Instructors & Visiting Masters

1. Donavan Cain (Harmony Singing) was born and raised in Knox County, Kentucky and plays a variety of traditional instruments. He has performed and led workshops in traditional mountain music around the eastern United States and holds a Masters degree in Appalachian Studies from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. In graduate school, Donavan learned to collect and perform coal mining songs, especially those that emerged from the struggles in the Kentucky coalfields in the 1930s. He has also taught banjo at CCMMS.
2. Roger Cooper (Advanced Fiddle) is from Lewis County, Kentucky. As a teenager Roger learned fiddle from his neighbor Buddy Thomas. His recordings include Snakewinder on Berea College’s AC series, Going Back to Old Kentucky and Essence of Old Kentucky on Rounder Records. Roger’s performance credits include the Lincoln Center in New York City, Celtic Fest Chicago and the Roots Festival in San Diego. He has also taught fiddle at Augusta and the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Washington.
3. Michael Garvin (Early Intermediate Fiddle) from Greenup County, Kentucky plays many different instruments including thumb pick guitar and fiddle. In 2005 Michael completed a Kentucky Folklife apprenticeship with Roger Cooper and has performed with him at several festivals around the state. Currently he performs with his father and Roger as Kentucky Memories and has created a website by that name to honor northeast Kentucky’s great old time musicians.
4. Carla Gover (Kids on the Creek) a Letcher County native, first learned claw hammer banjo from Lee Sexton. Since earning a degree in Appalachian Studies from the University of Kentucky, she has pursued a career as a dancer, songwriter, and musician, and performed with the dance group Footworks as well as the Kentucky duo Zoe Speaks. Carla loves to sing traditional songs and write original music. She has won numerous songwriting awards, including Merlefest’s Chris Austin Contest. She has worked with hundreds of students in Kentucky and across the US, at camps, schools, and festivals, and is a roster artist for the Kentucky Arts Council.
5. Bruce Greene (Intermediate Fiddle) from Burnsville North Carolina is a gifted fiddler who is known for his encyclopedic repertoire of Kentucky tunes. While studying folklore in the 1970’s Bruce traveled across the state recording and learning from the oldest generation of fiddlers including Hiram Stamper, Manon Campbell, the John M. Salyer family and the Helton family. His large body of recordings is now at the Berea College Archives. Bruce’s recordings include Five Miles of Ellum Wood, Rare Old Chestnuts with Don Pedi and Come Near My Love with his partner Loy McWhirter. He has also taught at Augusta, Swannanoa, Mars Hill and the Hindman Settlement School’s Family Folk Week.
6. John Harrod (String Band) from Shelby County, Kentucky, first learned old time music from Darley Fulks, Bill Livers, Asa Martin and Lily May Ledford. In the 80’s he worked with Gus Meade and Mark Wilson to produce a large and influential body of field recordings of musicians around central and northeastern Kentucky. These can be heard on Rounder CDs Fiddle Music of Kentucky (2 volumes) and Along the Ohio’s Shores. John performs with Kentucky Wild Horse; their new recording is Spirits of the Lonesome Hills. He has taught fiddle workshops at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Augusta and Breaking Up Winter.
7. Kelli B. Haywood (Kids on the Creek) is a native of Letcher County. Her family’s telling of stories became just as much a part of life as breakfast in the morning, and Kelli fell in love with her strong Irish/Cherokee mountain roots and the rising up of people like her great grandfather Luther Johnson owner of the former Cowshed Trading Post in Isom. She went on to graduate from Morehead State University with a Bachelor’s in English/Creative Writing and Bellarmine University with a Master’s of Arts in Teaching (middle grades). She is the 2009 recipient of The Gurney Norman Prize for Short Fiction.
8. Karly Higgins (String Band) from Rowan County, Kentucky, began playing old time music with Jesse Wells, after years of studying classical music in voice and cello, and playing gospel and country music regionally. Currently she plays rhythm guitar and sings with the Clack Mountain String Band, and performs with many traditional musicians from Kentucky and beyond. Her performances include the Berea Celebration of Traditional Music, Seedtime on the Cumberland, The Carter Family Fold, and The Chicago Old Town School of Folk. Karly’s playing and singing can be heard on Brett Ratliff’s Cold Icy Mountain, on Clack Mountain String Band’s Live, and their soon to be released CD Morehead.
9. Ron Howard (Beginning Guitar) of Perry, Kentucky was already a seasoned performer at age 11 when he first learned claw hammer banjo at the CCMMS 2003. Since then, Ron has become a versatile multi-instrumentalist and vocalist in both bluegrass gospel and old time. He continues to perform with his sister Sarah and their parents at churches and festivals including the Osborne Brothers Festival and the Bluegrass Gospel Showcase in Nashville. Ron currently teaches individual banjo, guitar, dobro and mandolin at Hazard Community College.
10. Sarah Howard (Harmony Singing) of Perry County, Kentucky comes from a family with a strong tradition of gospel singing. At 13 she was a Kentucky Folklife apprentice to fiddler Ray Slone and later learned fiddle from Art Stamper at the Cowan School. With the Howard Family, she has performed at numerous churches and regional festivals. Sarah is also a songwriter whose work can be heard on the Howard Family recordings The Same Today, Follow Me and The Potter’s Hands. She now teaches elementary school in Perry County.  
11. Barb Kuhns (Intermediate Fiddle) is from Medway, Ohio. She began attending the Fraley Family Mountain Music Festival in Olive Hill in 1976 and is now the festival coordinator. She has been a fiddle apprentice to J. P. Fraley and enjoys his smooth approach to fiddling. Barb won the old-time fiddle contest at Galax, Virginia in 2002. Along with her husband Doug Smith she recorded Sweet Marie and A Banjo Original with the late Will Keys. For many years she and Doug perform with the Corndrinkers. Their newest release is Corndrinkers Still.
12. Jimmy McCown (Advanced Banjo) comes from Pond Creek in Pike County, Kentucky, a musical neighborhood that includes Paul Smith, the late Burt Hatfield and the late Owen “Snake” Chapman. Jimmy first learned banjo and fiddle from his mother and grandfather. He and his wife Ada’s performance credits include the Grand Ole Opry, Renfro Valley and the Carter Family Fold. Jimmy has recorded two old time CDs: Banjo the Old Time Way and From These Mountains. Jimmy has taught workshops at Appalshop, the Harrietville Bluegrass and Traditional Music Convention in Australia, and Banjo Camp North in Massachusetts.
13. Brett Ratliff (String Band) grew up in Van Lear, Kentucky, a former coal camp, with the sounds of the mountains all around him. He has immersed himself in the musical traditions of Appalachia. His enthusiasm and curiosity fuels an energetic approach to learning, performing and teaching the musical traditions of his native region. Along with performing as a solo artist, Brett plays with such groups as Clack Mountain String Band, singer/songwriter Carla Gover, The Travelin’ Snakes, and the Dirk Powell Band. Brett’s first solo recording Cold Icy Mountain was released on the June Appal label in 2008.
14. Anna Roberts-Gevalt (Early Intermediate Fiddle) grew up in Vermont. While in college, she latched onto old time fiddling while an intern at CCMMS 2007. Anna teaches fiddle at her new home in Eggleston, Virginia and performs with the Blind Tiger String Band and Old Sledge. Through a fellowship at Berea College, Anna has been researching the lives and music of Kentucky’s women fiddlers. Samples of her research and sound archive can found on the website ‘In Her First Heaven’. Currently she is producing a newly discovered recording of Emma Lee Dickerson for the Field Recorders Collective.
15. Don Rogers (Lead Guitar and Vocals) has deep roots in old time Kentucky music. His grandfather and great uncles recorded on the Gennett label in the 1930’s as the Kentucky String Ticklers. Silas Rogers, the leader of that group was well known throughout central Kentucky for his fiddling and step-dancing. Don performs at regional festivals with Kentucky Wild Horse and young traditional musician Jeri Katherine Howell, and also a rock band, the Green Genes. His original songs can be heard on Spirits of the Lonesome Hills.
16. Jamie Wells (Beginning Fiddle) is from Johnson County, Kentucky. He performed for 15 years with the Bottom of the Barrel Bunch and later with the Trough Sloppers. His performances include the Kentucky Folklife Festival, the Seedtime on the Cumberland Festival, and Berea College’s Celebration of Traditional Music. Jamie’s fiddling and original tunes can be heard on the Trough Sloppers first CD recording Turnip Town. He has also taught fiddle at the Hindman Settlement School’s Family Folk Week and Augusta. He currently teaches fiddle, mandolin and banjo at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg, Kentucky.
17. Jesse Wells (Intermediate Banjo) from Johnson County, Kentucky, first learned fiddle from his father Jamie. He graduated with a degree in guitar performance from Morehead State University and now serves as education coordinator for MSU’s Center for Traditional Music. Jesse is a versatile multi-instrumentalist who has played in a number of old time, bluegrass and rock bands; currently he plays fiddle with Don Rigsby and the Midnight Call and the Clack Mountain String Band. He also hosts a Sunday afternoon program of old time and bluegrass music on WMKY 90.3 FM.
18. Randy Wilson (Beginning Banjo) from Leslie County, Kentucky, is a talented multi-instrumentalist, dance caller and storyteller. He is director of folks arts programs at the Hindman Settlement School and the producer of WMMT’s weekly program “Kids Radio”. Randy previously performed and recorded with the late poet James Still. In 2003 he appeared at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. and in 2007 at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. Randy also teaches at Hindman Settlement School’s Family Folk Week.
19. Sarah Wood (Early Intermediate Banjo) from Greenup County, Kentucky first learned guitar from her parents. In high school she took up her father’s banjo and started learning three-finger style. While in college at Morehead State University, Sarah studied claw hammer banjo, fiddle and vocals in the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music. She has performed with Jesse Wells and the KCTM in Ireland. She has also performed at Berea College’s Celebration of Traditional Music and the Kentucky Historical Society’s Banjo Master’s series. Sarah can be heard on the Clack Mountain Stringband’s CD Sorrow’s End.

Visiting Masters 

1.   Lee Sexton is known throughout the mountains for his powerful claw hammer and two finger banjo picking. He learned banjo at an early age from his uncle Morgan Sexton. Later he learned fiddle from his musical partner for over 50 years, Marion Sumner. He often plays at local square dances and regional festivals, including the Seedtime on the Cumberland Festival, the Kentucky Folklife Festival and in 2003, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. He has appeared at the Swannanoa Gathering and the Hindman Settlement School’s Family Folk Week. In 1999 his contribution to Kentucky’s rich musical heritage was recognized when he was presented the Governor’s Award in the Arts. His most recent JuneAppal release Whoa Mule is a lively retrospective of stage, studio and home recordings.  
2.       Roy Tackett from Letcher County, Kentucky currently plays rhythm guitar with Rich and the Po’ Folks. He has also played with Roadside Theater and the Trough Sloppers. He frequently plays at local square dances and has performed at the Kentucky Folklife Festival, the Swapping Meeting, and Seedtime on the Cumberland and Berea College’s Celebration of Traditional Music.