The Shadow
Mark your calendars! On Saturday, September 10th from 10 AM to 5 PM, the Freshwater Folk Festival will take place at the White Sulphur Springs National Fish Hatchery! It’ll be a fantastic day of fun for the whole family with live music by Richard Hefner and The Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys, The Sea The Sea, Kipyn Martin, Jim Snyder, and The Rust Brothers. There will be food and crafts; a bounce house and pony rides for the kiddos, exhibits; hands-on educational activities designed to foster understanding, appreciation and conservation of freshwater resources; and some surprises! It is also a celebration of the rich culture and natural history of West Virginia. Admission is FREE!
Displays, demonstrations, and hands-on activities will range from wildlife presentations and scientific phenomena to educational exhibits and will be offered by groups such as the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Hanging Rocks Raptor Observatory, the US Forest Service, WVSOM students, and Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society. Tours of the fish hatchery will also be available. Jessica Levine will lead participants in an environmental art activity, and astronomer Michael Rosalina will be there with his solar telescope so festivalgoers can view sunspot activity, which is reaching a maximum this decade.
The day’s music will kick off with The Rust Brothers at 10 AM. The Rust Brothers are George Piasecki on bass, Jim Wright on guitar and vocals, and Bob Ducharme on vocals, guitar and guitjo. They perform music that they like, ranging from oldies to folk and pop with a bit of rock’n roll and blues tossed in, and they do it in a back porch, parlor, good-time kind of way. As DuCharme says, “Fun first, and lastly!”
At 11 AM, singer-songwriter Jim Snyder will perform. Snyder has been playing guitar and singing since he was a boy. His music runs the gamut from folk, rock, and gospel to blues and bluegrass. Besides being a performing artist, he is also the Director of the WV Winter Music Festival and the D Street Art & Music Series. He’ll be joined by bassist Bob Riggleman and percussionist Scott Logsdon.
From 12:15 to 1:30 PM, Kipyn Martin will take the stage. Martin is an emerging Indie Folk singer-songwriter whose roots sink deep into the banks of the Shenandoah River. She is a three-time winner of the coveted Gold Award in the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, was the Washington Area Music Association’s WAMMIE Award winner for New Artist of the Year in 2015, a Gold Award winner at the international United Kingdom Song Contest, and has had multiple WAMMIE nominations for Songwriter of the Year and Folk Contemporary Vocalist. To date, she has released two CDs – Dance Across the Sky and Undercover Muse.
Martin tours the country performing, and also teaches guitar, piano, voice, ukulele and songwriting! She is blessed with an incredible voice. Karin Fuller of the Charleston Gazette says “Kipyn is something else” and has the purest voice she’s ever heard. And, WV writer, Ginger Hamilton Caudill, wrote this about Martin: “Every so often, musical magic happens. You know it when you hear it. To say Kipyn’s voice is angelic is an understatement, a cliché almost too tired to stand, and yet that is precisely how it must be defined.” Kipyn Martin is one of those artists whose music casts a spell and brings a hush over the audience.
Chuck and Mira Costa are The Sea The Sea – an indie folk-pop duo from Upstate New York. They’ll be on stage from 1:45 PM to 3:15 PM. Winners of the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival, The Sea The Sea is known for stunning vocal harmonies and creative song arrangements. Not surprising, since both Chuck and Mira are award-winning songwriters.
Mira combines her extensive training in dance, theater, and music with the folky roots she cultivated growing up in the wings of Mountain Stage as the daughter of its musical director, Ron Sowell.
Before meeting Mira, Chuck toured the festival and coffeehouse circuit for years as a solo artist and independently released five albums. He garnered many songwriting accolades over the years (Rocky Mountain Folks Fest, Falcon Ridge “Most Wanted,” Telluride Bluegrass Troubadour.)
Their latest CD release, Stumbling Home, was dubbed “otherworldly” by Rolling Stone. Previous releases – Love We Are We Love, In the Altogether, and From the Light – were praised by NPR, American Songwriter, No Depression, and others. And, the animated video for their song “Waiting” sparked viral interest from Buzzfeed and Pitchfork, as well as inclusion at the international TED 2015 conference. On Spotify, their music has gathered over 20 million streams to-date! Don’t miss these modern-day troubadours!
From 3:30 PM to 5 PM, legendary banjo player, Richard Hefner, will be onstage with his band, The Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys. This band is one of West Virginia’s longest-standing bluegrass bands, having been around for over fifty years. Members have changed, but Hefner put the band together and leads it still. The Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys have released several albums and performed at countless venues and festivals. Hefner’s dynamic banjo style has won him many awards, and his lead vocals give the band that “high lonesome” sound for which it’s known.
Multi-instrumentalist Dave Bing plays fiddle, banjo and guitar. His family band, The Bing Brothers, is a proud recipient of West Virginia’s highest folklife honor, the Vandalia Award, which recognizes artists for their lifelong contributions to West Virginia folklife and traditional culture. Dave Bing has traveled the world sharing his music.
Fiddler, Blaine Sprouse, is one of the top fiddlers in the US today. Sprouse began his career as a teenager, playing with the “King of Bluegrass,” Jimmy Martin. Since then, he has played and recorded with top Bluegrass artists including the Osborne Brothers, Bill Monroe, The Dreadful Snakes featuring Bela Fleck, and many more.
As for Joanna Burt-Kinderman, she’s the stand-up bass player. Hefner has known her since she was born. She grew up listening to his banjo playing, and then one day picked up the bass in his living room and started plucking away. Hefner encouraged her to continue, teaching her along the way, and now she’s a member of his band! Make sure you’re sittin’ in the front row and ready to dance when this blazin’ Bluegrass band takes the stage at the Freshwater Folk Festival!
So, please join us on September 10th at the White Sulphur Springs National Fish Hatchery, 400 E Main Street, White Sulphur Springs WV. Admission is FREE! For more info, call 304-646-0602 or visit www.freshwaterfolkfestival.org or Freshwater Folk Festival on Facebook. And, follow us on Instagram at freshwater.folk.festival!
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| The Sea The Sea |
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| Kipyn Martin |
