Upcoming Concerts

The Steel Wheels, Trent Wagler, Jay Lapp, Brian Dickel, and Eric Brubaker, are based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and are at the  forefront of a new generation’s take on traditional music. While their 4-part harmonies and string-band instrumentation draw on the rich  musical heritage of Appalachia, their improvisational approach to composing, arranging, and recording brings to mind modern ensembles like  The Avett Brothers, Nickel Creek, and even the Grateful Dead. The Steel Wheels are truly an Americana band, rooted in musical styles that explore the territories between blues and bluegrass, old-time sing- alongs and foot-stompin’ fiddle tunes. They are subtle innovators who respect the past but whistle their own tunes, layering in rich textures and decidedly modern energy to forge a new sound. The band shines exceptionally in their live shows, and their palpable chemistry translates easily to their latest album, Red Wing, which ranked  #2 of all 2010 independent releases (Americana Music  Association).  2010 was a breakout year for The Steel Wheels culminating with five  nominations from The Independent Music Awards including “Nothing You Can’t Lose” taking top honors as “Best Country Song”. “There is purity and power in the sound of this band that few come close to tapping. Tight pickin’, passionate energy, and Wagler’s voice soars  like an eagle.” – Martin Anderson, WNCW Music Director See and listen:   Red Wing ,  Hymn for the Unsung, Love You Like I Should,  Second of May

The Steel Wheels  Sunday, February 26, 2012, 7:00pm

Naming the Twins — Kathleen Glauser and Robbie Smith Saturday, March 10, 2012, 7:30pm

Acoustics at Oak’s End is a dedicated, 50+ seat, Folk Alliance International-licensed,  sound and light-equipped performance hall in the  Smyrna/Vinings area in NW  Atlanta, made available by the owners as patrons of the arts.  The residential venue  features live performances most months of the year solely for the benefit and  convenience of well-regarded acoustic performers and appreciative listeners.   House concerts are a long-established means of expanding the opportunities to  experience and enjoy live music.  Background information.  At Acoustics at Oak’s End, no tickets are sold; admission is by RSVP invitation.  Call  or email Gregg or Shirley Averett to reserve seats and for directions.  $15-$20 per  person is the suggested donation and goes entirely to the performers.  Street  parking, please, at end or on the LEFT side only.  Bring warm socks or slippers and  plan to leave shoes outside (carpeted).   Handicap access/parking by pre-  arrangement.  BYOB.  Basic refreshments provided and shared snacks welcome; pot  luck party atmosphere is the rule.  Buffet/warming tray counter and full kitchen  facilities available.  Smoking on terrace only.” Atlanta Area Friends of Folk Music

CONTACT INFORMATION: E-Mail   Gregg Averett 770-971-6696 h

Sunday, February 26, 2012, 7:00pm — Steel Wheels Saturday, March 10, 2012, 7:30pm — Naming the Twins  Saturday, April 21, 2012, 7:30pm — Will Smith Saturday, May 5, 2012, 7:30pm — Singing Tree Sunday, June 10, 2012, 7:00pm – Jonathan Byrd & Band Saturday, July 21, 2012, 7:30pm — Doofus Saturday, August 18, 2012, 7:30pm – Veronika Jackson Saturday, September 22, 2012, 7:30pm – Red June October 20, 2012, 7:30pm – Ronny Cox & Band Saturday, November 3, 2012, 7:30pm – Ken Sizemore Saturday, December 22, 2012, 7:30pm – Jack Williams

Doofus — Neal & Coleen Walters/John & Heidi Cerrigione  Saturday, July 21, 2012, 7:30pm

Doofus is indeed a strange name for a band.  It usually refers to somebody whose elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top but it stops  short of being an insult when used as goodnatured banter between and among good friends.  So while it might mean “village idiot” to  some, it’s really a token of their affection for each other and the wonderful music they make together.    Doofus is a lively old-time band consisting of two couples:  Neal & Coleen Walters and John & Heidi Cerrigione.  Together they play  guitar, autoharp, dulcimer – mountain & hammered, mandolin, banjo, and acoustic bass.  They play old time, traditional and  sentimental songs and tunes as well as more contemporary music that sounds like it was written long ago.  Neal & Coleen live in Greencastle, PA.  For over 20 years, Neal played with the Mill Run Dulcimer Band and recorded eight albums with  them.  Coleen is also a talented fabric artist.  Neal provides the strong vocal lead of the group while playing guitar, mountain dulcimer,  banjo, mandolin or autoharp.  Coleen sings a low harmony and plays bass or percussion (rhythm egg or limberjack). Neal and Coleen  also play as a duo at festivals and workshops across the country.  John & Heidi live in Ellington, CT and also perform as a duo and as part of Jerimoth Hill, along with Aubrey Atwater and Elwood  Donnelly.  John plays  guitar, banjo, mandolin, or acoustic bass for the group while Heidi plays autoharp, hammered or mountain  dulcimer.  Both sing vocal harmony.  Heidi teaches autoharp and hammered dulcimer and John teaches  Doofus regularly performs at dulcimer and autoharp festivals such as the Cranberry Dulcimer Gathering , the Mountain Laurel Autoharp  Gathering, the Chestnut Ridge Dulcimer Festival, the Augusta Heritage Program, the Swannanoa Dulcimer Week, the Yellow Banks  Dulcimer Festival, the Housatonic Dulcimer Celebration, and Vermont's August Dulcimer Daze.  Neal & Coleen have also traveled  widely, teaching and performing across the country at programs such as Kentucky Music Week; the Dallas (TX) Winterfest; Clarion Folk  College, the Gateway Dulcimer Festival, the Bayou City Dulcimer Festival, and the Mardi Gras Dulcimer festival.  For upcoming  appearances, click here .   In 1996, Neal & Heidi collaborated to produce a repertoire book of "30 Old Time Songs/Tunes " for Mountain Dulcimer and Autoharp.  A  companion tape is also available.  This has recently been updated with the audio files and musical notation in PDF format now all  contained on one "enhanced" CD. Doofus recorded their first CD called " What Did We Leave Behind?"  in 1998 followed by "Handful of  Songs " in December, 2000.  "Relatively Serious" was released in July, 2002 and "Stream of Time" in June, 2006. Four "Occasionals "  have been published with more music for mountain dulcimer and autoharp. Both John and Heidi and Neal and Coleen have recorded  duet albums as well. See order form for details.   All four doofs have years of experience teaching and playing with other groups, as well as writing and editing books and articles about  folk music, including their specialty - old time music.  Neal co-edited "The Music Hound Essential Album Guide to Folk Music ,"  published by Visible Ink Press, for which Heidi was a contributing writer.  Both Neal and Heidi also contributed to "Music Hound World,"  the essential album guide to World Music.  Listen and See 

Jonathan Byrd & Band    Sunday, June 10, 2012, 7:00pm

Jonathan Byrd is an American singer-songwriter based in Carrboro, North Carolina. He is best known for his narrative tales of love, life, and death in America. In 2003, he was among the winners of the New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival. He set a record for CD sales at the festival that year, making more sales than the main stage acts. His song, "The Ballad of Larry" has been listed a "Top Rated Song" by Americana-UK. He primarily performs solo and accompanies himself in a variety of traditional acoustic guitar styles. His recordings have featured a variety of instrumental ensembles and typically include one or more instrumental tracks that feature Byrd’s skillful flatpicking technique. Occasionally he also appears with the Athens, Georgia based world music duo, Dromedary. See and listen ... 

Veronika Jackson  Saturday, August 18, 2012, 7:30pm

Veronika Jackson started her music career at an early age, singing in the school choirs at the age of ten. She was raised with a music-influenced family in St. Petersburg, Florida. In her teens, her love for acoustic folk and R&B music grew as she followed such artist as Odetta, Joan Baez, Ella Fitzgerald and many other vocalists who inspired her in her love for music. Veronika Jackson has taken the acoustic folk guitar and the history of her culture as an African-American, and has generated her own original, authentic and exciting style of music. Her smooth and strong interpretive vocals are very expressive and her clear, clean, rhythmic, Piedmont blues- style guitar picking compliments her performances. Listeners often feel that her music says something, that it educates and inspires them. Veronika has combined acoustic folk music and R&B to create her own unique music. She has shared her musical talents with audiences in the South, like Merlefest, as well as with music lovers across the Atlantic Ocean where she has performed for various venues and festivals. She has been wonderfully received everywhere she goes and her

reputation as a wonderful entertainer and consummate artist continues to grow.  Veronika’s stage presence and sound has a sincerity that will grace your heart, and her performances take you to another place and time. Veronika is respected for her integrity as an artist and as a person. Reviewers have called her contagious, always leaving audiences wanting more. The joy she feels as an artist comes from knowing that her music, whether an old folk song, a blues composition ,or old spiritual, entertains as well as brings joy and hope to people’s lives. "some folk, some blues, sometimes", her latest CD, is a compilation of her original compositions and some favorite songs she enjoys performing. See ...

band, Lo-Fi Breakdown. The band toured extensively before settling back in John’s native state of North Carolina. John’s foundation in traditional bluegrass and old-time music coupled with his modern sensibility and inspired songwriting make him a natural. But it’s when he steps up to the mic to sing that John’s real talent shows through. Just ask legendary performer Riley Baugus of Cold Mountain fame — “John Miller's singing reminds me of being in the Blue Ridge Mountains, high on a hill all alone and hearing the sound of the mountains coming from all around and filling your soul with the feeling that everything is just right in that place. His voice is strong and pure and harkens back to a time when there was no need for electronic enhancement and tuning adjustments. In short, John's singing is the real thing and is just incredible.”  See and listen

Red June Saturday, September 22, 2012, 7:30pm

Ronny Cox & Band October 20, 2012, 7:30pm

Although now recognized as a songwriter and musician and an annual visitor to the FAI Conference held each year in February, Ronny Cox first came to the public's attention as the guitarist in the famous "dueling banjos" scene in the iconic film, Deliverance. His second big film was Bound for Glory, Hal Ashby's film about Woody Guthrie where he also played guitar and sang.    Ronny had the number one folk album in the country in the summer of 2009 and tours year-round. He has appeared at The Bottom Line in New York, National Public Radio, Mountain Stage with Guy Clark, National Public Radio's E-town, The Berklee College of Music in Boston with Richard Thompson, Bluebird Cafe in Nashville with Jellyroll Johnson, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and many other stages around the world.    After his film debut in Deliverance, Ronny's acting career has gone on to span over 125 films and television shows. He is often identified with the villains he has played in movies like Total Recall, RoboCop, and the ruthless politician in the hit science fiction TV series Stargate, Taps, The Onion Field, and Beverly Hills Cop. He has been a part of many classic television programs including St. Elsewhere, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stargate SG1, and Cop Rock.  www.ronnycox.com     "...he is a case study in easygoing amiability and unforced charisma. He charms crowds with self-teasing humor, tart progressive insight, and a lulling Southwestern folk sound..." –Scott Alarik, Boston Globe See and listen ... 

 Ken Sizemore Saturday, November 3, 2012, 7:30pm

Ken Sizemore has been performing folk and early pop music all over the country for more than 40 years. As a folk singer and guitarist, Ken Plays the "classic" folk music of the 50's, 60's and 70's-songs by such artists as Peter, Paul, and Mary, The Kingston Trio, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, John Denver, Gordon Lightfoot, Tom Paxton, Simon and Garfunkel, Don McLean,  and many others. Some of the pop artists that Ken includes in his repertoire are The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Neil Diamond, Jim Croce, Harry Belafonte, James Taylor, Roberta Flack, Ricky Nelson, Jimmy Rogers, and even Elvis Presley, and he also pays tribute to country greats by including songs by Johnny Cash, Kris Kristopherson, John Prine, Johnny Horton and Roger Miller... While based in Nashville for almost 30 years, Ken performed as a solo artist, as part of the folk duo "Judith and Ken", and with the folk trio "The Folk Revival". He has done thousands of concerts, clubs, listening rooms, coffee houses, banquets, and festivals over the years and has played for audiences throughout the United States. He returns to Nashville several times a year to perform folk music programs. Ken moved to Panama City in 1999, and has continued to perform all over the southeastern US since then.

Jack Williams Saturday, December 22, 2012, 7:30pm

The music of Jack Williams, rooted in his native South Carolina, was shaped by a 54-year career of playing folk, rock, jazz, R&B, classical and the popular music of the 30s, 40s and 50s. He is counted among the most dynamic performers on today's "folk" circuit - "...one of the most enlightened and entertaining performers I've ever encountered"—Dave Humphreys, Two-Way Street Coffeehouse. Jack is considered a "musician's musician", an uncommonly unique guitarist, a writer of vivid songs with a strong sense of place, and a storyteller in an old Southern tradition who further illustrates each tale with his guitar. Rich Warren of WFMT Chicago's The Midnight Special said, "His artistry is nothing short of amazing". Vic Heyman, in SING OUT!, wrote, “He is one of the strongest guitar players in contemporary folk.” Avoiding the compromises of the commercial music industry during his 50+-year professional career, Jack prefers touring under the radar, playing concerts, large and small, week in and week out, from the sheer love of music and performing. Playing for more than 50 house concerts each year, Jack enjoys the intimacy of that venue most of all, with a more personal connection to his listeners. Jack is a sought-after artist on all contemporary acoustic music stages, from coffeehouses and festivals to music halls and city arts stages. From acclaimed appearances at the Newport, Boston, Philadelphia, Kerrville, New Bedford SummerFest Folk Festivals, his musicianship, songs, stories and commanding presence have established him as an uncommonly inspiring and influential performer.

Jack frequently shares his musical knowledge with others. In addition to leading numerous workshops as he tours the country, he has been on the staff of The Swannanoa Gathering in NC, Lamb's Songwriter Retreat in MI, The Folk Project in NJ, WUMB's Summer Acoustic Music Week in NH, and co-hosts a semi-annual Music Workshop Weekend near his home in the Ozarks. Jack has nine CDs of original music on the Wind River (Folk Era) label, the newest being “The High Road Home”, plus his DVD “High Cotton”, a collection of on-stage performances. An additional CD, “Don’t Let Go”, is a collection of cover songs reflecting major influences on his musical development. Jack has produced all of his own recordings plus CDs by Mickey Newbury, Ronny Cox, Eric Schwartz, and others. His songs have been recorded by artists ranging from Tom Jones and David Clayton-Thomas to Chuck Pyle, Cindy Mangsen, Ronny Cox and Lowen & Navarro. In addition to his solo career, as a guitarist he has accompanied such luminaries as Tom Paxton, Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul & Mary), Mickey Newbury and Harry Nilsson. Friendships with two great singers had an enormous impact on Jack's career and on the development of his own singing voice. In 1973, his relationship with the late Harry Nilsson resulted in an album effort at RCA during an ill-fated period of music industry turmoil. Until 2002, he sometimes toured as sole accompanist to his friend, the late Mickey Newbury, with whom he co-wrote, co-produced, and recorded a live album and video, Nights When I Am Sane (reissued as Winter Winds). From 1958 through 1988, along with playing jazz (trumpet) and classical guitar, Jack was best known as an electric guitarist in a series of original rock bands and smaller acoustic ensembles. In the late 60's, he gave in to his troubadour nature and began performing solo - singing and playing a gut-string guitar and touring from coast to coast. As a hired-gun guitarist in the Deep South of the Civil Rights-Easy Rider 60's, Jack’s bands accompanied the likes of John Lee Hooker, Big Joe Turner, Jerry Butler, Hank Ballard, the Shirelles, and the Del-Vikings. Jack Williams’ music, enriched from these varied influences, is a truly an All-American Southern music.  www.jackwilliamsmusic.com “…a musical style that’s equal parts folk storytelling and Tin Pan Alley songcraft, delivered with the impassioned soul of an old blues singer.”-- Kevin Oliver, NO DEPRESSION magazine "Jack and his music are an American treasure"—Mickey Newbury "…the best guitar player I've ever heard…"—Peter  Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary See and listen ...