Shana Aisenberg mandolin, guitar, old-time banjo
Shana Aisenberg is a nationally recognized multi-instrumentalist, playing, composing, recording, and teaching diverse acoustic roots styles from traditional southern Appalachian and Celtic, to eastern European Klezmer, bottleneck blues and jazz. She has been a national flatpicking champion.
Kevin Caron old-time banjo
Melissa Bragdon Caron fiddle
Melissa is a Maine-based fiddler known for playing and teaching many different styles of music. Classically trained, she received a degree in Music Education at the University of Maine and has experience teaching string programs and general music at various grade levels in the Maine public schools. Melissa has been a member of the Portland-based bluegrass band Jerks of Grass since 2006 and also plays with the old-time band Sugar Hill. She recently recorded an album, "Stuff That Works," with Fiddlers Three. Melissa is co-director of the New Hampshire Fiddle Ensemble, a non-profit organization that supports community by bringing together a large group of musicians of all ages to learn and perform different styles of music. Melissa was greatly involved in the development of 317 Main Community Music Center in Yarmouth, Maine, where she taught fiddle and acoustic ensembles for twelve years. Melissa also teaches at her studio in Scarborough, Maine.
Isa Burke fiddle, guitar
Isa is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, improviser, producer, and songwriter based in Portland, Maine. Using electric and acoustic guitars, fiddle, banjo, voice, and sometimes other instruments, she creates music that draws from traditional folk, modern indie-rock, and beyond. Raised in a musical family in Maine, Isa came up through the Northeast's thriving folk music community, studying at Berklee College of Music and playing in tiny basement clubs around Boston and Cambridge. She spent the first years of her music career as one-third of the band Lula Wiles, which toured internationally and released three albums and an EP on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Isa is spending 2022 touring as a member of Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Aoife O'Donovan's backing band, and has also appeared onstage and on recordings with dozens of other artists. A diehard collaborator, she enjoys nothing more than the interlocking of harmony vocals, of guitar and drums, of banjo and fiddle. She is also an experienced educator, teaching classes and workshops in fiddle, guitar, harmony singing, ensemble playing, ear training, music theory, and songwriting.
Susie Burke vocals, guitar
Susie has a vocal style that is at once stunning and heartfelt. "Burke displays a gift for pulling honest emotional chords--all too rare in these clever and cynical times." (Scott Alarik, Boston Globe)
Bruce Carlson pedal steel guitar
Bruce adds strong jamming skills to the mix, plus he plays the elusive pedal steel guitar (lessons provided also). We let one electric instrument squeak in because he's Ellen’s brother!
Darrell Carlson Country, Bluegrass, Swing, Rock guitar, vocals
Darrell has been playing guitar and singing since he was nine years old. He started a band when he was twelve and his sister Ellen and brother Bruce joined in along with some neighborhood kids. Not only has he played with bands in Connecticut and New Hampshire, but he jams into the wee hours playing everything from country to rock to blues welcoming players of all levels.
Ellen Carlson fiddle, hamboning
Fiddler Ellen Carlson has a strong grasp on several musical genres. She has played with bluegrass, swing, western swing, country, Irish and square dance bands. Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine gave her a coveted highlight review for her solo album "People I Play With" as well as three excellent reviews for her band High Range, calling her "a talented musician." She teaches at numerous festivals and workshops including Fiddle Hell, Grey Fox, Joe Val, and Pemi Valley. She started and leads the NH Fiddle Ensemble (featured on WMUR's Chronicle) with over 100 members. She is a member of the NH State Council on the Arts Teaching Roster.
Flynn Cohen guitar, mandolin
Acoustic Guitar and mandolin player Flynn Cohen has performed all over the world with many notable acts in traditional and contemporary acoustic music. He can be seen in concert with the American folk band LOW LILY (formerly known as Annalivia), and legendary Irish Accordion player John Whelan, as well as duo shows playing music from his four solo albums. A former guitar student of John Renbourn, Davey Graham, Scott Nygaard, and Paul Binkley, Flynn has degrees in Music from Dartington College of Arts in Devon, England and at Mills College in Oakland, California. He taught for many years in the Music Departments at Keene State College in New Hampshire and Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts and is currently an online guitar instructor with Peghead Nation.
Kris Day bass
Kris is most recognizable as a member of the New England roots music scene. He's spent the last 30 years as a member of rockabilly quartet King Memphis and over a decade as bassist for bluegrass favorites Jerks of Grass and Travis-picking guitar slinger Sean Mencher and his Rhythm Kings. Kris has performed in 38 states, Canada and Europe holding down the low end for rock n' roll legends Link Wray, Dale Hawkins, Ronnie Dawson, Sleepy LaBeef and Joe Clay as well as performing with an array of artists ranging from bluegrass mandolin hero Matt Flinner to Brazilian singer Celia Vaz to Gypsy Jazz guitarist Stephane Wrembel (as a member of Hot Club of Portland). For the last 20 years Kris has spent his days teaching music at Buckdancers Choice in Portland, Maine and his nights performing live in and around New England.
Scott Hopkins banjo
Scott became interested in bluegrass and banjo music by listening to recordings of Flatt & Scruggs and The Stanley Brothers that his dad played while he was growing up. At 15 years old, Scott started taking private banjo lessons and joined the school band on the tuba to fully immerse himself in the study of music.
As a tubist, Scott received a bachelors of music education degree from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam and a masters degree of music education from the University of Connecticut. He won the Crane Concerto Competition on the tuba in 1995, but kept his banjo nearby at all times. Since his college days, he has played banjo with a number of bands in New York State and Vermont over the years. In 2013, Scott released an acclaimed solo banjo recording, using his skills as player, composer, arranger, producer and engineer.
He currently teaches 5-12 Band at Duanesburg Central School District just west of Albany, NY, performs with The McKrells throughout the year, the Upstate Bluegrass Band at the Saratoga Race Track during summer months, teaches Wernick Method Bluegrass Jam Camps, teaches at Music Camps North, conducts the Empire State Youth Orchestra's Concertino Brass Ensemble, and has a studio of private in-person and virtual banjo students. Scott joined the Caffe Lena School of Music as a banjo instructor in the fall of 2022 and has a number of dates with his new group The Scott Hopkins Jazz Trio in 2023!
Paul Hubert guitar
Paul has performed extensively as a solo artist on classical guitar and as a singer/songwriter. He is the guitarist extraordinaire with the NH-based band The Buskers, featuring tasteful finger-style guitar to blues-to-the-metal rock licks. He has produced three solo recordings and is featured on several other recordings and has an ongoing relationship with the New Hampshire Very Special Arts program.
Carter Logan banjo, dobro
Carter is a founding member of the Maine-based bluegrass band "Jerks of Grass" and has played with the group for 25 years. He is a veteran of the acoustic music scene in New England. When he's not busy teaching music, performing or practicing, he enjoys spending time with his daughter Sarah when she's home from college. He studied music at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Carter teaches at 317 Main Community Music Center and is often referred to as "317 Main's Ambassador of Fun." Carter has taught at our camp before and we are excited to have him back.
Mitch Reed fiddle
"I am a multi-instrumentalist, traditional music instructor, and storyteller. Born in Bayou Vista, raised in Lafayette by musicians and storytellers from Mamou, at 15 I began playing the fiddle and studying traditional Cajun and Creole music. By 17 I toured as a cultural ambassador in Smithsonian Institution Office of Folklife Programs, and have continued to work with them since 1989. During my career, I have played alongside Louisiana greats such as Canray Fontenot, Bois Sec Ardoin, Charles Neville, and George Porter. I have performed on four Grammy Nominated albums, and in 2009 I was awarded a Grammy with BeauSoleil for the album 'Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.' Over the years I have built an extensive repertoire and learned an old style of playing which is evident in my sound today."
- Mitch Reed
Steve Roy bass, mandolin, fun-meister
Steve Roy has toured on bass with bluegrass fiddler Laurie Lewis, Hit and Run Bluegrass and was a member of High Range. He currently plays with the Stowaways and Erica Brown and leads the bluegrass jam in Dover.
Kathy Sommer
Fiddle, Fiddleheads Jam Camp Original Co-Organizer for over 22 years and an inspiration to many of our campers (including Ellen and Melissa!)
Kathy plays fiddle, electric violin, mandolin, and sings with the band The Buskers, a wild and fun, folky and funky band based in NH, and performs with Northern NY musicians as Yellow Moon Jazz. She is adept at folk, swing and jazz, and has tried her hand at the Latin jazz scene as well. You can catch her performing across state lines, traveling with The Buskers or playing a variety of gigs in northern NY, including the Northern Lights Orchestra. She also has played many years for New England contra and square dances, was a member of The Fiddleheads Band, and Sweet, Red, Hot, and Sassy, and gives fiddle workshops in NH and NY.
Tony Trischka, banjo
Denny Breau, guitar
Amanda Kowalski, bass
Woody Pringle, old-time banjo
Bob Kordas, banjo, resophonic guitar (dobro)
Alan Epstein, mandolin
Byron Berline, fiddle
David Greely, Cajun fiddle
Andrea Larson, Swedish
Andrew VanNorstrand, fiddle, mandolin, guitar
Jason Anick, fiddle, mandolin
Erica Brown, fiddle
Bob Amos, banjo, guitar, songwriting
Jim Prendergast, guitar, Irish
Matt Glaser, fiddle
Darol Anger, fiddle
Joyce Andersen, fiddle and vocals
Harvey Reid, guitar and vocals
Matt Shipman, guitar, bass, mandolin
Rodney Miller, the great contradance fiddler
David Surrette, folk and bluegrass, guitar and mandolin
Ryan Thomson, fiddle, accordion, penny whistle, dance
Donna Hebert, fiddle
Liza Constable, guitar, vocals
Paul Bourgelais, guitar
Nancy Harrowitz, vocals
Diane Kordas, bass, vocals, song writing
Todd Jones, guitar, banjo, vocals, song writing
Skip Gorman, mandolin and cowboy historian
August Watters, guitar, bass, mandolin, vocals
Dave Talmage, banjo, fiddle
Sue Hunt, piano, accordion and Calling
Peter Stillwagon, guitar
Fiddleheads Acoustic Jam Camp
PO Box 77
Nottingham, NH 03290