm will be followed by a screening of Herb E. Smith’s latest film, Thoughts In The Presence of Fear. A community discussion will follow, led by Smith and Powell, who scored the film with his original music.

On Thursday, Oct 26th Balfa and Powell will participate in a culinary and musical exchange on Judy Branch in Blackey. A potluck dinner will be held at 6 pm featuring Cajun and Appalachian food. It will be followed by dancing and a Cajun fiddle workshop led by Powell at 8pm.

On Friday, Balfa and Powell will be joined by band members for Dirk Powell’s old time band and Balfa Toujours, including Martha Scanlan from the Reeltime Travelers. The two bands will provide music for Cowan Community Center’s Halloween Square Dance at 81 Sturgill Branch Road, Whitesburg. The evening will feature hayrides, costume contest, cake walks and dancing. Potluck dinner begins at 6 pm, dancing at 7 pm.

The residency will close with Old Time Banjo Day and the 2nd Annual Masquerade Ball and Concert with The Dirk Powell Band & Balfa Toujours at the Appalshop on Saturday, October 28th at 8pm. This momentous event is a fundraiser for Appalshop’s Traditional Music Project.

Old Time Banjo Day

Old Time Banjo Days will feature various instrument workshops. Old Time Banjo Day at Appalshop, Saturday, October 28, will offer more than just banjo workshops this year. Cajun guitar and singing, Old Time guitar and singing, clogging and Cajun dance workshops will also be offered during this full day event at Appalshop.

Banjo workshops include: Beginning Clawhammer Banjo with Brett Ratliff, Early Intermediate Banjo with Carla Gover, Upper Intermediate with Dirk Powell, and Advanced with Adam Hurt. Non-banjo workshops include Cajun guitar and singing with Christine Balfa, Old Time guitar and singing with Martha Scanlan, clogging with Ellie Grace and Cajun dance with Christine Balfa. Banjo and guitar workshops will be divided into two sessions, one before and one after lunch. Morning Workshops, which include all banjo classes and Cajun guitar, begin at 10 am and break at noon for lunch. A 1 pm concert in the Appalshop Theater will be broadcast live on WMMT-FM. Concert admission is free for workshop participants and $5 for the public. A second session of afternoon workshops, including all banjo workshops, Old Time Guitar and clogging, will go from 3 to 4 pm. Students are encouraged to bring a tape recorder, a tuner and a spare set of strings. The 2^nd Annual Masquerade Ball will take place on Saturday evening with a Cajun dance workshop led by Christine Balfa at 7pm and the opening concert and the ball beginning at 8pm.

Instructors:

Brett Ratliff - Beginning Banjo - fromJohnson County, Kentucky is a talented young multi-instrumentalist who started off in bluegrass music, but now sings and plays in the old time Kentucky traditions of George Gibson and Buell Kazee. He performs in the Clack Mountain String Band and has served on the faculty of Cowan Creek Mountain Music School for the last three years. Brett’s beginning banjo class is for the rank beginner and those who need help with the basic clawhammer form. No previous experience is necessary.

Carla Gover -Early Intermediate Banjo - a Letcher County native, first learned clawhammer banjo from Lee Sexton. After earning a degree in Appalachian Studies from the University of Kentucky, she toured as a clogger with the percussive dance ensemble Footworks. She well known as a member of the band Zoe Speaks, whose recordings include Pearl and Birds Fly South. A winner of Merlefest's Chris Austin Songwriting Contest, Carla is an accomplished instrumentalist, dancer, singer and songwriter who loves to sing old-time songs. Her early intermediate banjo class will cover the basics of accompanying oneself on the banjo, including chord progressions and techniques for singing and playing at the same time. Students should be confident in the basic clawhammer strum and able to play at least two or three tunes at a moderate speed.

Dirk Powell - Upper Intermediate - is considered one of the world's leading experts on traditional Appalachian fiddle and banjo styles. In his early teens, Powell formed a musical bond with his grandfather, James Clarence Hay of Ashland, Ky., and discovered a personal resonance with the music of his mountain heritage. Most notably, Powell worked with Anthony Minghella and T Bone Burnett on the music for the film Cold Mountain. Rounder Records has released three of Powell's solo albums including Time Again in 2004. This class is for the upper intermediate and advanced student. Students must be able to play in several keys, learn by ear and play several tunes up to speed. Some basic skill in drop thumb will be useful. Dirk will cover some of his favorite Kentucky tunes and go covering mostly the "overhand" techniques and repertoire learned from his grandfather, James Clarence Hay, who was from Elliott County, KY. He'll use mostly regular old-time banjo, but will also demonstrate some fretless on an instrument made his cousin Alfred Sorenson from Castlewood, VA.

Adam Hurt - Advanced - began playing clawhammer banjo in 1995, an instrument he discovered in an elementary-school classroom in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Lately Adam finds the majority of his musical inspiration coming from such old and new Appalachian fiddlers as Ed Haley, Edden Hammons, Bruce Molsky, and Bobby Taylor, which he then translates to the banjo in often groundbreaking ways. Adam has won numerous awards across the region on both banjo and fiddle, including first place in banjo at Clifftop and Mount Airy Fiddler’s Conventions. The advanced class will explore clawhammer banjo arrangements for the eastern and central Kentucky fiddle tunes of John Salyer, Ed Haley, Jim Bowles. Students will also explore two alternate banjo tunings for the key of G that are common to eastern Kentucky and discuss applications for them. Workshop participants should be comfortable with the drop-thumb technique as well as the other foundations of the clawhammer style, and should bring a recording device.

Christine Balfa - Cajun Guitar and Singing, Cajun Dance - is the youngest of Dewey Balfa's four daughters. She grew up surrounded by the music of the Balfa Brothers. While still a teenager, she began playing triangle with her father and accompanied him across the country and to Europe. She plays guitar and is the primary vocalist in Balfa Toujours. Her guitar style is very close to that of her uncle, Rodney Balfa, who was famous for his driving rhythm. Her singing style is full of the raw emotion that enables the best Cajun singers to communicate powerful feelings directly to their listeners whether or not they can understand the French lyrics. She also collaborates on many of the heartfelt original songs that the group has written. Starting at 10 am, Balfa will lead an Upper Intermediate Guitar class on traditional, driving Cajun guitar. Students should be confident in basic chord changes and be able to play rhythm guitar at a lively tempo. Balfa will also teach the Cajun-French singing parts for tunes covered in the workshop. Balfa will also offer a short beginning Cajun Dance workshop at 7 pm.

Martha Scanlan - Old Time Guitar and Singing -is best known as the lead guitar and vocalist for the Reeltime Travelers. In their six years of touring they played some of America's most prestigious venues and festivals including the Grand Old Opry and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, recorded a cut for the soundtrack to Cold Mountain and were featured on the Great High Mountain Tour along with Alison Krauss, Ralph Stanley, and other artists from the “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” and “Cold Mountain” soundtracks. Martha's songwriting first gained national attention in 2003 at the prestigious Merlefest Chris Austin Songwriting Contest where a panel of judges including Gillian Welch and Jim Lauderdale awarded her first and second place in the bluegrass and country music categories for "Little Bird of Heaven" and "Hallelujah." Scanlan will lead an Intermediate Old Time guitar and singing workshop at 3 pm. Students should be comfortable with basic rhythm guitar techniques.

Ellie Grace - Clogging - is a percussive dancer, singer, multi-instrumentalist (mandolin, guitar, fiddle, and banjo), and songwriter who grew up traveling across North America performing with her sister and parents as The Grace Family. Today, she tours and performs as a duet with her sister Leela and also present solo concerts and workshops. She have been acclaimed by audiences and fellow musicians alike for her stage presence, driving old-time nstrumentals, and spirited precision dancing. Ellie will offer a beginning to early intermediate clogging workshop at 3pm. Previous experience flat flooting or clogging is helpful but not required.

Morning workshops, including lunch and afternoon concert admission is $35 for adults, $20 for youth. Guitar and Clogging workshop fees range from $10 to $20. Pre-registration for the Banjo Day workshops is advised. Tickets for the Masquerade Ball begin at $15.

This event is sponsored, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Southern Arts Federation and the Kentucky Arts Council and by a grant from the National Performance Network’s Performance Residency Program. Major contributors of the National Performance Network include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), Altria and the Nathan Cummings Foundation.

Old Time Banjo Days will also feature dancing workshops. Christine Balfa - Cajun Guitar and Singing, Cajun Dance - is the youngest of Dewey Balfa's four daughters. She grew up surrounded by the music of the Balfa Brothers. While still a teenager, she began playing triangle with her father and accompanied him across the country and to Europe. She plays guitar and is the primary vocalist in Balfa Toujours. Her guitar style is very close to that of her uncle, Rodney Balfa, who was famous for his driving rhythm. Her singing style is full of the raw emotion that enables the best Cajun singers to communicate powerful feelings directly to their listeners whether or not they can understand the French lyrics. She also collaborates on many of the heartfelt original songs that the group has written. Starting at 10 am, Balfa will lead an Upper Intermediate Guitar class on traditional, driving Cajun guitar. Students should be confident in basic chord changes and be able to play rhythm guitar at a lively tempo. Balfa will also teach the Cajun-French singing parts for tunes covered in the workshop. Balfa will also offer a short beginning Cajun Dance workshop at 7 pm.