Musicians from across Appalachia will perform at the 27th Celebration of Traditional Music Oct. 26-28 at Berea College.

Featuring old-time playing, singing and dancing, the annual event sponsored by the College's Appalachian Center will also feature a symposium on "Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier" led by Alan Jabbour, musicologist, fiddler and founding director of the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress.

Friday and Saturday evening concerts featuring festival musicians are key events of the weekend. Both concerts are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Phelps-Stokes Chapel.

Lee Sexton and his wife, Opall

Performers include Letcher County banjo master Lee Sexton, a recipient of the Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts; traditional singer Ginny Hawker; duoDonovan Cain, of Knox County and fiddler Tricia Kilby of Ashe County, N.C.; Ed Cabbell of Morgantown, W. Va; the Haywood County Ramblers, a North Carolina stringband; sister-trio the Dowden Sisters from Leister, N.C.; The Last Old Man (Larry Rader, Tracy Schwarz and Jim Costa), master musicians from West Virginia; Mary Greene, Cecil Gurganus and Ora Watson of western North Carolina; and blues guitarist Sparky Ruckerfrom northwest Tennessee. Kentucky fiddler Art Stamper, who was originally scheduled to perform at the Celebration, will not be appearing due to illness.

Square dancing, with music by the Haywood County Ramblers, will follow Friday evening's concert and begin at approximately 10 p.m. in the Activities Room of the Alumni Bldg. Following Saturday's concert, a contra dance is scheduled at the Acton Folk Center.

Activities on Saturday are scheduled in the Woods-Penniman Commons. Festival musicians will hold individual sessions throughout the day from 10 a.m. - 3:30, to which musicians are welcome to bring their instruments and join in the music-making. The symposium is scheduled from 2 - 4 p.m. Capping the afternoon will be an Open Stage and Jam session at 4 o'clock.

On Sunday morning, at 9 o'clock, participants can take part in a concluding concert of religious music by festival musicians and others in Union Church.

Jabbour, who served as American Folklife Center director for 23 years before retiring in 1999, has been researching and recording instrumental folk music since he was a graduate student in the 1960s. He has published widely on the subject of folklore and folklife, and also has been featured on recordings and in numerous festivals and concerts as a performer on the fiddle. "Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier," explores the history and evolution of fiddle music and fiddle styles of the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia - the "old frontier" of America's westward expansion. Additional information on Jabbour and the multi-format ethnographic field collection of the same name can be found at http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/hrhtml/hrhome.html.

Concert admission Friday and Saturday evenings are $7 for adults and $3.50 for children and youth ages 10-17. Tickets can be purchased at the door. All other festival events are free. The celebration is made possible in part by a grant from the Kentucky Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. For additional information and a complete schedule contact the Berea College Appalachian Center at 606-985-3140 or email: .

Festival Musicians for the 2001 Celebration of Traditional Music

Lee Sexton to perform at Traditional Music Festival

Lee Sexton - Kentucky Banjo player from Line Fork in Letcher County, Sexton is a recipient of the Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. His first CD is due out soon from June Appal Recordings.

Donavan Cain and Tricia Kilby: Donavan is from Knox County, KY and

plays guitar, banjo, and sings. He has a wide range of styles and does some great union-organizing songs. Tricia Kilby is an old-time banjo player from Ashe County, NC. At age 22 she has one second place in the Galax old-time banjo competition among many others.

The Haywood County Ramblers are a lively stringband from Haywood county, NC and they will be playing the friday night square-dance in addition to their other scheduled performances.

The Dowden Sisters are a sister-trio act from Leister, NC and play a range from Celtic folk songs to traditional Appalachian ballads and hot fiddle tunes. Ginny Hawker is a very well-known Appalachian Singer who has performed widely with Kay Justice, Hazel Dickens and her husband Tracy Schwarz. She does old ballads through Carter family material.

The Last Old Man consists of Larry Rader, Tracy Schwarz, and Jim Costa, all master West Virginia musicians who play independently as well as together.

Mary Greene, Cecil Gurganus, and Ora Watson are from Western North Carolina and play together around that area. Ora is a relative of Doc Watson and in her eighties has taken up her fiddle again to perform a few shows with her friends.

Ed Cabbell is a tradition-barer who performs traditional African-American tunes and gospel songs from West Virginia.

Sparky Rucker is a blues guitarist from Northeast Tennessee who has been one of the most requested musicians playing at the festival for many years.

Eastern Kentucky fiddler Art Stamper, who was originally scheduled, will not be performng at this year's celebration because of illness.