More About Me

I grew up in north Arkansas listening to the stories and tunes of local Ozark musicians. Even as a small child I started to gain an interest in the history and culture of old-time music in addition to the tunes themselves. As years went by, my interest expanded to other styles from the eastern United States and eventually to Scottish, Irish, and English tunes where so much of the local tradition I knew came from. Over the last sixteen years, I've collected, performed, and taught hundreds of tunes from the Ozark and Appalachian mountains and beyond.

I got my start performing and teaching at the Ozark Folk Center State Park in 2009, and was named Performer of the Year in 2011. I have both won and judged the Arkansas State Old-Time Fiddle and Banjo Championships multiple times, and was awarded the J. Mulkey Kent Award for authentic Ozark-style performance in 2014. My proudest achievements, however, have been those that have made old-time music more accessible. In college I was fortunate enough to get to work with Arkansas River Valley Montessori's folk music program in Little Rock, Arkansas for several years and introduce teenage students to old-time music on fiddle, banjo, guitar, and more. During this time, I was also transcribing 500 fiddle tunes that had been published as audio CDs by Ozark fiddler Billy Mathews. Although I primarily learn and teach by ear, I wanted to make this collection available to students who learn best with the aid of notation.

While old-time music has traditionally been learned by ear, I find that tab and notation can be useful tools to help some students learn tunes and concepts more easily. I work with each student to decide what mix of learning methods will work best to meet their goals, and provide a video recap after each lesson.

I use Zoom for all lessons and bill monthly via PayPal; if you need any help setting up Zoom or PayPal please let me know! I recommend weekly 30 minute lessons for most students, for $80/month. If you feel like you need more time, I can also schedule two 30 minute lessons per week or an hour long lesson each week for $160/month.