The performing arts series at shepherd university 2018 - 2019 season calendar

Adam Booth

Adam Booth’s storytelling blends traditional folklore, music and the stories of Appalachia in an original voice that has earned him master artist spots at the International Storytelling Center, the National Storytelling Festival, and at festivals across the country in more than 17 states. He is the founding director of the Speak Story Series in Shepherdstown who teaches in the Appalachian Studies program at Shepherd.

Doris Fields (Lady D) and Xavier Oglesby

Doris Fields, also known as Lady D and “West Virginia’s First Lady of Soul” is a master soul and blues musician and songwriter living in Beckley. The daughter of a coal miner, she has grown up steeped in the African-American traditions of West Virginia. She is the founder and organizer of West Virginia’s Simply Jazz and Blues Festival. In 2008, Fields’ original song “Go Higher” was selected to be performed at President Barack Obama’s inauguration ball. Last year Lady D was chosen to be part of the West Virginia Humanities Council’s Folklife Apprenticeship program as a master artist to share her knowledge of blues and gospel with singer and Xavier Oglesby.

Robert Mitchell and Nick Blanton

Bringing music from the Scottish Isles, Bob Mitchell is an accomplished studio musician with over thirty years experience performing on the Great Highland Bagpipes and the Scottish Small Pipes. He was the Founder and Piper Major of Dunloggin Pipes and Drums Band for 25 years and played with the Pan-Celtic Folk Band IONA. In 2004 Bob was the recipient of the Maryland Traditions Folk Arts and Culture Apprenticeship Award as a Master in the Art of Piobaireachd, the classical music of the Scottish Bagpipe. He apprenticed with the great John MacFadyen in Scotland, one of the vital links in the chain of teachers and pupils reaching back to the 16th century. Nick Blanton is a master instrument maker who builds custom hammered dulcimers. He is also a fantastic musician who has performed on studio recordings and live concerts with dozens of different ensembles.

The Modock Rounders

The Modock Rounders, a traditional stringband from West Virginia’s Kanawha Valley, and they are keeping hot the fires of the Mountain State’s fiddling heritage featuring Kim Johnson, Jesse Pearson, and Cody Jordan. Jesse is an award-winning fiddler from Point Pleasant, WV, who learned to play from visits with local masters Bobby Taylor, Franklin George, John Morris, and Terry Vaughn, Cody Jordan is also an award-winning fiddler from Point Pleasant, WV who has been playing the guitar since before he and Jesse met in middle school. He is also an outstanding singer influenced by Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz, Roscoe Holcomb, and Ralph Stanley, Kim Johnson is a true American treasure who has been playing clawhammer banjo since the 1970s when fiddler Wilson Douglas took her under his wing and taught her everything he knew. Since then she has played with some of the most highly influential West Virginia fiddlers of the last 40 years.