Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Gabe Strand is a musician and woodworker in Brasstown, NC. The banjo pictured is handmade by Gabe.

Banjo handmade by Gabe Strand

Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Gabe Strand is a musician and woodworker in Brasstown, NC. The banjo pictured is handmade by Gabe.

Lindsey Liden and wife Sienna Shute. Lindsey is a banjo builder in Brasstown, NC and built the banjo he’s holding in this photo. Sienna is a potter and is clay coordinator at John C Campbell Folk School.

Banjo built by Lindsey Liden (Mulheron Banjos). Everyone who plays this banjo comments that it is one of the sweetest sounding banjos on the planet. Lindsey also teaches banjo building workshops out of his shop. Classes are a week long and you go home with your own hand made banjo.

Lindsey Liden (Mulheron Banjos) holding his self made banjo on land that has been in his family since the late 1880s.

T-Claw is living the dream, playing tunes every day, organizing community dances, building instruments, and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains as part of his work as John C Campbell's Music Events Coordinator.T Claw is excited about what www.clawandfoot.com.com has to offer and will have to offer.

Most fiddles are finished with shellac, a resin secreted by the female lac bug on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. Strings used to be made of “catgut”, which despite the name was typically made from sheep or goat intestines. The bow has horse hair. Many bits of flora and fauna contribute to the melodies played on the Fiddle.

T-Claw is living the dream, playing tunes every day, organizing community dances, building instruments, and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains as part of his work as John C Campbell's Music Events Coordinator.T Claw is excited about what www.clawandfoot.com has to offer and will have to offer.

T-Claw and wife Bridget play as a duo.T-Claw is living the dream, playing tunes every day, organizing community dances, building instruments, and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains as part of his work as John C Campbell's Music Events Coordinator.T Claw is excited about what www.clawandfoot.com has to offer and will have to offer.

Charmaine SlavenSquirrel Butter, married duo of Charlie Beck & Charmaine Slaven, started performing together after meeting at a music festival in 2005. Sharing a deep love of traditional music, they explore the genres of old-time, bluegrass, blues, country, & cajun while adding their unique perspective to these traditions and threading these influences into their original compositions. Multi-instrumentalists, they collectively play banjo, guitar, fiddle, steel guitar, step-dance, and sing in harmony. Currently, both are members of honky-tonk band, Hello Trouble, and half of venerable string band, The Tallboys. They recently moved their family from the Pacific Northwest to Southern Appalachia to work at the John C Campbell Folk School. They have quickly become anchors of the old-time music, honky-tonk, & dance communities in Brasstown, NC and beyond.

Charmaine Slaven plays a custom built acoustic guitar made by Devin Champlin. It is his 18th guitar and is Squirrel Butter themed with inlays of nuts, paw tracks and a pearly silhouette of a squirrel on the headstock.

Charlie Beck Squirrel Butter, married duo of Charlie Beck & Charmaine Slaven, started performing together after meeting at a music festival in 2005. Sharing a deep love of traditional music, they explore the genres of old-time, bluegrass, blues, country, & cajun while adding their unique perspective to these traditions and threading these influences into their original compositions. Multi-instrumentalists, they collectively play banjo, guitar, fiddle, steel guitar, step-dance, and sing in harmony. Currently, both are members of honky-tonk band, Hello Trouble, and half of venerable string band, The Tallboys. They recently moved their family from the Pacific Northwest to Southern Appalachia to work at the John C Campbell Folk School. They have quickly become anchors of the old-time music, honky-tonk, & dance communities in Brasstown, NC and beyond.

Charlie Beck plays a well-worn Gibson RB-2 style 5 string banjo.

Squirrel Butter, married duo of Charlie Beck & Charmaine Slaven, started performing together after meeting at a music festival in 2005. Sharing a deep love of traditional music, they explore the genres of old-time, bluegrass, blues, country, & cajun while adding their unique perspective to these traditions and threading these influences into their original compositions. Multi-instrumentalists, they collectively play banjo, guitar, fiddle, steel guitar, step-dance, and sing in harmony. Currently, both are members of honky-tonk band, Hello Trouble, and half of venerable string band, The Tallboys. They recently moved their family from the Pacific Northwest to Southern Appalachia to work at the John C Campbell Folk School. They have quickly become anchors of the old-time music, honky-tonk, & dance communities in Brasstown, NC and beyond.

_06A1112-Edit.jpgMartha OwenA fiber artist and banjo player who raises sheep in Martin's Creek, NC. She has been teaching spinning, natural dyeing and knitting design since 1984; and is the resident fiber artist at John C. Campbell Folk School.Her banjo is handmade by her son Lindsey Liden, Mulheron Banjos.

_06A1154-Edit.jpgMartha OwenA fiber artist and banjo player who raises sheep in Martin's Creek, NC. She has been teaching spinning, natural dyeing and knitting design since 1984; and is the resident fiber artist at John C. Campbell Folk School.Her banjo is handmade by her son Lindsey Liden, Mulheron Banjos.

_06A1120-Edit.jpgMartha OwenA fiber artist and banjo player who raises sheep in Martin's Creek, NC. She has been teaching spinning, natural dyeing and knitting design since 1984; and is the resident fiber artist at John C. Campbell Folk School.Her banjo is handmade by her son Lindsey Liden, Mulheron Banjos.

_06A1217-Edit.jpgMartha Owen and husband David Liden

_06A1051-Edit.jpgMartha Owen's sheep

_06A1223-Edit.jpgMartha Owen and husband David Liden