Pam Blanchard and the Sunny Side up Band Sister Fleeta Mitchell And

MUSICAL PERFORMERS 2008 – BIOS Pam Blanchard and the Sunny Side Up Band Sister Fleeta Mitchell and trio Tabby Crabb Splinter Belly Cary Fridley and Down South Mary Lomax and Bonnie Loggins Doug and Telisha Williams A hope for agoldensummer Phil Tanner and the Skillet Lickers The Corduroy Road Lizzy Long and Llegacy Tony Bryant Packway Handle Band Pam Blanchard and the Sunny Side Up Band Athens, GA http://www.sunnysideupband.com/ Pam Blanchard is the songwriter, lead singer, and rhythm guitar player for the band. She has won two honorable mentions in the international John Lennon Songwriting contest, and has been awarded two Puffin Foundation grants for her work with and for children. The songs she writes are from a young child's perspective, and along with that comes the desire to move and interact. As you can tell by those who have written in support of the band, she is also an educator who has an amazing ability to engage a large group of children while maintaining order. The band is comprised of 5 other talented musicians: Danny Conkle, Joe Ellison, Kemp Jones, Melinda Kershner and Michael Wegner, who turn each song into a musical playground. They have produced 2 albums of music, and bring with them the ability to play in any style: jazz, bluegrass, rock, funk, reggae, blues . They also bring the sounds of over 13 instruments to young ears: drums, conga, percussion, keyboard, bass, acoustic and electric guitars, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, saxophone, flute and clarinet. To top it off, they add 3-part harmony. Last year, they produced an original play which featured their music, 70 local school children, and was performed for 3 sold-out school shows at the Oconee County Civic Center. Mother Fleeta Mitchell, Rev. Willie Mae Eberhart, , Eddie Ruth Pringle Athens GA Rev. Willie Mae Eberhart and Mother Fleeta Mitchell of Athens have performed several times at the North Georgia Folk Festival, as well as at the Human Rights Festival. Most of their singing is in churches and at-home worship sessions. Mother Mitchell has been playing piano and singing for over 90 years, and can be considered a living treasure of old-time gospel and spiritual music. She sang and recorded with her late husband, Rev. Nathaniel Mitchell for decades: she met him at the GA School for the Blind in Macon; another musical schoolmate and long-time fried was Blind Willie McTell. Rev. Eberhart sings in a fine Sanctified style and provides rhythm on tambourine and rub- board. Recently a church member, Eddie Ruth Pringle has returned from years living in New York, and her high treble voice fills out the trio's sound nicely. Tabby Crabb Nashville, Tennessee / Leslie, Georgia http://www.tabbycrabb.com/ Tabby Crabb was raised in south Georgia and started playing five-string banjo when he was 12. It was a home-made banjo that his dad made. His first nice banjo was from Roger Sprung, a 1927 Gibson ball bearing. He currently plays a hearts and flowers five string made by Rual Yarbrough, former Bluegrass Boy and banjo maker from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In 1980 Tabby was an instrumentalist playing acoustic guitar, dobro, piano, and five-string with Mickey Gilley and The Urban Cowboy Band. The band got a Grammy that year for their version of Orange Blossum Special from the movie, Urban Cowboy. Tabby later moved to Nashville, Tennessee where in addition to working in the studio with the Amazing Rhythm Aces, David Allan Coe, Keith Urban, Hank Cochran and a number of others, in 2002 Tabby co-founded Nashville Folk Festival with Gypsy Carns and the late Uncle Jim Calvin. Their public radio program "Nashville Folk Festival On The Air", played in 31 states. In 2006, Tabby decided to leave Nashville and return to south Georgia to be near his elderly mother just in case she needed him. Tabby had a half dozen singles on the country charts in the mid 80s and a top 5 video on CMT in 1986. In 2004 he replaced Billy Joe Shaver in the film, yet to be released, "Blackbirds and Blazers" starring David Allan Coe. He has appeared on stage with Willie Nelson, Bill Monroe, Jerry Jeff Walker and many others. In 1972, Tabby's band Swamp Grass toured south Vietnam as the last USO show to play the southeast Asia war zone. The past decade Tabby has spent a lot of time producing short films and music video. In 2007 a video he produced, "Wailing Wall," placed second at the Macon GA Film Festival. Splinter Belly Athens, Georgia http://www.myspace.com/splinterbelly This Athens band calls its sound electric blue(s)grass. Dark and driving roots music, heavy with improvisation. A genre-bending brand of Americana that incorporates blues, bluegrass and folk tradition to create its large catalog of original music: tall fables of struggle and redemption from Appalachia to the Dust Bowl. Cary Fridley and Down South Asheville, NC http://www.caryfridley.net/ The original and old songs I sing with Down South are all rooted in the country music tradition, but they are also evolved from the purely traditional country songs I sang with the Freight Hoppers in the 1990's. Down South connects with the sounds of earlier bands like Bob Wills, Hank Thompson, and Patsy Cline, while simultaneously reflecting modern times (now) through country dancing and traditional vocals, which is what those artists were doing in their careers in their day. These country greats embodied their traditional heritage and brought it to the mainstream in a fresh, new way. I've been told my singing with Down South carries with it a sense of the South and of the mountains, and the band brings the dancing and fun music which has always been a tradition in the culture. Most inspiring to me in the past few years is Louisiana traditional country music, especially their use of modern electric instruments, still keeping the traditional elements and the soul of the music intact. Country music is powerful and real, and it is very much alive and well in today's modern times. I feel very lucky to be able to participate and have such great musicians around me to share it with. I will be returning to the North Georgia Folk Festival after a decade of being away, representing country music in the honky tonk way, a slightly different style from when I played there with the old-timey Freight Hoppers in the late 1990's. Mary Lomax and Bonnie Loggins Alto, GA Sisters Mary Lomax and Bonnie Loggins have sung all their lives, but their appearance at last year's North Georgia Folk Festival was their first ever performance before a large audience. Octogenarian Mary Lomax of Habersham County is arguably the finest traditional Appalachian ballad singer to emerge in the 21st century. Her repertoire-- learned mostly from her father, Lemuel Payne, at a time when singing old songs at the fireside after a day's work was the main entertainment--includes many ballads from the British tradition (including 10 Child ballads!), American lyric, humorous, and narrative ballads of frontier days; she sings several previously unrecorded songs. In the summer 2008 Old Time Herald, Bob Buckingham wrote in his review of Art Rosenbaum's compilation Art of Field Recording: "There is powerful ballad singing from Mary Lomax, a sweet looking woman in her photographs, who can conjure the past and bring it to hair-raising reality in the present. Her reading of "Lord Daniel" will have you looking over your shoulder, it is so wonderfully eerie." Mary's sister, Bonnie Loggins, also sings several of the family songs; as well she is a talented song and poem maker, as well as a self-taught visual artists. Doug and Telisha Williams Martinsville, Virginia http://www.dandtw.com/ Doug and Telisha Williams have had an incredible year. Not only have they seen continued success for their debut album, Rope Around My Heart, but they've shared stages with some real legends. Lucinda Williams, Darrell Scott, and Charlie Louvin have all had D & T kick off their shows. Honest grit mingled with a humble respect comes through in songs of redemption, struggle and sacrifice on their new record Rope Around my Heart. Doug and Telisha gathered a stellar group of musicians to lend their talents, including Darrell Scott, Dennis Crouch, Kenny Malone, Eamon McLoughlin and Becki Williams. The project was produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Miles Wilkinson. ―I’m excited about this record, it’s very honest, almost raw,‖ says Doug, ―Some of these songs come from pretty shadowy places.‖ Of course, it isn’t all dark and depressing, ―There are a couple of happy songs! Even a love song, and it’s honest, too!‖ notes Telisha. Telisha’s crystal-clear voice floats like a butterfly on a mountain breeze or thunders like a freight train coming down the track. Doug’s guitar playing provides a perfect foundation for either. There is a strong sense of urgency and purpose. It was a partnership that was meant to be in more ways than one. Married and living in southwest Virginia, they tour constantly around the South and up into the North, crossing ever-widening boundaries with every step. With their open, inviting personalities and intriguing stage presence, the duo is quickly growing their fan base. First timers at their live shows feel like old friends and part of the family after just a song or two. A single set of their music can bring audience members to their feet in applause, to their knees in prayer, and back to the bar to buy another beer.

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