NC Music Fest: A Celebration of NC String Band Traditions

Held April 7, 2006, NC Music Fest was a one-day event celebrating, discussing, evaluating and appreciating the string band traditions of North Carolina. The event included three opportunities to interact with these traditions. Morning workshops for fiddle and guitar, led by Josh Goforth, Doug Rorrer, Taylor Rorrer and Bob Carlin were followed by afternoon discussions and paper sessions. The day concluded with an evening concert, hosted by Alan Jabbour and featured the workshop artists and cross-picking legend George Shuffler. (Funding received from the North Carolina Humanities Council.)

Event Program:

Morning Workshops 10-12 noon

School of Music Recital Hall - Guitar Workshop with Doug and Taylor Rorrer

Rm 111 - Fiddle Workshop with Josh Goforth

Bob Carlin will also be participating on banjo in either or both workshops.

Afternoon films and discussions 2-5 p.m.

Rm 217, School of Music:

2-2:55 p.m. Film: "The Life of Joe Thompson" and discussion with filmmaker Iris Chapman

2:50-3:40 p.m. Film: "Sprout Wings and Fly" and discussion with filmmaker Cece Conway

3:40-4 p.m.Coffee Break

4 p.m. Alan Jabbour: "The Hollow Rock String Band and the Durham-Chapel Hill Influence on Modern Oldtime String Band Music"

Respondent: Bob Carlin

Evening Concert 7:30 p.m., Recital Hall

Featuring: George Shuffler, Laura Boosinger, Doug Rorrer, Taylor Rorrer, Josh Goforth, Bob Carlin and Alan Jabbour

Information on the artists:

NC MUSIC FEST PERSONNEL
George Shuffler—Guitar
Bob Carlin—Banjo
Doug Rorrer—Guitar
Josh Goforth—Violin

Bob Carlin (Consultant, organizer, teacher, performer)
Bob Carlin is probably the best-known claw-hammer style banjoist performing today. He has taken the distinctive southern banjo style to appreciative audiences all over the US, Canada and Europe. Carlin is a three-time winner of the late Frets Magazine (now known as Acoustic Guitar Magazine) readers’ poll, and has four Rounder albums and several instruction manuals and videos for the banjo.
As Founder of CarTunes Recordings, Bob is not only highly sought after for his musical talent, but for his amazing skill as a producer for the music industry as well. He has produced a large number of CDs that are well known to all. http://www.cartunesrecordings.com/index.html

Doug Rorrer (Workshop leader, Performer)
Doug Rorrer grew up in Eden, North Carolina listening to his great-uncles Charlie Poole and Posey Rorer on old 78s on his father's old Victrola. He and his brother, Kinney, cut their musical teeth on Poole's music. His guitar "heroes" were Roy Harvey of Poole's band, Riley Puckett of the Skillet Lickers, and a local guitarist, Gene Meade, who played in the Puckett style. Doug cites Doc Watson as one of his present day inspirations. Over the years, Doug has been fortunate enough to learn from and play with the likes of Norman Woodlieff, Lonnie Austin, and Buck and Alice Easley. Austin and Woodlieff played fiddle and guitar respectively with Poole's North Carolina Ramblers. Doug has taught guitar workshops and performed at the Augusta Heritage Festival in Elkins, WV; the Blue Ridge Folk life Festival in Ferrum, VA; MerleFest in Wilkesboro, NC; the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, WA; the Alaska Folk Festival in Juneau, AK; the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-time Music Festival; and the University of Chicago Folk Festival, among others. Along with his wife, Kathy, he owns and operates Flyin' Cloud Records and recording studio, which specialises in old-time, bluegrass, and other traditional acoustic music. Both his daughter, Melissa, and son, Taylor, have exhibited a love and talent for music. Doug has released the CD: Under the Influence, which pays tribute to some of his influences such as Riley Puckett, Roy Harvey, and Gene Meade. Doug and Taylor have also released the CD entitled: Tradition: A Tribute to Doc & Merle Watson. http://www.flyincloudrecords.com/

Josh Goforth (workshop leader, performer)
Award-winning fiddler and multi-instrumentalist, Josh Goforth, has devoted his life to learning and teaching both old-time music and bluegrass since the sixth grade. Josh tours in the U.S. and overseas, performing solo or with numerous bands including the world-renowned ETSU Bluegrass Pride Band. He appeared in the movie Songcatcher as Fiddlinð Will and contributed several fiddle pieces to the soundtrack. Now in his early 20s, Josh is pursuing a dual career in music education and performance. http://www.joshgoforth.com/

Alan Jabbour (Concert Host)
Alan Jabbour was born in 1942 in Jacksonville, Florida. A violinist by early training, he put himself through college at the University of Miami playing classical music. While a graduate student at Duke University in the 1960s, he began documenting oldtime fiddlers in the Upper South. Documentation turned to apprenticeship, and he relearned the fiddle in the style of the Upper South from musicians like Henry Reed of Glen Lyn, Virginia, and Tommy Jarrell of Toast, North Carolina. He taught a repertory of old time fiddle tunes to his band, the Hollow Rock String Band, which was an important link in the instrumental music revival in the 1960s.
After receiving his Ph.D. in 1968, he taught English, folklore, and ethnomusicology at UCLA in 1968-69. He then moved to Washington, D.C., for over thirty years of service with Federal cultural agencies. He was head of the Archive of Folk Song at the Library of Congress 1969-74, director of the folk arts program at the National Endowment for the Arts 1974-76, and director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress 1976-99. Since his retirement, he has turned enthusiastically to a life of writing, consulting, lecturing, and playing the fiddle.

George Shuffler (Featured Performing Artist)

There are many guitar giants. Those few considered bonafide acoustic guitar styles can probably be counted on the fingers of one's right hand. Perhaps none has been more influential in traditional bluegrass circles than George Shuffler of Burke County, North Carolina born George Saunders Shuffler April 11, 1925 into a musical family. George became totally intrigued with the guitar from the age of ten, when he learned his first chords from a friend who worked with his dad in the local cotton mill. George and his mother took care of the farming, and at night he would play until he fell asleep. His love of music was nurtured in church, where he learned to read shaped notes during church singing schools.
George toured with various groups, including Jim and Jesse, and the rube comic team of Mustard and Gravy, but on December 28, 1950, he received a call from Carter Stanley, and accepted Carter's offer to work with them. That association lasted for more than 20 years, and it was during this time that his development of the unique crosspicking guitar style came to fruition. George's style entails picking downstrokes on two strings and upstrokes on one. It is difficult to master and extremely hard to duplicate. Moreover, his famous "walking:" bass fiddle lines, first recorded with the Stanleys in 1952, inspired many later prominent basses. Although he started with the Stanleys as a bass player, he later made the switch to guitar. Shuffler decided, "to develop a style that would fit their singing and be a full backup instead of just single string picking." During his tenure in bluegrass music, he received much recognition for his work both on acoustic guitar and upright bass. He was voted favorite bassist in Bluegrass Unlimited's 1967 worldwide Reader Poll. In 1990 he responded to a number of requests to do a recording of his crosspicking guitar style. Soon after its release, it was made a part of the permanent collections of th Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Laura Boosinger is a consummate folk musician and entertainer whose career has spanned nearly two decades of concert performances, workshops and residencies throughout the eastern United States. Having graduated from Warren Wilson College (Swannanoa, NC) with a degree in traditional music and old-time banjo, Laura has shared her knowledge and love of the music and culture of the southern region with audiences ranging from seniors to pre-schoolers, always with the delight of her listeners.
After graduating from Warren Wilson College with a major in Banjo, old-time banjo to be exact, Laura continued to explore the traditional music of Western North Carolina playing in a variety of string bands. Her most enduring alliance was with North Carolina Folk Heritage Award winner, Luke Smathers whose band spanned eight decades. Luke's band played a unique combination of old-time string band music, pop tunes from the 20's and 30's and big band favorites of the 1940's. The impact of Luke Smathers' music is explored in an article written by Laura to be published in Volume II of a journal of regional culture, "May We All Remember Well" to be released this summer. Laura's latest recording "Down the Road" is a collection of tunes learned from the Smathers' and other traditional musicians steeped in the music of the Appalachian Mountains. Laura continues to teach all ages about the importance of our North Carolina culture, presenting shaped-note workshops, school residencies and banjo classes to adults who spend their summer vacation with other like-minded enthusiasts of old-time music.