Performers Bios Mary Wooten – Woopets Winterville, Georgia http://wootenwoopets.com/ Woopets Of Wooten Performance Company entertain all ages with myths and legends from a variety of countries, original scripting, dance, mime, music and traditional folk songs. Woopets are puppets of all sizes from finger to larger than life sized. Woopets dance to enhance songs and tell stories of original and traditional origins. The interactive show will include live folk and original music brought to life by the Woopteers and the audience. The performance will be followed by ‘make and take’ activities in the ‘Parent Participation Zone’ near the playground. Come play with us! Curley Maple Athens, Georgia Curley Maple has elicited appreciation from fans of all styles of acoustic music for its inspired embrace of traditional fiddle music and contemporary style. The renowned and creative playing of ace fiddler David Blackmon is the driving force behind Curley Maple. He is complemented by the tight harmony singing of Noel Blackmon and Christian Lopez and their guitars, mandolins, and bouzouki, and upright bassist Chris Enghauser's prodigious skills and groove. An unconventional "trad. band," Curley Maple's figures drone and swirl, nodding to both old and new and branching across time with a blend of old-time and Celtic fiddle tunes, songs, ballads and Original compositions. Old Time Ballad Singers Sisters Mary Lomax and Bonnie Loggins (Alto, GA) 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. Mary Ruth Moore (Farmington, GA) grew up in rural Oconee County listening to her grandfather, Joseph Walter Graves, sing old songs accompanied by his homemade banjo. She still sings these songs when she is not teaching photography at the University of Georgia. High Strung String Band Athens, Georgia Website: www.myspace.com/highstrungathens Sometime around 2009, somewhere around Athens, GA a handful of like-minded guys with string instruments started playing together. After picking around a fire in the winter and in a small tool shed in the spring, High Strung String Band was born, and soon began venturing out and playing live shows. Building a repertoire that mixes folk-grass originals with traditional numbers, the band has started to gain a reputation for delivering a high-energy show that gets people moving. The band is reluctant to be identified solely as a traditional bluegrass band. But with a cast of usual suspects such as banjo, mandolin, upright bass and guitar it's hard to not call it bluegrass. What is indeed different about this five-piece is the addition of lap steel guitar. It's lonesome, Americana-tinged sound adds a new dimension to a familiar genre and a distinct element to the band's original songs. High Strung String Band plays music for music's sake and enjoys all the fun that comes with it –meeting new people, seeing new places, and encouraging folks to have a good time. Checking out one of their lively shows promises good, clean fun…only dirtier and with more dancing. Athens Old Time Gospel Singers Athens Old Time Gospel Singers (Athens, GA) is an informal group of singers, including Margaret Davis, Elizabeth Easley, and Rosella Sims. They grew up singing the old style gospel spirituals that have been handed down through the generations. These singers have come together as a group for this performance of old time gospel music. William Tonks Athens, Georgia http://www.myspace.com/williamtonks Long time Athens guitarist, dobro player and singer, William Tonks has been a part of much of Athens musical history over the past 25 years. A member of bands such as Barbara Cue, The Workhorses of the Entertainment/ Recreational Industry, Redneck Greece Deluxe and most recently, Bloodkin and Brad Downs and the Poor Bastard Souls, these days William is stretching his wings as a solo performer. At the North Georgia Folk Festival, he will be performing his original songs about life, love and machinery. String Theory Athens, Georgia http://www.string-theory.net String Theory plays old time, bluegrass and Americana music and is made up of some of Athens finest acoustic musicians. The music is high energy and refuses to let the audience sit back and simply listen: they have to move, dance or even just tap their feet. String Theory performs at dances and concerts throughout the northeast Georgia and Atlanta area. In the past year, String Theory has performed at the Athens Human Rights Festival, AthFest and the Athens Americana Festival. Although a different incarnation of String Theory played at the Folk Festival in 2000, this performance represents a first for this group of musicians. Earlier this year, they released their first CD entitled, “All Wound Up” featuring 11 songs recorded live in the studio in one day. The musicians include Dick Daniels (mandolin, guitar, bass, vocals), Ben Jordan (bass), Tommy Jordan (guitar, banjo, vocals), Antoon Speters (banjo, vocals), Susan Staley (guitar, vocals) and Dale Wechsler (fiddle). Hope For Agoldensummer Athens, Georgia http://www.hopeforagoldensummer.com/ "… bringing me to my knees with indie's best art-rock performances…" - SLAP Hope For Agoldensummer is a family band, living and working in the fine town of Athens, GA. A junkyard-orchestra. An anarchist-soul-choir. For nearly 8 years, this band has traveled the USA creating rusty, gutter angel melodies with a slide guitar, banjo, jangly percussion, glockenspiel, singing saw, piano and a few old coke bottles. The defining sound of the band lies in the frighteningly beautiful sibling harmonies of sisters, Claire and Page Campbell; balanced by the twangy, reverb-washed guitar of Suny Lyons. Their first album, Heart Of Art (2004) was named the #1 local album by Flagpole Magazine (Athens, GA) putting them in the company of heavyweights like Drive-By Truckers, Now It’s Overhead, Vic Chestnut, and Of Montreal. Old Time Fiddlers Circle Roy Tench is an old time fiddler from the Mud Creek Section of Habersham County in the North Georgia mountains. He learned fiddling from his father in a unique regional North Georgia style which he still enjoys playing, in addition to bluegrass and other styles. Roy may be joined by Ed Teague (Rabun County) who is one of the last musicians to play banjo in the old North Georgia two-finger style. Roy and Ed are featured in the drawing by Art Rosenbaum on the 2010 Festival poster. Earl Murphy (Athens, Georgia) is a 92-year old Missouri fiddler who won his first contest at age 8. Earl is a beloved musician in the Athens area for his masterful fiddling of old- time hoedowns and waltzes he learned as a boy in his native Missouri, as well as for his bluegrass and western swing stylings – he loves to play and is a regular at old time jams in the area. In 2008, he was featured at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Washington State. He also performed at the 2009 North Georgia Folk Festival. Phil Tanner (Dacula, Georgia) is the grandson of original Skillet Lickers founder James "Gid" Tanner, which was one of the first bands to be recorded in the old- time tradition i nthe 1920’s. Phil Tanner and the Skillet Lickers, a modern-day North Georgia string band, performed at the North Georgia Folk Festival in 2008. A fine fiddler, Phil returns this year as part of the Old Time Fiddler’s Circle to play some of his favorite tunes. The Balleybeg Band Athens/Atlanta, Georgia www.ballybegband.com www.Myspace.com/ballybeg The Ballybeg Band prides itself on playing the range of Celtic traditional, and not so traditional, music you would hear in the local pubs of Ireland. Formed in 2008, the band appears in pubs, festivals and other events throughout North Georgia. Ballybeg is comprised of Séamus Dunning on whistles and uilleann pipes, Lauren McDonough, a rising star in the Georgia Irish music scene, on fiddle, innovative guitar from Ken Shearer and Athenian Owen Devine on percussion with all members joining in song. Ballybeg, from the Irish baile beag, means small village but we like to think of it as the state of mind you might find in your favorite pub when the music takes you and the urge hits to sing, dance or just lift a pint with your friends. So raise that pint and enjoy the range of Ballybeg music from the plaintive wail of the pipes, to smoking jigs and reels, to songs of love, loss and, of course, the drink. Tomorrow may have its troubles, but tonight we'll have some craic, and that means fun.