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Click HERE
to see videos of the 2010 Maine Master Fiddlers Showcase benefit.
Here is the 2010
staff lineup.
JUNE WEEKEND
Fiddlers:
Paul Anastasio,
Greg Boardman,
Paul D'Alessio,
Éric Favreau,
Frank Ferrel,
George Fowler,
Ellen
Gawler,
Jessie Gagne Hall,
Ed
Howe,
Dudley and Jackie Laufman,
Elaine
Malkin,
Steve Muise,
Carter
and Kaity Newell,
John
Pranio,
Lissa Schneckenberger,
Hank
Washburn,
Pam Weeks,
PLUS
John Cote, guitar,
Sandy Davis, pennywhistle
Ariel Friedman,
cello,
John Gawler, banjo,
Glen Loper, mandolin,
Owen Marshall, guitar
Jeff Mckeen, guitar,
Bob McQuillen, piano,
Bill Olson - guitar, bass
Doug Protsik, piano, fiddle, accordion
Sharon
Pyne,
whistle,
Fred White, guitar
plus surprise guests.
JUNE WEEK
Fiddlers:
Paul Anastasio
Greg Boardman
Jessie Gagne Hall
Ellen Gawler
Nat Hewitt
Ed Howe
Elaine Malkin
Alden Robinson
Pam Weeks
PLUS
Liza Constable, guitar
Jim Joseph
David Stimson
Doug Protsik, piano, fiddle, accordion
Glen Loper, mandolin
Neil Pealman, piano
Bill Olson, guitar, bass
Owen Marshall, guitar
Junior (part time), button accordion
plus surprise guests
AUGUST CAMP - BOTH
WEEKS
(see below for staff who will be at one week only):
Frank
Ferrel, Jessie Gagne Hall, Ellen
Gawler, Ed Howe, Dudley
and Jacqueline Laufman, Elaine Malkin,
Steve Muise, Kaity Newell, Lissa
Schneckenberger, Pam Weeks
PLUS
Greg Boardman, cello & fiddle
John Cote, guitar
Sandy Davis, pennywhistle
Corey Dimario, bass,
Ariel Friedman, cello,
Glen Loper, mandolin
Owen Marshall, guitar
Eric McDonald, mandolin
Jeff Mckeen, guitar
Bill Olson - guitar, bass ,
Doug Protsik, piano,
Sharon Pyne, whistle & flute,
and others, including surprise guests
STAFF for AUGUST CAMP - 1st week only
(see above for both weeks staff):
Fiddlers:
George Fowler,
Ellen Gawler,
PLUS
John Gawler, banjo
Sylvia
Miskoe, accordion
Neil Pearlman, piano
Chris Prickett, banjo
Fred White, guitar
STAFF for AUGUST CAMP
- 2nd week only
(see above for both weeks staff)
Fiddlers:
Jennifer Armstrong,
Éric Favreau,
Ed Pearlman,
PLUS
David Surette, mandolin,
Susie
Burke, vocals & guitar,
Carter Logan, banjo,
Bob McQuillen, piano
Jeremiah McClain, accordion,
piano
Steve Weiss, harmonica
and more!
 
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STAFF INFO
Paul Anastasio
An opportunity to perform and study with the legendary jazz violinist Joe Venuti between 1976 and 1978 helped shape Paul’s swing jazz style. At about the same time, Paul’s friendship with electric mandolinist Tiny Moore resulted in a successful audition with country music legend Merle Haggard. Jumping at the chance to join Merle's band, The Strangers, Paul was able to tour the U.S. and Europe for six months. In 1980 he joined Asleep at the Wheel, and enjoyed playing their eclectic mix of music on the road for almost four years. In 1984 he joined Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers Band, working with Larry and his brothers for three years. Paul then joined Loretta Lynn’s band, the Coal Miners. After two years with Loretta, he free-lanced for a bit in Nashville, then returned to his native Pacific Northwest in 1992.
This is just a taste of Paul's experience, and at Fiddlecamp he is hoping to be able to teach the Mexican style of playing that he has learned more recently. Paul says, "That style is the violin-driven style from the Hot Lands of Guerrero and Michoacán in southwestern Mexico. It's called Calentano music, and it's a great mixture of traditional tunes and composed pieces by known authors. As opposed to swing music, where the bare-bones melody is just a jumping-off point for improvisation, this Mexican music is played as written. Students can learn it by ear, from manuscript, or both. My introduction to this music came when I first heard violinist Juan Reynoso at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. His music absolutely floored me! When studying with him, I learned that he was one of just a handful of old players who were still playing the style, and that it was dying out. For me, this was like hearing that old-time fiddling or Cajun fiddling was dying out. "That can't be!" I remember thinking, and I resolved to do everything I could to keep the style alive."
Check out more about Paul and his amazing fiddling at www.swingcatenterprises.com, or Google him.
Jennifer Armstrong
Visit Jennifer's website.
233 Poors Mill Road Belfast ME O4915 207-338-6616
Greg Boardman
Greg is the founder of Maine Fiddle Camp and has been a major
inspiration for many fiddlers over the last three decades throughout
all of Maine. He has steered a career in folk music by playing
for concerts and dances, especially by learning the regional "DownEast"
fiddling style from the likes of Otto Soper and Simon St. Pierre,
and by teaching music and fiddling in the Auburn area. His current
band is Boardman and Sons,
playing alongside Isaac, Ethan, and Aidan.
65 Summit St. Auburn ME O4543 207-777-5320.
Visit Greg's website www.bowandstring.com
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Susie Burke
Vocals and Guitar
www.burkesurette.com
Liza Constable
Guitar
John Cote
Guitar
John plays with
Wake the Neighbors and
various duos.
8 Ledgemere Ln Lewiston ME O4240 207-232-8656
Sandy Davis
Sandy has been playing for contra dances for over 40 years. In the 70's he was a founding member of the Roaring Jelly dance band and the Common Ground quintet. Back then he played occasionally with Dudley Laufman and the Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra. He spent over 20 years as the hired music director of two long-standing community dance bands (the Berlin Country Dance Orchestra and Oh, CONTRAire!), and has recorded with a number of traditional musicians, including Tony Saletan, Jay Unger, Jerry Robichaud, and Trapezoid. He has played for many well-known dance callers including Dudley Laufman, Ted Sanella, Larry Jenkins, Tony Parkes, and Lisa Greenleaf.
Sandy was a co-founder of The Music School at the Emporium, then in Cambridge, MA, and was the Director of the school for the first four years. As the lead old-time banjo instructor, he taught over 400 musicians how to frail a banjo. He has been on staff several times at Pinewoods, and has led instructional workshops at many festivals including: Fox Hollow, the National Folk Festival at Wolftrap, NEFFA, the Five College Folk Festival, and the DEFFA Festival.
Sandy currently plays for the Orion Longsword team, and is a member of Flowing Tide, a new quintet made up of Tamora Goltz; David, Abraham and Nathaniel Stimson, and himself. At Maine Fiddle Camp Sandy will again be teaching pennywhistle. He will also be happy to work with any horn players who come to camp. (Bring your horn!)
17 Juniper Lane, Bristol ME 04539-3006 | 207-563-7263
Corey Dimario
Bass
446 St John Place, Apt.1c Brooklyn NY 11238 617-290-1195
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Éric Favreau
Éric Favreau comes from a family of traditional musicians
and has spent a great deal of time playing with other fiddlers,
learning their repertoire and studying their varied styles. Éric
has explored and exploited various sources including archives
and personally made field recordings and has accumulated a rich
and fascinating repertoire. Over the years, he has garnered a
profound understanding and vast knowledge of Québécois
traditional music.
As an individual, and
in various groups including Entourloupe, Éric has vast
experience in the Canadian, United State and European music scenes.
Éric has recorded two solo albums, two with his current
group Entourloupe, and has appeared on at least a dozen others.
He is a consumate entertainer/educator in Introduction to traditional
music workshop in the public school system in program under the
auspices of the Minister of Education. He also teaches traditional
fiddle, and the history of traditional music at the Cégèp(Junior
college music) in Joliette, Québec.
Éric's playing
is marked by delicacy, nuance and liveliness that will leave no
foot untapped!
Frank
Ferrel
Frank began his fiddling at age 8, influenced first by his grandfather,
a traditional musician and native of Ohio and West Virginia with
roots in Ireland and Maritime Canada. Over the years, Frank has
appeared on the nationally broadcast popular American radio series,
A Prairie Home Companion, and is included on their anthology recording,
"PHC Tourists." He has performed on numerous occasions
with the legendary Celtic group, The Boys of the Lough, and one
of his recordings was selected by the Library of Congress for
their Select List of 25 Recordings of American Folk Music.
www.frankferrel.com
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Ariel Friedman
Ariel Friedman is in her third year at Northwestern University
studying cello performance, but she is mostly, and not at all
secretly, a folk musician. She plays in a folk/celtic/old-timey
band with her fiddling sister, Mia and in December, 2006 they
released their first album, entitled Lady and
the Pants. Ari also tours, performs and records with Hanneke Cassel.
She teaches both classical and folk cello privately and at various
fiddle camps, and she also plays clawhammer banjo.
www.ladyandthepants.com
or www.myspace.com/ladyandthepants
George Fowler
George trained classically as a youngster, but started his fiddling
voyage in the late 1970s by learning tunes from lobsterman &
folk fiddler Albert Collins of South Blue Hill. He is a founding
member of Oakum Bay String Band (est. 1981), the host band for
the monthly Blue Hill dance, which started in 1976 and is now
the longest-running contradance in Maine. George has a strong
interest in Irish traditional music and in 1988 started "New
Potatoes", the weekly Celtic show on WERU-FM, where he can
still be heard on Sundays from 4-6pm. He is also a member of The
Montville Project www.montvilleproject.com,
a repertory dance band conceived in 2007 at Maine Fiddle Camp.
612 Reach Rd., Brooklin, ME 04616; 207-359-2070; www.georgefowlerfiddle.com
Ellen Gawler
Ellen Gawler began her study of traditional fiddling in Scotland,
where she learned from the old masters. She teaches Suzuki violin
and performs with her family band . Also a seasoned singer, Ellen’s
early inspiration came from her own parents and their Vermont
neighbors, the renowned Macarthur family. Her Maine-based trio,
Trillium, has released two CDs of lovely singing and fiddling.
Ellen Gawler 457 West Rd. Belgrade ME O4917 495-2928
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John Gawler
John plays 5-string banjo, guitar, and piano and is the best bottom
feeder in the business! When he isn’t smiling and putting on a
roof, he is smiling and singing a Woody Guthrie song, accompanied
by his wife, Ellen Gawler, or one of his daughters in the Gawler
Family Band. Besides doing workshops, John helps host the
camper concerts.
282 Guptill Rd. Belgrade ME O4917 207-495-2267
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Jessie Gagne Hall
Jessie plays with Wake
the Neighbors.
Ed Howe
Ed plays sizzling fiddle in various bands and duos for dancing
and performance, among them the Dave
Rowe Trio. Lately Ed has been exploring the electric fiddle.
Ed has been the sound tech for Maine Fiddlecamp, and one year
even had us running on solar power!
Visit Ed's
MySpace page
Dudley and Jackie
Laufman
Since 1986, Jacqueline and Dudley Laufman have been playing for
dances as Two Fiddles. Prior to that, Dudley, who has been
playing and calling dances for over fifty years, has been the
leader of the Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra. In 1971
the Orchestra became the first dance band to make an LP recording,
which was re-released in the summer of 2001.
PO Box 61 Canterbury NH. O3224 603-654-6347
For more info, visit their website at www.laufman.org
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Carter Logan
Carter plays banjo with his band "Jerks of Grass" and
also plays for dances. He has a unique repertoire and we are pleased
to have him on staff at camp
www.jerksofgrass.com
Glen Loper
Glen has way too much fun playing mandolin and tenor banjo for
contradances with a number of different groups including Frigate,
Calliope, and Rumblestrip.
www.glenloper.com
Elaine Malkin
603 Battle Ridge Rd. Canaan ME O4924 207-426-9623
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Sylvia Miskoe
Sylvia has been playing her accordion since college where she
began playing for square and contra dancing. Today she still plays
for dancing, including Scottish and English Country Dance. In
addition she is the music director for the Strathspey & Reel
Society, leading their monthly sessions and concerts. She says
the one thing better than sitting on stage and playing for dancing
is helping others learn how to play for dancing.
Owen Marshall
Guitar
Jeremiah McClain
The music of composer, accordionist, and pianist Jeremiah McLane
is a unique blend of Franco-American, Celtic, jazz, and roots
influenced music. In
1980 Jeremiah started studying Celtic music and began playing
the accordion, influenced largely by the Bothy Band and Dedanann.
He studied with Chicago accordionist Jimmy Keane and Cape Breton
pianist Doug McPhee. In the early 1990s he helped start two bands
with strong traditional New England roots: The Clayfoot Strutters
and Nightingale, both of which are active today. In 2003 he formed
Le Bon Vent, a sextet specializing in Breton and French music.
He has recorded nine CDs with these and other musicians.
www.jeremiahmclane.com
Eric McDonald
Eric will teach mandolin.
Jeff Mckeen
Jeff plays button accordion, guitar, banjo, and the hammiest of
bones. Jeff has played with The Old Grey Goose for over
twenty years, doing innumerable workshops in schools all over
the state, and keeping the old-time music in Maine alive. A resident
of Montville, he gets the fire permit every year and helps host
the camper concerts, and providing the best of accompaniment for
fiddlers.
RFD 1 Box 2155 Freedom ME O4941 207-342-5253
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Bob McQuillen
Bob McQuillen is a legendary piano player from New Hampshire,
the composer of more than a thousand wonderful tunes including
Dancing Bear, Amelia's Waltz, and so many others. Bob has summed
up his love of playing piano for dancing in one simple sentence,
"It's like getting paid to eat ice cream!"
Steve Muise
Steve Muise has been fiddling his family's Downeast Style for
many years. (His parents are 1st and 2nd generation Nova Scotians)
He founded the Franklin County Fiddlers, a group of student
musicians from the Farmington area that tours around Maine displaying
and promoting fiddle styles. Steve is a graduate of Berklee
College of Music, and is a stringed instrument teacher in the
MSAD #9 schools. Steve enjoys playing all styles, ranging from
Downeast (maritime), Québécois, Celtic, and jazz.
128 Belcher Rd. Farmington ME. O4938 207-778-5072
Kaity Newell
Kaity teaches fiddle in Damariscotta and has played for dances
for many years with The Maine Country Dance Orchestra,
and with the band The Lady Bugs. A native of Great Britain,
Kaity has brought many a fine tune from the British Isles to our
local dances. Kaity also plays viola in the local community orchestra
and has four children, all of whom play music and come to camp
every year.
7 Creek Lane Damariscotta ME O44543 207-563-8440
Carter Newell
When Carter isn’t working on aquaculture projects he loves to
play his fiddle with The Old Grey Goose, and with his wife
Kaity and The Newell Family Band. He has collected tunes
from old Maine fiddlers like Arnold Kennedy from Aroostook County,
and has traveled extensively with his fiddle throughout the British
Isles and the Maritime Provinces.
7 Creek Lane Damariscotta ME O44543 207-563-8440
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Ed Pearlman
Visit Ed's website at www.highlandsoles.com.
Neil Pearlman
Neil Pearlman is emerging as one of the traditional music scene's most innovative young artists. Legendary Cape Breton fiddler Jerry Holland said that "watching Neil's hands on the piano is like watching two spiders on crack!" His piano style is rooted in Cape Breton traditions while drawing on latin, jazz and funk influences. The result is a exciting new sound that remains true to its traditional roots. An accomplished Cape Breton step dancer and mandolinist as well, Neil grew up in the family band Highland Soles and has performed with many of the best musicians on the traditional music scene today, including Natalie MacMaster, Alasdair Fraser, Seamus Connolly, Kimberley Fraser, Abby Newton, Frank Ferrel, Maeve Gilchrist, Mike Vass, Ed Pearlman and Greg Boardman.
Visit Neils myspace page at www.myspace.com/neilpearlman
John Pranio
John first started as a teenage fiddler playing Appalachian style
from recordings, but soon found out it was more fun to play tunes
for contra dances, and has been doing just that for 20 years.
Since moving to Maine in 1989, he is best known for his rhythmic
dance fiddling at contra dances with his current band The Usual
Suspects. John has a real musical family, with his wife Toki
accompanying him on bass and guitar.
Tel. (207) 549-3820
Doug Protsik
Doug likes to play the "old-time piano" for dances,
melodramas, honky tonk saloons, and silent movies. He learned
his style from Otto Soper, Geneva Walton, and Danny Patt among
many others. He plays with Old Grey Goose and produced
all three of their recordings, including the group’s first recording
in 1978 for Folkways, "Old Time Country Dance Tunes and Songs
from Maine", now available again on CD. Doug also plays piano,
accordion, and fiddle. He is the Camp Director again this year.
116 Pleasant Cove Dr. Woolwich ME O4579 207-443-5411
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Sharon Pyne
Sharon Pyne began playing tin whistle while living in Ireland
in 1977, where she studied with master players in County Cork,
the same county where her great grandparents immigrated from.
Returning to Boston, she became involved in Comhaltas Ceoltoiri
Eireann, a world-wide organization whose mission is to preserve
traditional Irish music and dance. Led by Seamus Connelly, this
group recorded and album of Boston Irish musicians on which Sharon
played. She came to Maine with her family, where she helped form
the Portland Ceili Band to perform for dances at the Portland
Irish- American Club and the Irish Heritage Center. She has performed
and recorded with Julia Lane of Castlebay. She teaches Music Together
near her hometown of Woolwich, Maine where she lives with her
husband Doug Protsik. www.ladiesofthelakemusic.com
116 Pleasant Cove Dr. Woolwich ME O4579 207-443-5411
Alden Robinson
Alden Robinson grew up in Bremen, Maine, and learned fiddle from Tamora Goltz and from the instructors at Maine Fiddle Camp. In college, he studied traditional Irish music at Cork University. He now lives in Portland where he plays with his new Irish band The Press Gang, as well as with The Milliners and the many wonderful musicians in the Portland area. He also loves playing contra dances around Maine with the band Playgroup.
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Don & Cindy
Roy
Don learned how to play the fiddle from his Uncle, Lucien Mathieu
when he was 15 years old, and soon after became influenced by
his fiddling friends Ben Guillemette, Joe and Gerry Robichaud,
and Graham Townsend. His personal style would show strong influence
from the Canadian provinces and Northern Ireland. Don started
and managed The Maine French Fiddlers with his wife Cindy,
an accomplished piano accompanist and stepdancer, for 11 years
during which he played such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln
Center, The Barns at Wolf Trap, Prairie Home Companion. His
latest recording, "Thanks for the Lift", is a collection
of rare tunes learned from his mentors and has been nominated
for a National Heritage Award.
114 Plummer Rd. Gorham ME. O4038 892-3512
droy@maineturnpike.com
and cynthiaroy1@aol.com.
You can also find out a lot more about Don at his websites:
www.donroyonline.com,
www.fiddleicious.com,
and coming later this year, www.donroyviolins.com
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Lissa Schneckenburger
A new England fiddler and folk singer, Lissa grew up in Maine
as an active member of the folk music and dance community, where
she cut her teeth as a musician at a very young age. She has continued
to explore music throughout her life, leading to her graduation
from The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts
(2001). Her list of mentors includes Greg Boardman, Alasdair Fraser,
David Kaynor, and Hankus Netsky. While embracing a diverse pallet
of musical influences, she still stays true to her New England
roots.
For more info on Lissa, check out her website at www.lissafiddle.com
David Surette
Mandolin
www.burkesurette.com
Hank Washburn
Hank is well known for his fiddle playing at dances around the
midcoast and foothills areas of Maine, often with the band the
"Usual Suspects" or "The Racket Factory".
Hank plays and teaches entirely by ear, and in addition to fiddle
he plays mandolin and guitar.
38 Intervale Rd. New Sharon ME O4955 778-2268
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Pam Weeks
Pam sings and plays several instruments in the folk trio, Ti'
Acadie,
is fiddler and singer for the Maine-based Cajun dance band, Jimmyjo
&
the Jumbol'Ayuhs, plays fiddle and mountain dulcimer in the contradance
band, Scrod Pudding, and performs solo or with guitar player and
caller Bill Olson. She is an accomplished tunesmith and has composed
scores of tunes, from lively jigs and reels, to entrancing airs
and beautiful waltzes.
Pam has toured throughout
the U.S. with her bands, playing for
contradances, concerts, and teaching at festivals and workshops.
She has
three recordings of her own, one with Scrod Pudding and is featured
on
several others. Pam teaches mountain dulcimer, bowed strings,
guitar, woodwinds, piano, celtic harp, and voice in her studio
at her home in Bowdoin, Maine.
43 Starbird Corner Road, Bowdoin, ME. 04287 phone: 207-666-3709
For more info on Pam, check out her website at Pam
Weeks Homepage
Steve Weiss
Steven Weiss began blowing harmonica when he was four years old. His father and grandfather played the mouth organ as well. Growing up in the more popular cross-harp rock/blues/boogies styles, he began playing straight harp- tradtional, mostly old-timey, tunes on the harmonica in 1970, hanging out with southern tow boat pilots on the Ohio River near where he went to college, then followed by many years living in Maine playing for contradances, folk clubs, concerts, festivals and playing back-up for other performers.
Although he is best known for his hot playing of fiddle tunes and traditional music (he has actually won fiddle and traditional music contests with his harmonica over the years), he loves pushing the instrument's envelope in accompaniment, rhytmic blues, jazz and old swing standards, exploring (and teaching) all four position of the harmoica (yep - there are four!). Recently, emerging more from his "day job" as a physician/healer/teacher, Steven has begun to play and teach again more actively, bringing his unique joyous approach to the harmonica. He now teaches the mouth harp privately in New York and New Mexico, and, in addition to Maine Fiddle Camp, Steven also teaches at the World Fellowship Center and soon a the The New School in New York. And best of all, if you hurt yourself on the dance floor lugging around your instrument, he can probably do stuff to help heal you as well!
148 Willow Street #3, Brooklyn, New York, NY 11201
Fred White
Fred 's (guitar, percussion, vocals) musical debut occurred on
the floor of his parents' kitchen, surrounded by pots and pans,
long before he ever heard of Ginger Baker or Gene Krupa. For the
most recent 30 years he has been performing and recording oldtime,
string band, hillbilly, rockabilly, blues, bluegrass, jazz, swing,
minstrels, ragtime and Americana music. His trio, Waxlips, made
award winning waves in North Carolina in the mid-80's and he was
a founding member the popular Pennsylvania-based contradance band,
Dr. Twamley's Audio Snakes, and the Celtic band Culture Clash.
He presently works with Maine conflagrations Frigate, Catharsis,
Hay 44, Bondeaux Redux, Improvox,
and The Montville Project.
PO Box 2167, Augusta, ME; phone: 207-622-6201
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