Featured Artists:

Annoying Instrument Orchestra
Austin Mandolin Orchestra	Austin Mandolin Orchestra is dedicated to performing traditional and original works. We seek to nurture the community of mandolin players in central Texas and to provide unique educational and performance opportunities for mandolin enthusiasts. Joel Hobbs at 512/217-9970 or joelhNOSPAM@hyoshi.com (remove "NOSPAM" before sending email)
Beaumont LaGrange
Bourrée Texane	Bourrée Texane plays mostly French folk music from southern and central France, Brittany, Québec and Louisiana. Bourrée is the name of an old French folk dance. Our instrumentation includes accordions, hurdy-gurdy, fiddle, dulcitare, drums and percussion, vocals. Bourrée Texane is Serge Laîné, Lisa Whatley, and Glenn Ríos. Contact: Serge Laîné serge@poormansfortune.com
Boxcar Preachers	Boxcar Preachers is a plucky little string band from Austin, Texas and is made up of a tight-knit consortium of pundits, poets and preachers that are on this earth to clear out your cloud-addled mind. With a sound having been compared to The Gourds, Steve Earle, and the Pogues–with ample harmonies and water tight arrangements, we're sure you'll be sated–if'n you're here to be saved, musically speaking.
Brian Turner & the Redneck Band	Email Brian Turner texagg@austin.rr.com
Brobdingnagian Bards	The Brobdingnagian Bards (pronounced brAHb'ding-näg-EE-en) are The Original Celtic Renaissance duo combining unique instrumentation (autoharp, recorder & mandolin) that'll leave you hungry for more: Celtic drinking songs for breakfast; fantasy, filk and dragon sandwiches for lunch; and an extra helping of JRR Tolkien-esque instrumentals for dinner.
Catavento	"If Catavento translates as "wind-catcher" then this talented quartet is a sublime mix of musical breezes blowing in from all parts of Latin America. No other group in Austin covers the spectrum of Latin music as does Catavento. Like a cool breeze on a hot summer night, you can sit back and enjoy it or you can get up and dance in it."—Michael Crockett, host of KUT-FM's "Horizontes" Latin music program
Chaski	Chaski performs and records Latin American folk music that features traditional instruments, colorful costumes, cultural insight, Andean dances, and audience participation. Instruments include flute, zampoñas (panpipes), quena, harp, cuatro, guitar, charango, bombo, maracas, and more.
Czech Melody Masters	Bringing together over 50 years of combined musicianship, the Czech Melody Masters are proud to bring the best in Czech polka and waltz music to Texas and the world via live performances, recordings and the World Wide Web. The Czech Melody Masters originally were formed in 1994 as the Dancehall Boys. During the 4 1/2 years that the Dancehall Boys were together, the band won the prestigious Horizon Award for Best New Polka Band from the Texas Polka Music Awards. The band also performed at Texas' premier Czech dancehalls and festivals, including Westfest, Caldwell Kolache Festival, National Polka Festival at Ennis and the world-famous South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin. The band also released 3 albums, Behind the Blacksmith Shop, Back to Moravia and An Evening in Dubina. In 1999, the band reformed as the Czech Melody Masters. As with the Dancehall Boys, in addition to a lively blend of polkas and waltzes, the Czech Melody Masters bring audiences an exciting blend of old-time country, western swing, big band and slow-time tunes. The band is committed to keeping alive the brass band and swing tradition of the best of the early Czech bands, such as the Pateks, Adolph Hofner, Bacova Ceska Kapela and Lee Roy Matocha. The band members take great efforts to revive many long-lost Czech folk songs, including re-writing faded musical scores, restoring well-known classics to their original complete versions and transcribing arrangements from scratchy 78's and out-of-print LPs. In additon to being Austin's only authentic Czech polka band, the Czech Melody Masters were the first Czech band in the in the world to host their own website on the WWW.
Double Eagle String Band
Django's Moustache	Django's Moustache is a trio whose love of gypsy jazz mixes in with their Texas roots music. The result is exuberant and exhilarating, the celebration of a cultural mix which seems perfectly natural to Tony Airoldi, Larry Pollock and Fletcher Clark, friends since the early Seventies in Austin.
Heather Gilmer & Jeff Moore	Heather Gilmer & Jeff Moore are a traditional Irish music duo, specializing in a variety of tunes and songs that extend beyond the average dose of jigs and reels commonly found within the genre. Particularly interested in dance music from the Sliabh Luachra region of Ireland, they include in their repertoire a generous helping of slides, polkas, hornpipes and slip jigs.
The Gray Sky Boys	The Gray Sky Boys are Robert Griffith (guitar and vocals), Jeff Large (banjo), Tom Ellis (bass and vocals), Tim Wilson (mandolin and vocals), and Jerry Hill (fiddle). These boys play some great brother duet style bluegrass like it was done in an earlier time. They are old friends who have been around a while and love what they do. If you like old-style bluegrass, you'll love this band!
Marc Gunn	Bard Marc Gunn is a folk music singer & songwriter performing traditional Irish and Scottish songs and comical folk music on autoharp. He writes poetry about nature, relationships, love and comedy and loves to take pictures of people and their environment in Austin and Italy. Marc maintains several websites and newsletters featuring free MP3s, poetry, and pictures, but he is perhaps best known as the lead singer for the Celtic MP3 supergroup, the Brobdingnagian Bards.
Mark Gilston MySpace
Max Zimmet
Therese Honey	Therese Honey is a specialist in Celtic and Early harps, with a background in classical pedal harp.Therese tours throughout the United States and in 1997 she performed at the 20th Annual Carolan Festival in Keadue, Co. Roscommon, Ireland.She is a two time first-place winner of the Gulf Coast Celtic Harp Competition and has performed with the Chieftans. Therese performs early music in the Houston area as well as with the Texas Early Music Project (TEMP). She presents concerts of medieval and Renaissance music on reproductions of historical harps and also traditional Celtic music. She performs with Wyndnwyre, with an emphasis on the traditional music of Ireland, Scotland and Wales and 13th-century Medieval music. thoney@flash.net
Igrati	Igrati specializes in a variety of mostly European folk music including Croatian, Serbian, Hungarian, Rom (Gypsy), Greek, and Bulgarian. Igrati means to play. Our instrumentation includes fiddle, clarinet, saz, guitar, dumbek, bass, vocals, accordion, mandolin, hurdy-gurdy and penny-whistle. Igrati is Andy Balinsky, Leslie Gompf, Yoshimi Masuo, Joane Rylander, Eric Vormelker and Don Weeda. We occasionally play for Austin International Folk Dancing on Saturday nights at the Hancock Recreation Center. Contact: Eric Volmelker
Sarah Jarosz
Lost and Nameless Orchestra MySpace
Lost Klezmer Ramblers	Lost Klezmer Ramblers is a loose conglomeration of stellar members of several other Austin area bands, including Tosca, Victrola, Cerronato, Rubinchik's Yiddishe Ensemble, 1001 Nights Orchestra, Slavadillo and many others others. Its members include Ben Saffer (clarinet), Don Weeda (accordion), Eric Vormelker (bass), Lisa Schneider (fiddle), and Mike Maddux (accordion). They have all enjoyed playing together in other bands over the years, and have a common Klezmer thread that binds them together. Mike Maddux (accordion), the founder of Cerronato, has worked with many Austin groups and performers, including Centzontle, Rubinchik's Orkestyr, The Austin Klezmorim, Maryann Price, Jo Carol Pierce, and Erik Hokkanen. His playing is agile and passionate. Ben Saffer (clarinet, bass clarinet) is known as one of Austin's best reed players having been featured in such bands as Tosca, Rubinchik's Orkestyr, and his most recent group, Victrola, for which he struts his songwriting skills and also plays tenor banjo. Lisa Schneider (fiddle) has played with a diversity of Austin bands (including 1001 Nights Orchestra, Rubinchik's Orkestyr, and Kolorash) but has specialized in playing a wide variety of international folk dance music for the past decade. She also frequently plays Scandinavian folk music for wedding ceremonies in the Austin area with her duo, Pols Machine. Eric Vormelker (bass) is a dedicated porch-picker, though he's been playing bass in Austin area bands for years and years, including 1001 Nights Orchestra, Kolorash, Rubinchik's Orkestyr, Salem Tree, Irie Jane, and many more. Don Weeda (accordion) leads an international folk dance band called Slavadillo and also is a member of 1001 Nights Orchestra, Rubinchik's Orkestyr and several other local musical configurations. He frequently plays his accordion for international folk dance groups in Texas, Oklahoma, and points beyond and has resolved never to let his "real life" interfere with his quest to learn every folk dance tune in creation. Contact: periwinkurl@sbcglobal.net
Mexican Roots Trio	Every music genre and sub-genre has its beginnings and its recognized pioneers from the dawn of the recording era. Country has Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys and Hank Williams. Folk music has Woody Guthrie. The blues has Robert Johnson. Here, the MEXICAN ROOTS TRIO, honors the music from the beginnings of Texas Conjunto music. Songs spanning twenty years (1930's - 1940's) form Tex-Mex pioneers such as Narciso Martinez, Lydia Mendoza, Carmen y Laura and San Antonio's native son " Don Santiago Jimenez" Grammy-award winners Joel Guzman, Sarah Fox and Max Baca are the MEXICAN ROOTS TRIO", an ensemble dedicated to the celebration and preservation of the timeless music that brought happiness to another segment of America's Greatest Generation.
Ed Miller: Songs of Scotland	Ed Miller is a performer who has learned his craft in musical venues on both sides of the Atlantic....and a folklorist who brings his love of Scotland to every performance. A native of Edinburgh, Scotland, now living in Austin, Texas, Ed is a product of the 1960s folk revival in Scotland. He moved to the United States in 1968 to complete his graduate work in Geography, and later Folklore, at the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to his singing career, Ed is the host of a folk music program on Austin's NPR station, KUT-FM.
Mark Rubin, Rubinchik's Yiddish Ensemble, and the Ridgetop Syncopators	Ladies and gents, welcome to the brand new Mark Rubin cyber experience! A few choice blurbs... "When the real Texas music history books are written, Mark Rubin will emerge as one of the state's modern-day heroes.."   -Robert Wilonsky, Dallas Observer, 4/16/98 "To say that Mark Rubin is one of this town's most talented and eclectic musicians is selling him and the community short. "   -Austin CitySearch.com, 5/13/99 "..that rare combination of ethnomusicologist and street fighter.."   -John Conquest, Music City Texas Email Mark Rubin
Trinity River Whalers	This rowdy, Texas/based quartet swings onto the Celtic/Folk music scene with Kathleen Jackson bringing a bluegrass/gospel background to the vocal mix, while rockin' the boat with 'Fred', her upright bass. David Sparks, Randy Christian and Michael Price, longtime members of The Blarney Brothers, and veterans of the nation's Celtic music venues, round out the crew. Great harmonies, traditional favorites and new surprises blend for an evening of toe-tapping fun!
Twangzilla	At a Twangzilla show, you will hear tried and true standards followed by their own arrangements of folk songs, blues, ragtime, country blues, and more. The band loves singing three and four part harmonies and playing classic fiddle tunes, but they also play originals that take what the past has given to a new level.
Wade Harper	Award-winning bagpiper Wade Harper draws from his extensive repertoire to play weddings, funerals, parties, bar mitzvahs, school concerts, Burns Night Suppers, and more. He has studied with the world's greatest pipes, teaches private bagpipe lessons, and performs with the Silver Thistle Pipes and Drums. Call him at 512/339-1676 or email him at WadeHarper@webtv.net

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This page updated Tuesday, 25-Aug-2009 05:58:18 PDT by Sharon Rempert.