2025 Artist bios
Judy Hyman and Jeff Claus met Jake Blount when he was a student at Hamilton College, who would occasionally come to Ithaca, NY (their home town) for events. He was playing banjo then and getting started on fiddle. A very dedicated and quick learner, it was apparent his playing was growing fast. For Jake’s senior thesis, a history and cultural study of the fiddle music scene in Ithaca, he interviewed Judy and Jeff, and they became friends. Later, Jake asked them to help him produce his first album after college, Spider Tales. Judy and Jeff say: “We were honored and loved the collaboration and depth of the experience of working with Jake. We’re good friends now, and we love and respect him for his stellar musicianship and his skill as an artist, scholar, and activist. We always look forward to talking, seeing, and playing with him and to watching him make his wonderful way in the world."
Jake, Judy and Jeff:
Fri. Sept. 19 concert at the Freight
Sat. Sept. 20 dance at Ashkenaz
Jake: Sat. Sept. 20 at 10:30 am at the Berkeley Public Library (Main Branch): panel discussion
Judy and Jeff lead a jam on Sat. Sept. 20 from 4-6 in front of La Pena
Workshops:
Jake (banjo) Fri. 9/19 at 4:00 pm at the Freight
Judy (fiddle) and Jeff (banjo uke) Sun. 9/21 at 11 am at Ashkenaz
Jake Blount, an award-winning and genre-defying Black and queer multi-instrumentalist and singer, fell in love with American traditional music through the banjo. He’s received many honors including the Steve Martin Banjo Prize and has performed at venues from Carnegie Hall to Library of Congress to NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts.
Graduating with a Bachelors of Arts in Ethnomusicology from Hamilton College in 2017, Blount’s thesis was titled ‘Fiddles in the North Country: Uncovering the Ithaca Sound’ and was described as “an ethnography documenting the nature and development of Ithaca, NY’s regional style of string band music.” This thesis featured the music of Judy Hyman and Jeff Claus, who became two of Blount’s mentors.
Blount has given lectures and presentations on his research and the history of Black string band music at Yale University, Berklee College of Music, and the Smithsonian Institute. Currently, he is working towards a Ph.D in Musicology and Ethnomusicology at Brown University.
Blount is interested in the ways in which African Americans have “shaped and defined the amorphous categories of roots music and Americana” — something that is evident throughout his music. His first album Spider Tales was named one of the year’s best by NPR, highlighting Black and Indigenous histories and reviving songs that had been forgotten over decades of whitewashing. Blount views his music as connecting past histories, the present moment and our future; according to his website, he believes that “the more we learn about where we’ve been, the better equipped we are to face the future.”
Judy Hyman and Jeff Claus, from Ithaca NY, are founding members of the hugely influential alt-folk string band, The Horse Flies. Jeff grew up in a small town in rural Illinois, where it's flat as a table, and the cornfields, cows, soybeans and silos dominate the endless horizon. His mother bought him his first guitar from the only music store in town, paying it off in small monthly installments. Judy grew up in New York City and New Jersey and was steeped early in a rich combination of classical violin,urban soul, R&B and jazz (her father is the renowned pianist Dick Hyman). She discovered Southern traditional American fiddle music in college and has been playing it ever since. The two met in college and have been happily married much longer than they've been apart.
Judy plays fiddle/violin, has recorded and toured with Natalie Merchant, and has received an Emmy award for the score she created for a documentary film about Thomas Jefferson. Jeff plays guitar and banjo ukulele, writes songs and sings, and has had songs and music used by Natalie Merchant, MTV's Rock the Vote, the band Fiery Furnaces, film director Oliver Stone (in his film Any Given Sunday), and others. Together they played in The Horse Flies and the indie rock band, Boy with a Fish, and now they spend a lot of their time composing and recording films cores for feature films and television documentaries (J2 Film Music). They also perform and teach workshops and classes at traditional music and other programs and festivals. As a duo, they play original and traditional fiddle tunes, songs, and waltzes.
Thurs. 9/18 concert at the Freight
Sat. 9/20 dance at Ashkenaz
Fri. 9/19 Fiddle Workshop at the Freight
The BOTMC is pleased to welcome Bruce Molsky back to our festival! Grammy-nominated and described as “an absolute master” (No Depression), Molsky transports audiences to another time and place, with his authentic and personal interpretations of rarities from the Southern Appalachian songbook and other musical traditions from around the globe. Best known for his work on the fiddle, Bruce’s banjo, guitar and his distinctive, powerful vocals also resonate with listeners. His combination of technical virtuosity and relaxed conversational wit makes a concert hall feel like an intimate front porch gathering.
Bruce has collaborated with some of the world's most highly respected players from roots to rock, including Mark Knopfler, Anonymous 4, Tony Trischka and many more. His most recent collaboration is a duet with jazz/roots fiddler Darol Anger, “Lockdown Breakdown”. He is a special guest on legend rocker Mark Knopfler’s recent CD, “Tracker.” His 1865 Songs of Hope & Home with Anonymous 4, was on Billboard’s top 10 for weeks. Along with Andy Irvine & Donal Lunny, Bruce is a founding member of the supergroup Mozaik, with three recordings. You can see Bruce on the BBC TV “Transatlantic Sessions” with Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas, and on “David Holt’s State of Music” on PBS. He stays active touring and recording with longtime collaborators Darol Anger, Tony Trischka and Mountain Drifters’ Allison de Groot.
Bruce holds the title of “Visiting Scholar in the American Roots Music Program” at Berklee College of Music, where he is the go-to guy for the next generation of roots musicians.
Bruce says: “Performing and teaching traditional music are the biggest things in my world. For me, being a musician isn’t a standalone thing; it informs everything I do in my life. It’s always been about being creative and being a part of something much bigger than myself, a link in the musical chain and part of the community of people who play it and love it.”
Thurs. 9/18 concert at the Freight
Sat. 9/20 dance at Ashkenaz
Workshops:
Clarke (banjo) and Roy (fiddle) Sun. 9/21 at Ashkenaz
Making their West Coast debut at the BOTMC, the Ozark Highballers are a four piece string band from Fayetteville, Arkansas, in western Arkansas’ Ozark mountains. Their music reflects the spirit and drive of the rural Ozark string bands of the 1920s and '30s. This old-fashioned ensemble, formed in 2014, features the dynamic melody duo of Roy Pilgrim on fiddle and Seth Shumate on harmonica, accompanied by the intricate string tickling of Clarke Buehling on five-string banjo, and the driving chords and bass runs of Aviva Steigmeyer on guitar. The Ozark Highballers have performed and taught at the Brooklyn Folk Festival, Stepehen Foster Old-time Week, Bluff Country Gathering, St. Louis Folk & Roots, CROMA, Ozark Folk Center, and have recently received the Artist 360 grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance.
Fri. 9/19 concert at the Freight
Sat. 9/20 song circle at Ashkenaz
Two dulcimer workshops!
Thurs. 9/18 at 4:00 pm at the Freight
Sun. 9/21 at 12:30 pm at Ashkenaz
https://www.sarahkatemorgan.com/
Born in Sharps Chapel, Tennessee, Sarah Kate Morgan began playing dulcimer at age 7, on an instrument built by her grandfather. At 18, she placed 1st at the 2012 National Mountain Dulcimer Championships in Winfield, Kansas. Much like Bruce Molsky and the fiddle, having been a dedicated student of the mountain dulcimer’s complexities Morgan distills them into a beautifully polished package.
Sarah Kate is also a first-rate singer and songwriter. Her crystal-clear but rootsy vocal style combines the best of country, old time, bluegrass, and gospel influences who, like Morgan, foreground their cultural roots.
Sarah Kate has performed and/or recorded with artists like Tyler Childers, Amethyst Kiah and Erynn Marshall & Carl Jones. She graduated from Morehead State University with degrees in Traditional Music, Appalachian Studies, and Arts Administration. Currently based in Hindman, Kentucky, she practices, cultivates, teaches, and preserves Appalachian folk traditions in her role as a community music educator at the Eastern Kentucky nonprofit Appalshop. Whether calling square dances, playing the mountain dulcimer, or making music and creating art with Appalachian youth, Sarah Kate Morgan’s work centers on a lived belief that art and tradition are living, breathing tools that foster hope, build community, and create change.
Thurs. 9/18 at the Freight
Sat. 9/20 at the Berkeley Public Library (Main Branch): Darcy and Patrice will participate in the panel discussion and will host an open jam
The BOTMC is pleased to welcome back the Inaugural Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellows: Patrice Strahan, Darcy Ford-James and Joseph Z. Johnson, who have been mentored during the past two years by some of today’s most important Black old time musicians, including Jake Blount, Rhiannon Giddens, Earl White, Dom Flemons and Tony Thomas. Darcy, Patrice and Joseph were the very first cohort of the Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship, Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s innovative collaboration with the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention. The BBFF project aims to repatriate old-time music in African American communities and illuminate the Black experience in creating old-time music. BBFF is a two-year paid fellowship program that trains Black musicians in old-time music and its rich history. To repair the historical and cultural ruptures that erased the Black origins of banjo and fiddle music and to ensure that the tradition is sustained in Black communities, the BBFF is also a teacher-training program, ensuring that the music can be passed down from generation to generation.
Patrice Strahan (she/her) is a lifelong musician who cultivated her love for music singing in church choirs and playing in bands. Her music practice is driven by her passion for communal music at the intersection of land stewardship/kinship and engaged spiritual social justice.
Darcy Ford-James (she/her) is a violinist and educator with more than two decades as a public school strings teacher. She is co-founder of Stockton Soul, a nonprofit Soul Orchestra dedicated to educating, empowering, and inspiring audiences through the performance of Black Music.
Joe Zavaan Johnson (he/him) is a multi-instrumentalist, arts educator, and Black music researcher currently pursuing a Ph.D.in Ethnomusicology at Indiana University-Bloomington. His research puts the Black banjo movement into conversation with critical constructions of race, place, belonging, gender, and sexuality.
Wed. 9/17 (with the Aux Cajunals)
Cajun dance at Ashkenaz
Fri. 9/19 solo set at the Freight
In a rare solo set, Suzy Thompson bids her farewell as Director of the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention, having founded the festival in 2003. Suzy’s long involvement with old-time music began in the 1970s and includes performances and recordings with Any Old Time String Band, Blue Flame String Band, California Cajun Orchestra, Thompsonia, Bluegrass Intentions and other bands, as well as duets with husband Eric. She apprenticed with Cajun fiddler Dewey Balfa in Louisiana under an NEA Folk Arts Fellowship. She has worked with many old-time and bluegrass greats including Alice Gerrard, Mac Benford, Rafe Stefanini, Kate Brislin & Jody Stecher and Bill Evans; with Cajun iconsincluding Ann Savoy, Michael Doucet, Steve Riley, Cedric Watson and Danny and Edward
Poullard; and with blues and jug band heroes like Geoff Muldaur and Jim Kweskin, Maria Muldaur, Del Rey, Mary Flower, Meredith Axelrod and Craig Ventresco. She served as Artistic Director of Festival of American Fiddle Tunes from 2010-2016, and collaborated with Angela Wellman (Oakland Public Conservatory of Music) and Karen Celia to design and implement the Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship, an innovative apprenticeship and teacher training program.
Her most recent recording, “Suzy Sings Siebel” reached #2 on the Roots Music Report Traditional Folk Album chart. It is a complete departure from her extensive catalog of traditional roots music: a tribute to 1970s singer-songwriter Paul Siebel, featuring Suzy’s singing and guitar playing with a supporting cast that includes Cindy Cashdollar, John Sebastian, Molly Mason and many others.
The Aux Cajunals will be be joined by a special surprise guest musician from Louisiana, stay tuned for an update! The Aux Cajunals mix old-fashioned Cajun and Creole dancehall music with a bit of old-style blues (a la Memphis Minnie or Freddie King) for a down-home Southern style roadhouse sound. Suzy Thompson (who apprenticed with Cajun master fiddler Dewey Balfa and learned accordion from Danny Poullard) rocks the fiddle, squeezes her Cajun accordions (handmade by Marc Savoy) and brings the Cajun-Creole and classic blues to life with her powerful vocals. Agi Ban, whose double fiddling with Suzy is a hallmark of the Aux Cajunals sound, switches to froittoir (vest rubboard) for the blues and zydeco numbers.
Eric Thompson's lead guitar evokes a steel guitar on the Cajun songs and Freddie King on the R&B songs. Allegra Thompson (daughter of Eric and Suzy) adds her strong lead singing and solid upright bass playing to anchor the sound of the band. Karen Celia Heil's powerful rhythm guitar and Michaelle Goerlitz's drumming combine to underpin the groove, and sometimes Karen adds a third fiddle to the mix when the band performs 150-year-old archaic tunes learned from Dennis McGee.Members of the Aux Cajunals have performed and recorded with a “who’s who” of Cajun music royalty including Marc and Ann Savoy, D.L. Menard, Queen Ida, Michael Doucet & Beausoleil, Jesse Lege & Joel Savoy, Steve Riley, David Greely and many others. Suzy & Eric were founding members of the California Cajun Orchestra, featuring the late Danny Poullard, with 2 award-winning albums on the Smithsonian-Arhoolie label.
Susan Michaels has been calling old-time square dances, family dances, and community dances for more than 35 years, including her hometown “chicken coop” square dance on Vashon Island in Washington. Susan specializes in building community, facilitating joy, and just plain having fun and she believes it is her calling in life to teach people how to hold hands in a circle and move to music. She has a unique gift for making kids, newcomers, 2 left-footers, and shy persons blossom through dance.
Susan has been a featured artist at festivals and camps throughout the U.S. including the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention (CA), Dare2BSquare West (Oakland, Seattle, Portland),Pinewoods American and Family Weeks (MA), and many other gatherings and camps.
WB Reid & Bonnie Zahnow have been making music with and for children since their own kids were babies. Back home in Seattle, they work with school kids twice a week, and play regularly for family dances. WB is an alumnus of two of the Northwest’s finest dance bands, the Tallboys and the Rhythm Rollers. As a duo, WB and Bonnie have played for contra and square dances from coast to coast and border to border.
Sat. 9/20 at 10:15 AM - Family concert at the Berkeley Public Library (Main Branch)
Connor is a farmer who has played lots of different kinds of music. A few years ago he was bit by the old-time bug and took up the fiddle. He has become one of the Bay Area’s in demand square dance callers and loves to initiate newbies into the joys of a community square dance!!
Sat. 9/20 square dance at Ashkenaz
Manning Mud Stompers
Daisy Caire, Natalie Caton, Nikolai Davis, Helen Feeney, Iola Gravois, Clio Levy-Tongate, Jasper Manning, Jayna Manning, Bodie Oakley, Lili Reizeck, and Noah Stelle -- the Manning Mud Stompers -- are all students (or former students) at Berkeley’s Manning Music. This big group of exceptional young musicians will play for the BOTMC's family dance!
Sun. 9/21 Family dance at Ashkenaz