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Cultural Performers
Dark of the Moon
Our play for this year, in celebration of the Bluegrass to Green Grass
theme is “Dark of the Moon” by Howard Richardson and William Berney, with
a Festival-length adaptation by Seamus Delmont, is a fantasy set in the
Smoky Mountains about a witch boy who falls in love with a beautiful girl
named Barbara Allen. The tale blends the magic, superstition, love and
tragedy inherent to the Appalachian region. It is a bluegrass song set
in play form. The play written in 1966 was hit on both Broadway and in London.
The New York Times’ Lewis Nichols said “The kind of play the audience instantly
likes.”
Casting will begin the second week in January, with sets by Judy Lanahan,
direction by Judy Lanahan and Andrew Murphy. Our sincere appreciation and
thanks to Seamus Delmont for adapting the script to our timeframe.
If you are interested in volunteering in this area, please contact
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Born and raised in Scotland, Mark Kenneth was first exposed to the accordion
at age four when he refused to leave the band alone at a cousin's wedding. To stop
him from climbing inside the case and going with the band, his folks placated
him with promises of an accordion when he "got bigger"...he did.
Classically trained from an early age, he competed regularly in both
Scottish and British championships, winning many competitions over the years at both
levels, including All Scotland Under 18 titles and All Britain Classical
Duet. He started playing in Scottish dance bands when he was around 14 years
old, and began at that time to make regular appearances on stage with touring Scottish
shows both in the UK and overseas.
As he began playing other musical styles, he found that he was much better at
playing the lead solos off Van Halen's "1984" album on the vertical accordion keys than
trying to lie on a piano stool and play sideways. (Imagine it.) This inspired him to get
his box "midi"-fied, and was thereby able to extend his exploration into previously
uncharted musical territories.
Mark have been fortunate enough to play with a number of very strong musicians
in a variety of countries and states of sobriety. (Or lack thereof.) After
leaving Scotland in the late 90's, he has lived in Europe, the Middle East, and the Far
East before moving to the USA...his trusty box always in tow. He finally made his way to
Texas for a brief stint in Houston, before moving to Dallas and is now performing with Jiggernaut.
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Appalachian flat foot clogging is a kick-up-your-heels style of percussive dancing
that anyone can do. Claire Zucker has been clogging and teaching clogging around the
Southwest for the past 15 year. She will teach you the basics to get your feet stepping
along to live music plus some variations to take home. This regional American dance form
has its roots in Irish sean nós (old style) step dancing. In fact, older generation dancers
have noted similarities between Claire's clogging and their grandparents' dancing back in
Ireland and this workshop will demonstrate some of those links.
Wear hard soled shoes (no taps please) and bring a big smile, cause your going to need
it. Members from Round the House will play for the workshop.
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Lee Thomas began playing the five-string banjo in 1971 while attending college.
There he met and performed with Ernie Taft, fiddler with the ‘Irish Rogues’ and
‘Glass and Taft’, in the band Salt Lick which performed old time, bluegrass and
original acoustic music in Dallas and Fort Worth through the 90’s.Currently he
performs with Glass and Taft and the Salt Rock Rounders a string band playing
traditional American music. He plays three finger, bluegrass style as well as the
older stroke or clawhammer style banjo heard in early recordings of rural American
traditional music. Both of these styles will be discussed and demonstrated in the workshop.
John Scott is native of Fort Worth. He started playing banjo in the 1970s and has
played and recorded with various award-winning (and otherwise) bluegrass and
bluegrass-related-program-activity bands in the area, including Lonesome Prairie,
Up the Creek and The Bluebonnet Plague. He currently serves on the board of director
of the Southwest Bluegrass Club.
An adherent to the Earl Scruggs three-finger style, John endures banjo jokes without
resorting to violence (which means he probably doesn't "get" them).
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Considered by many to be one of America’s foremost players of the bodhrán, Mark Stone
has performed and taught across the United States and Canada with many of today’s top Irish musicians.
Mark teaches both beginning and intermediate/advanced classes specializing in techniques
involving the use of both hands to fully explore all of the intricacies of a tune with the
ultimate goal of “playing” the tune along with the lead instruments.
Mark Stone got his start in Irish music with the All-Ireland winning band, St. James’s
Gate. He is probably best known for his work with the renowned Irish fiddler, James Kelly
and guitarist Zan McLeod. Mark recently produced “The Curlews” for Irish hammer dulcimer
player Cliff Moses.
Albert Alfonso is the man Mick Moloney dubbed "The Celtic-Cuban Connection"?
Albert Alfonso has been a performer and instructor at the NTIF since 1983 and he has
also played at a multitude of festivals, among them, the Milwaukee Irish Fest, the
Walnut Valley Festival, and the Kerrville Folk Festival.
Early in Albert’s Celtic music career he played both piano and button accordions
and his introduction to Irish music and early experiences with these instruments gave
him a sense of melody and a love and understanding of the tunes. Albert took up bodhran
and percussion on a dare, he perfected his craft, and his love for playing the bodhran
led him to want to the art of drum making. Albert makes a drum that is not only percussive,
but has the ability to be thought of, treated like, and made to sound an integral part
of the melody. You can hear Albert playing on Roger Landes' "Dragon Reels," Chris Grotewohl's
"Under the Influence," and Mike Dugger's "At Early Dawn." Solas' "Sunny Spells and Scattered
Showers" has Seamus Egan and John Anthony playing one of Albert’s drums.
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Russell Cook is the creative force behind Master Works, a small but internationally
known company that creates handcrafted Hammer Dulcimers, and Wood N' Strings, a one-stop
for meeting people's dulcimer and psaltery needs as well as providing the best in instrumental
dulcimer music.
Russell personally built approximately 1000 Hammer Dulcimers in the late 70's and early
80's. He sold his instruments by traveling around the country, performing at various festivals.
Today, his "Master Works" instruments need no introduction, but still he travels to the
festivals to share the spirit of the music and the camaraderie of his fellow musicians.
In 1981, Russell competed and won the National Hammer Dulcimer contest in Winfield,
Kansas. Since 1986, Russell Cook/Master Works has been one of three Hammer Dulcimer
builders chosen to create a handcrafted instrument for the competition. The annual
contest winner selects one of these instruments as theirs first place prize. Being
asked to supply an instrument is one of the highest honors for any luthier. Russell's
demand for excellence, and his detailed workmanship, has led National Hammer Dulcimer
Champions to select the Master Works Hammer Dulcimer twelve times in the past fifteen
years, as of the year 2000.
Since he was a child, Russell has always loved music. He has a quick natural talent
for musical instruments, and is one of those rare people who can play by ear. Russell
has created a signature style of instrumental Hammer Dulcimer music. Fans of his music
declare, "Music at the hands of Russell Cook is some of the most beautiful and
compelling I have ever heard." When asked to describe his personal motto, Russell
states, "To be a master of my work and to be about the work of the Master."
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Composer, performer and music teacher Tim Avalon launched a career at the age
of 13, thanks to his “Aunt Vangie” who gifted him with his first guitar. It was the
beginning of a lifelong love-affair with music. Self taught, he also mastered the
banjo and mandolin and began playing professionally while in his teens joining rock
and roll and country bands. The fiddle was next on the agenda, which he studied for
a couple of years after learning that his grandfather had been an accomplished player.
Since that time, Tim’s musical taste has developed to include Celtic, swing, jazz,
bluegrass and old-time. He is the founding member of the Celtic group Bounds Street,
the Django Reinhardt inspired band, Swing de Paris and the bluegrass band, Bogan Ridge.
For the past twenty-one years, he has been teaching private lessons at the Avalon
School for String Instruments, specializing in old-time, bluegrass, and Celtic fiddle.
Many of his students have won contests for the traditional musical forms at the State
Fair or in fiddling competitions. His awards and honors include state championship
at the State Fair for two consecutive years in mandolin, and Mississippi Folk Artist
of the Year, 2000. He is also the author of numerous old-time and Celtic tunes and
has published a collection of Irish and Old Time Fiddle Tunes. Also in the works is
a book of complied tunes by Mississippi fiddlers from the 1920’s and 30’s. Publication
is expected in early 2005.
Valerie Plested, a native of San Antonio, first began playing Irish traditional
music at the age of 14 after hearing the tin whistle played by the Ohio-based Fannigan’s
Isle. Soon after, she began taking fiddle lessons from Jim Fox of St. James’s Gate
(All-Ireland 1986) in San Antonio. Valerie later joined St. James’s Gate playing the
fiddle in 1991, and co-founded the innovative Irish band, Agus, in 1994. She now plays
with the Jackson/New Orleans-based band, Legacy. At the Augusta Heritage Workshops,
Valerie has had the opportunity to study under fiddlers James Kelly, Brendan Mulvihill,
Eileen Ivers, and most recently under Brian Conway, who she counts as her greatest
influence. Other influences include Donegal fiddlers Paddy Glackin and Tommy Peoples.
Valerie appears as a guest musician on Chris Grotewohl's acclaimed album, Under
the Influence (1996), with other accomplished musicians such as piper Kiaran O’Hare,
guitarist Zan McLeod, Connie Dover, Roger Landes, and Albert Alfonso. Most recently,
she can be heard on Legacy’s energetic album, Navan (1998).
Valerie has performed at the Milwaukee Irish Festival, the Walnut Valley Folk
Festival, the North Texas Irish Festival, the Kerville Folk Festival, the New Orleans
Celtic Nations Festival, Jackson’s CelticFest, and has appeared at sessions at Kate
Kearney's in New York with Brian Conway. Valerie has recently been recognized by the
State of Mississippi as a Master Artist for Irish fiddle.
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Jeff Baker
has studied and performed traditional music for 25 years, fueling a
passion for seeking the "pure drop" in Irish dance and social music. His
performance of Clare-style repertoire has won him a prestigious All Ireland
medal and other international recognition. He appears regularly in
performances and sessions around New England, the Southwest and the West
Coast. Jeff has toured in the US, England, Scotland and France, and has been
featured on National Public Radio, Maine, NH and Texas Public Radio, and WBUR in Boston and KUT in Austin.
Peggy Turner has been playing flute for forty years.
She was classically
trained as a student but had sung and danced to Irish tunes with her
grandfather as a young child. Finally, in her early twenties she began to
play Celtic dance music as an instrumentalist. She added the tin whistle to
her repertoire at that time, and took Irish flute lessons from Noel Rice in
Chicago. Noel was a great influence and mentor in the Irish style, and has
since gone on to found a well-respected school of Irish music in Chicago.
Peggy spent many years traveling around the United States with her husband
as a professional musician, performing in different genres, but always
continuing to seek out Celtic musicians to listen to and play with. She
began to give workshops at various festivals, and in children's fine arts
programs, and found that she especially loves working with beginners. She
now teaches music full-time at a private school in Arlington, Texas, and
spends as much time as she possibly can playing in the traditional band, Threadneedle St.,
whose other members are the BEST musicians she has ever worked with.
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Cór Gaeilge Texais - The Gaelic Chorus of Texas - performs a wide range of Irish and Scottish
Gaelic songs in the traditional, unaccompanied style. Organized in 1997, the group has performed
at ceilithe (ceilis), benefits, and festivals, including the West Belfast, Northern Ireland Feile
an Phobail in 1998. Cór Gaeilge performs a diverse range of songs - from hymns to drinking songs,
and marches to lullabies.
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John Burleson has played Celtic music on guitar since the mid '70's
and is a regular in the Fort Worth/Dallas club and session scene. He has
appeared at Texas Folklife Festival, Milwaukee Irish Festival, and Mississippi
Celtic Festival. John has played at each NTIF since 1983.
Don Penzien honed his skills as an Irish music accompanist playing
“dadgad-tuned” guitar with Gramarye in the mid-1980's. He worked to develop his
own accompaniment style with the aid of notables Daíthí Sproule and Zan McLeod.
Recognized for his light touch and understated stylistics, his rhythmic approach
is hard driving and dynamic when called for. In addition to performing with the
popular Mississippi/Louisiana-based Legacy, Don has recently performed with New
York/Sligo-style fiddler Brian Conway and uillean piper Tim Britton.
Don's guitar work, whistle, and bodhran playing also can be heard on a variety
of recordings. He has performed across the country (Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado,
Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Tennessee, Texas,
Virginia) and conducted many guitar workshops along the way—he’s delighted to be
giving another workshop for the NTIF. penzien@att.net
Don and John have conducted countless guitar workshops in festivals in
Mississippi and Texas, discussing DADGAD tuning, standard tuning, drop D tuning,
rhythm, melody, picking pattern, sessions, and other concerns.
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Storytelling - Liz Covington, John Burleson & Gary Whitaker
As a Member of the Tejas Storytelling Association, The Tarrant Area Guild of
Storytellers, Irish American League, and the Austin Gaelic League, Liz Covington
has appeared in the Stories Under the Stars Concerts, Nursing homes, Schools, Day Cares,
The Red River Outfitters, Log Cabin Village, The Austin Gaelic Festival, The Irish American
Talent Show, Tellabration, the Gene Autry Festival, Grand Prairie Festival and the Irish
Storytelling Championship in Boeurne 2002, winning 2nd place in the Adult without music
section. Liz tells Celtic, Native American, Cajun, Folk tales, Fairy Tales, Western, and
Historical Tales.
Liz has been a substitute teacher for 22 years, 8 yrs in middle school, and 14 in
elementary. She loves telling stories to children from 3 to 93. Born in Dallas, Texas
and reared throughout the South, she has been married over 42 years and has two children
and four grandchildren.
John Burleson, a teller of stories from the British Isles, Native America,
the natural world, and distant culture--hear this native Texan spark the imagination
and remind us of times past, using one of our oldest art forms, the spoken word.
John is a lifelong student and collector of literature, myth, and legend who has conducted
story workshops and told stories to groups of all ages at festivals, concerts, parks
schools and libraries. In March he traveled to Ireland with the sponsorship of SCMA.
Gary Whitaker aka The Storyman is a storyteller who seeks to tell all kind of tales.
His greatest love as a teller is historical storytelling including traditional tales,
ghost stories, personal yarns, tall tales, and many other kinds of stories.
Since he started performing professionally in 1998, he has taken his storytelling
programs to many other locations in Texas, including Victoria, Menard, Gainesville,
Sherman, Mesquite, Roanoke, Grapevine, Southlake, Hurst, Haltom City, Richland Hills,
Denton, Fort Worth, The Colony, Medicine Mound, and Alvarado. For more information,
please visit his website at www.StoryManTales.com
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The North Texas Irish Festival is a production of the Southwest
Celtic Music Association
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