From noon to 4pm 

12:00pm: Possum Sauce - Lael Sigal, Lisa Heil & Ryan Dooley

12:30pm: "Mo B. and Dick" (Maureen Blumenthal & Richard Mason): classic country, folky, old-timey, bluegrassy, brother-duety and old-sounding originals

1:00pm: Earl White Stringband

Earl White is one of few Black Americans reviving the music that was once an important part of rural black communities and life on plantations in the American southeast. Earl is known for his extensive repertoire of unusual tunes and his driving, energetic, heartfelt style. He started playing the fiddle in 1974 as a founding member of the Green Grass Cloggers, a group of young college students from North Carolina who brought clogging into the modern age by combining older flatfooting styles with the more modern "precision" clogging routines. A syncopated dance step that Earl White invented during that time cambe to be known as "the Earl" and is still taught at clogging workshops. During his time in North Carolina, Earl spent long periods collecting fiddle tunes in the mountains, mostly from white fiddlers who at times credited black sources for some tunes and stylistic elements. 

Earl and his partner Adrienne Davis (who plays guitar in the Earl White Band) will be moving to Virginia soon, so enjoy their great music while you can. However, they weill be back in time for the Fall BOTMC in September.

1:30pm: The Barefoot Quales are an old-time and bluegrass family band from Alameda. The band features Niko (7) on fiddle and vocals, and multi-instrumentalist brothers Miles (12) and Matteo (9) Quale, backed up by Uncle Rory (O'Neill) and parents Mariaelena and Christopher. The Barefoot Quales have performed throughout Northern California since 2012, and the boys are state and national champions in fiddle and mandolin.

2:00pm: La Familia Peña-Govea sing and play traditional Mexican, Tex-Mex and Colombian music, including rancheras, polkas, valses, vallenatos, boleros, danzónes, chachas, and cumbias. The group includes: Miguel Govea on guitarrón, accordion, brass and fiddle, Cecilia Peña-Govea on trumpet, percussion, and guitarrón, Rene Peña-Govea on accordion and guitarrón, and Susan Peña on vihuela, guitar, and bajo sexto.

2:30pm: Skillet Licorice is the latest project from San Francisco Bay Area roots-music luminaries Elise Engelberg and Matt Knoth. The duo’s talents are showcased beautifully on their new self-titled CD which draws on their diverse experiences playing in numerous string bands over the years in a dizzying array of folk genres. Whether they’re playing hot fiddle breakdowns, slinky blues, sparkling banjo breaks, ragtime or dreamy waltzes the duo displays an impressive command of styles and techniques that comes from deep study and loving dedication to America’s folk traditions. With the help of their talented friends they’ve put together an album of songs that is essentially traditional, yet with a modern approach that is anything but a stodgy museum piece. Skillet Licorice is hot, sweet, and just a bit greasy!

3:00pm: Lucy Wise

Hailing from the far South Western corner of Australia, singer-songwriter Lucy Wise has delighted audiences across Australia, New Zealand and the UK with her masterful storytelling, intricate ukulele and guitar playing and soulful voice. Drawing inspiration from her background in Appalachian and Celtic folk music, as well as legendary songwriters such as Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, Lucy’s songs sketch universally recognizable stories that are grounded in the realities of everyday experience. Her musical clarity and down-to-earth performance style captures the hearts of audiences wherever she goes.

3:30pm: Crane Creek Ramblers - Rebecca Richman, Heath Curdts and Nick Blechman.

From dark ballads to red hot fiddle tunes, the Crane Creek Ramblers play oldtime string band music with passion. Rebecca Richman has played fiddle since she could hold the instrument, focusing primarily on the music of Ireland and Scotland. Several years ago she dove head first into the deep pool of traditional Appalachian fiddling and brings a refreshing perspective to the old tunes. Heath Curdts started playing the banjo as a teenager in Virginia. He learned much of his music directly from older traditional masters, and you can hear it in his playing and singing. Over the years he has performed with many luminaries in oldtime music, including Tommy Jarrell, Mike Seeger, Jody Stecher and Paul Brown. Nick Blechman provides the heartbeat of the band, laying down a rock-solid groove on guitar. Long immersed in both bluegrass and oldtime, Nick also serves up strong vocals with a keen edge.  

HOSTED OPEN JAMS IN THE LOBBY OR OUTSIDE:

* Noon: Kids jam led by the Barefoot Quales

* 1pm: Song jam with ROSS (Relatively Old Time Singing Society (Adrian Dooley, Ryan Dooley, Abby Rose, Ali Bond,Ellen Auriti, Lisa Heil, Lael Sigal)

* 2pm: Dane Miller & Lauren Leverone

* 3pm: String Band Blues Jam - Lloyd Elliot & the Jailhouse String Band Room for more jams in the building, and outside! 

WORKSHOPS UPSTAIRS:

1pm-2pm:

Hillbilly Fiddle Rags - Suzy Thompson. Suzy will play several hillbilly rags from artists like the East Texas Serenaders, Grinnell Giggers, etc and then she’ll teach a tune. Bring your fiddle and a recording device! We’ll be in standard tuning.

Australian Bush Dance Tunes for all instruments - Lucy Wise

Banjo workshop - Rowan McCallister

2pm-3pm:

Fiddle workshop - Earl White

Country duets - Mo B. & Dick (Maureen Blumenthal and Richard Mason). We will discuss how we work out our parts, demonstrate two or three classic brother duets, and then open the session to jamming.

Guitar backup for fiddle tunes - Dan Warrick & David Brown. Finding the right chords--and the other right chords.

3pm-4pm:

Stringband Class bonus session - Harry Liedstrand (fiddle), Cindy Liedstrand (guitar), David Brown (banjo). During our most recent 6-week stringband session, we learned 6 Midwestern tunes from Bob Walters, Nile Wilson, Lotus & Cyprien Dickey and others. For the first 30 minutes, we'll learn another tune, and then play as many of the other 6 as we have time for - so the second half will be a review session for folks who were part of the last stringband session, and a repertoire session for those who weren't - bring your recording device.

Cajun Jam - Mark Marcin, Agi Ban, & Alan Senauke of the Midnite Ramblers

Mexican fiddle music - Learn to play and sing rancheras, polkas, valses, sones and more from the repertoire of La Familia Peña-Govea (Miguel Govea, Susan Peña, and Cecilia & Rene Peña-Govea). All instruments welcome!

KIDS - BUILD A TIN CAN BANJO!:

1:30pm-3pm: Stewart Port, luthier and instigator of the Tin Can Banjo Project, will be leading a "Build An Instrument" workshop for kids and families in the lobby - bring your own tin can! See pictures from 2011 here. 

visit the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention website

visit the Skillet Licorice website

visit the Lucy Wise website

visit the Jailhouse String Band facebook page