KOTMI Artists Directory
Carla Gover is an eighth-generation Kentuckian who hails from a small coal town in Eastern Kentucky, and her rural sensibilities permeate the work that she does and the music that she plays. A veteran of the folk scene, she has performed and recorded with such artists as Jean Ritchie, Mark Schatz, Dudley Connell, Stuart Duncan, Dirk Powell, Jesse Wells, Bruce Molsky, and many more.
CornMaiz is a nouveau old-time family string band featuring original music, traditional, old-time tunes from East Kentucky, and unique versions of some famous cover songs. Hailing from four different mountain counties, the band features clawhammer banjo, mandolin, guitar, bass, fiddle, and three part harmonies. Performances also include the exciting traditional Appalachian dance styles of flat-footing and clogging.
John Ryster builds custom Appalachian violins from his home shop in Hogtown Ridge in Rowan County, Kentucky. John learned how to build instruments from Tommy Case of Georgetown, Kentucky through the Kentucky Arts Council apprenticeship and has been busy building them for folks ever since. Musicians from all over the U.S. are proud owners of J. Ryster violins.
Brett Ratliff is a 2022 United States Artists Fellow in Traditional Arts. Ratliff teaches and performs traditional Appalachian musical styles and repertoire both at home and abroad, and has contributed to more than a dozen recordings, including for Smithsonian Folkways, June Appal Recordings, The Kentucky Center for Traditional Music, Old Town School of Folk Music, and The Oxford American.
James E. Webb Musical Repair and Sales has been a staple of the Stidham community since its opening in 1972. Though the little music shop was forced to shutter its doors in February 2022, it is now back up and running with the son of the original owner at the helm. The shop sells standard instrument accessories for guitars, fiddles, mandolins, banjos and more, as well as high-quality new and vintage instruments.
Blakeley received a Bachelor’s of Music (violin performance) from the University of Louisville and teaches traditional fiddle music across the state at institutions such as Cowan Creek Mountain Music School and Louisville Folk School. She has performed throughout the United States with acclaimed artists such as Grayson Jenkins, Britt Taylor, The Local Honeys, Bendigo Fletcher, War, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and Michael Bublé.
Rose and Vine, the duo of Andy Duckworth and Stephanie Jeter draw from the era of The Carter Family, Hank Williams, and the Stanley brothers, Rose and Vine deliver a classic repertoire with lean instrumentation upon which they lay rich harmonies. Their sound is both timeless and modern.
Well-known and widely respected as one of the leading experts of the mountain dulcimer, Sarah Kate Morgan is also a first-rate singer and songwriter. Her earthy and poetic lyrics embrace the highs and lows of southern Appalachian life while her voice does the same – moving between alto and soprano parts with ease. 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.
Rebecca Gayle Howell is a writer, translator, and editor. Her Best Book of the Year honors include those from The Best Translated Book Awards, Foreword INDIES Awards, The Nautilus Awards, The Sexton Prize (U.K.), The Banipal Prize (U.K.), Ms. Magazine, Book Riot, The Rumpus, and Poets & Writers. Among her other honors are the United States Artists Fellowship, the Carson McCullers Fellowship, the Pushcart Prize, and two winter fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.
Savannah Sipple is the author of WWJD & Other Poems (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2019), which was included on the American Library Association's Over the Rainbow Recommended LGBTQ Reading List. A writer from east Kentucky, her writing has been published in Salon, Go Magazine, Southern Cultures, Split This Rock, and other places. She is also the recipient of grants from the Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund and the Kentucky Foundation for Women.
The Local Honeys come from a long line of storytellers, a lineage of strong Kentucky women that aren’t afraid to tell it like it is. The narratives and landscapes they weave into song, the deep understanding and love they share for old time traditions, their undeniable charisma and charm, and their blatant disregard to follow the rules make it clear the duo is poised to become not only the defining voices of their home state of Kentucky but the defining voices of a new Appalachia.
Don Rogers is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His songs are deeply rooted in the landscape, music traditions and communities of rural Kentucky, giving musical life to the irony, beauty, struggles and hope that is all around. His music draws from those traditions as well as more recent musical creations to tell stories old and new that are relevant to the times we are living in, and using the musical stylings of his influences from old time, folk, country, and psychedelic rock.
John Haywood is an award winning artist, singer and banjo player from Floyd County, KY. As a child, he attended the Old Regular Baptist Church with his papaw, where he heard him sing the old unaccompanied songs of Zion. He was a Kentucky Folklife apprentice to Knott County banjo master, George Gibson. John can be heard on Tyler Childers 2020 album Long Violent History. He is also a visual artist whose work captures mountain history and music.
Paulina Vazquez is a dancer originally from Omaha, Nebraska, who has trained since the age of 3 in the classic Ballet Folklórico Mexicano dance style. Her mother’s family is from Mexico City, the fascinating and beautiful capitol. Her father is from San Miguel el Alto, which is in the state of Jalisco. She received training at the studio of her Aunt Magdalena Garcia, who owns El Museo Latino, the first Latino Art and History Museum and Cultural Center in the Midwest. Paulina currently lives in Lexington, KY.
Nadia Ramlagan
Nadia Ramlagan grew up in Maryland where she soaked up local music that included women folk singers such as Ola Belle Reed plus country, bluegrass and punk. After moving to Kentucky she served as a Kentucky Folklife apprentice to Brett Ratliff and performed with the High Tops and with the Possom Queens. Nadia has appeared on Red Barn Radio and festivals throughout the state and also taught banjo at the Nelsonville Old Time Week in Ohio.
Karly Dawn Milner, from Rowan County, Kentucky, began playing old time music after years of playing gospel and country music regionally. She performed with the Clack Mountain String Band and as a duo with Sarah Wood. Karly Dawn can be heard on Appalachia: Music from Home, Old Town School of Folk Music Songbook and Clack Mountain String Band Live. She spent many years working as the outreach musician for the Kentucky Folk Art Museum.
Joan is a percussionist and teacher. She has been playing percussion instruments for 20 years. Joan founded the drumming collectives, Sisters of the Sacred Drum and the Sacred Drum Ensemble. Joan teaches drumming empowerment classes for youth, enrichment circles for women and she facilitates workshops in a variety of settings to bring the power of percussion into community.
Jo Mackby is a photographer, dancer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist based in Lexington, KY. Jo has beautifully captured The Lexington Gathering over the years and has documented countless community jams, dances, and concerts featuring traditional music in Kentucky.
Fernando Moya
Fernando Moya is a tradition-bearer, musician, and instrument maker from Quito, Ecuador. He makes and plays traditional Andean flutes (zampoñas) as well as the charango, an Andean stringed instrument. Through his musical virtuosity and vast knowledge of the traditional music of the Andes, he shares the joy and beauty of his homeland with thousands of listeners throughout the US.
Jesse Wells was born into a family of multi-generational oldtime musicians. At age 5, he learned his first tunes on his father’s mandolin. He went on to study music at Morehead State University where he would eventually be one of the founding staff members of the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music (KCTM). Jesse has been the Music Archivist and an Instructor of Traditional Music at the KCTM since 2001. He also records and tours as a member of Tyler Childers’ band.
Nathan Kiser serves as Operations Manager at KCTM. He has performed oldtime music internationally from The Paramount Performing Arts Center, Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia to the Tianjin Music Conservatory in China. Nathan has also performed on the nationally distributed PBS series Song of The Mountains, Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour and Red Barn Radio. He currently tours as a member of New Beckham County Ramblers.
Monumentally influenced by traditional and old-time music with a touch of country, swing, blues, and jazz, Reel World's soulful songwriting and instrumental virtuosity make for American roots music with a rare fire and authenticity. With Sue Massek on banjo, Bev Futrell on guitar and harmonica, Karen Jones on fiddle, Elise Melrood on piano, and Sharon Ruble on bass, the band brings together classic fiddling, bluegrass harmonies, and a keen eye for lyrical detail.
Yani Vozos is a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (guitar, mandolin, charango, and sitar) from Kentucky. He performs original music in many styles ranging from acoustic latin- folk -rock rhythms to funky jazz grooves to traditional old- time folk and bluegrass. Yani writes music directly from his heart with the intention of sending out vibrations of love and joy to inspire people around the world.
Pam Oldfield Meade
Pam Oldfield Meade of Morgan County, Ky has been a working artist for 40 years. Color, shape and texture play an integral role in her painting and mixed media works which are informed by tradition, storytelling, personal experience and always by the place where she lives and works, White Oak, Ky. Many of her pieces are created with a palette of recycled and repurposed materials.
Sarah Wood is an old time banjo player and ballad singer from Flatwoods, Kentucky currently living in Flemingsburg. She teaches full time at Nicholas County High School and is a part time instructor at Morehead State University's Kentucky Center for Traditional Music were she offers private lessons for voice, banjo, and fiddle and leads vocal and introductory ensembles. She was recognized as a Kentucky Historical Society Banjo Master in 2009. Vocally, Sarah specializes in the ballads of Appalachia, Britain, and Ireland.
Randy Wilson is a 5th generation eastern Kentuckian who served as Hindman Settlement School’s Folk Arts Director for more than 30 years teaching Appalachian folk songs, dances, and stories to secondary students in the region, and producing a weekly radio program. He continues to call dances, teach banjo and dulcimer, and perform in a wide variety of venues from festivals to house concerts. Randy’s albums include Banjo Journey, Get Up You Tugboat (Original children’s songs), Dirt Road, Dark Night (original mountain blues), and a Christmas collection of traditional and original songs.