Island Camp 2024
BROUGHT TO YOU BY…
CORE INSTRUCTORS & STAFF
(…in alphabetical order)
Learn what we’re offering this year in our bios below.
Kristin Andreassen • Clara Baker • Lauren balthrop • ISA BURKE
Dinty child • Allie chip • Chris eldridge • WilA FranK • jefferson hamer
Amy helfand • Zachariah Hickman • lauren horbal • Shane leonard
emily mann • Mike merenda • chris miller • Auyon MukharjI
don mitchell • James Paul Mitchell • TONY MONTPEIROUS • Lizzy Ross
OMAR Ruiz-lopez • Naiika sings • Dietrich strause • val thompson
RUTH UNGAR • Naomi westwater • MADDIE WITLER
+ additional teaching artists
ALLIE CHIP – MORNING yoga
Abigale Clapham – watercolor painting
NEIL CLEARY – “Song Sprints!”
EVAN DIeM – Hosting “ENTERTAIN US!”
BRAD KOLODNER – Banjo, Hosting Coffee & TENDER Tunes
TOM KRUEGER – Dance
NICK MAIONE – Guest poet
ELIZABETH ZIMAN – PIANO
PRODUCTION TEAM
kristin andreassen – Artistic Director
LAUREN BALTHROP – OPERATIONS director
ZACHARIAH HICKMAN – MUSIC DIRECTOR
DINTY CHILD – ISLAND MANAGER
TIMOTHY TUCKER – CHEF
MATT SMITH & CLARA BAKER – SOUND TEAM
DIETRICH STRAUSE – WORK TRADE COORDINATOR
SHEENA Ozaki & THOMAS BROWN – WELCOME TEAM COORDINATORS
Carrie cahill mulligan – hospitality COORDINATOR
NELSON WILLIAMS & CAROLINE McCORMICK – COMMUNITY & EQUITY ADVISORS
OVI HORTA – DOCUMENTARY VIDEO & PHOTO
BAND-IN-RESIDENCE: PAPER WINGS
featuring…
Emily Mann & Wila Frank
||STAFF BIOS||
Kristin Andreassen has songwriting credits on two albums with 2024 GRAMMY nominations – Mighty Poplar’s self-titled debut (up for Best Bluegrass Album) and Andrew & Polly’s Ahhhh! (Kristin co-wrote the title track on this candidate for Best Children’s Album). Her own most recent release was The Bright Siders’ A Mind of Your Own (Smithsonian Folkways), which is for kids, about emotions, and was created and co-produced with psychiatrist Dr. Kari Groff and Chris Eldridge (Punch Brothers). Chosen as one of 2020’s top three children’s releases by the American Library Association, this album followed up on Kristin’s first #1 kids’ radio hit – a song called “Crayola Doesn’t Make a Color for Your Eyes.” In the world of “grown-up music”, Kristin has toured and recorded with the stringband Uncle Earl, the vocal trio Sometymes Why, the percussive dance company Footworks (as a clogger), and with NYC’s anti-folk superhero Jeffrey Lewis. She’s had the honor of recording with producers John Paul Jones, Dirk Powell, Mark Schatz, José Ayerve, Robin MacMillan, and Shane Leonard (coming soon, I promise!). One favorite MoM-inspired collaboration is this video — created by Anna Roberts-Gevalt — which uses shadow puppets and body percussion to illustrate “How the Water Walks.” Kristin studied community development at Montreal’s McGill University and in rural Canada, and she’s noticed herself thinking about that learning a lot in her current work at Miles of Music. She lives in Nashville.
Clara Baker is an audio engineer/producer/musician from Portland, OR. She records, produces, and mixes music at several full-service recording studios in the Portland area as well as her home studio, The Bakery. Clara is passionate about helping songwriters and musicians record their music in a unique and authentic way that captures the emotional essence of each song. As both a singer-songwriter and an audio professional, Clara brings a unique perspective to the recording process. She is a member of The Recording Academy, SoundGirls, and Omni Sound Project. This will be her sixth year on the island!
Lauren Balthrop is a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter born and raised in Alabama where her family gatherings always included sing-alongs of the Everly Brothers, the Andrew Sisters, the Louvin Brothers, and the Beatles. After 10 years making her way in NYC, she heard the siren call of Nashville where she now calls home. Lauren released her 2nd album Things Will Be Different in August of 2022 on Olivia Records. She is also the director of the Nashville branch of Blue Balloon Songwriting School, the NYC originated music school that teaches kids and adults instrument instruction through songwriting. Her big folk-rock band and "small town" with her brother called Balthrop, Alabama toured all across the states to a cultish following. Her 60's inspired girl group, The Bandana Splits, has released two records with songs landing on shows such as HBO's 'Bored to Death' and the re-boot of ‘Magnum P.I.’ She's also toured extensively as a multi-instrumentalist for Elizabeth & the Catapult, Kevin Morby, Michaela Anne and Ximena Sariñana. Lauren is a knitter and tap dancer too. She’s currently working on songs for her 3rd album.
Thomas Brown b.1976 Muscle Shoals, AL is a mixed-media artist from Louisville, KY. His stone and wood sculptures can be found in a number of private collections. After an experimental segue into ice sculpture he officially moved to New York in 2008 to work with Okamoto Studio where he was a principal sculptor. Brown has merged his interests in experimental music, performance and art in his works as an ice sculptor and ephemeral artist.
Creating opportunity in the face of the pandemic, Brown founded a small business carving animal portraits and miniature sculptures from avocado seeds.
In 2022, he competed in a televised sand sculpture contest airing on Canada's CBC Network this summer and has since participated in large scale sculpting projects across the US, the Netherlands, and the Ice Hotel in Quebec City.
Isa Burke is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and producer based in Portland, Maine. Whether singing harmony vocals, playing traditional fiddle tunes, or crafting spiky yet atmospheric electric guitar sounds, she brings a voracious musical appetite and a spirit of collaboration to a vast array of projects. Raised in a musical family in Maine, Isa soon found her way to Boston, where she studied fiddle and songwriting at Berklee College of Music and dove headfirst into the area's thriving music scene. In 2014 she co-founded the indie-folk band Lula Wiles, which released three albums on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and toured internationally until 2021. Isa has spent recent years building a reputation as a versatile and in-demand collaborator, a musical Swiss Army knife at home in many styles and contexts. She has been touring with Aoife O'Donovan since fall 2021 (earning a nomination for Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2023 Americana Music Awards), and recently became the newest touring member of cult-favorite indie band the Mountain Goats. She has toured and recorded with many other artists including Jake Blount, Darlingside, Mipso, Rosier, the Brother Brothers, Laura Cortese, Kris Delmhorst, Session Americana, Sam Moss, and Liv Greene (whose debut album Isa produced). Isa is also an experienced and devoted music educator, and a longtime member of the Miles of Music community.
Besides being the off-season manager of Three Mile Island, Dinty Child is a longtime member of the Boston roots/folk scene. A fearless multi-instrumentalist he can most often be seen with the band Session Americana, as well as the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, the unapologetically loud and grimy Catbirds, as sensitive side man to any number of singer/songwriters, including Rose Cousins and Kris Delmhorst, and even fronting the 15 piece party band, the Funky White Honkies. In 2020, he released his first solo album!
Allie Chip is a Brooklyn-based folk singer-songwriter, cofounder of the Imperfectionist Song Society (ISS), and a registered vinyasa yoga teacher. She loves oat milk matchas, comedy, wildflowers, and making up silly songs with her friends. Poses are cool, but Allie's real intention is to help you laugh, take deep breaths, and love on yourself during yoga class... no matter what your body's doing. Allie teaches from a warm, relatable place and welcomes folks of all levels. Yoga will be real, chill, explorative, and fun. Come hang!
Abigale "Abby" Clapham has been a part of the Miles of Music Croo since 2019, but is a life-long "islander". She has been coming to Three Mile Island during the regular summer season since her childhood, later working on the summer Croo from 2012-2015. Originally from West Virginia, she currently resides in the piedmont of South Carolina as a healthcare professional by day and artist by night. Abby is inspired by her time living in Appalachia and her summers on Lake Winnipesaukee. She works in several types of mediums , but fell in love with watercolors the summer of 2020. She is drawn to their vibrancy, immediacy, and ephemeral nature.
Among other things, she is known for doodling on the dock and leading paper crafts during the Holiday Art Shares. This will be her first time teaching at Miles of Music Camp!
These days Neil Cleary works primarily as a music supervisor, radio host and live DJ called Tad Cautious, but has a dark and confusing past as an internationally touring singer-songwriter / multi-instrumentalist sideman. He's done a handful of notable things just one time, like writing a song for Nickelodeon's "Blaze and the Monster Machines," playing Bonnaroo with Phish's Mike Gordon, and backing a drag queen at CBGB's. Recently he produced a string of singles for cartoonist and inveterate weirdo James Kochalka Superstar which have included contributions from Jello Biafra, Frankie Cosmos, and Moby. He lives in Burlington VT, is fond of the comedy "rule of three," and shows no signs of stopping.
Evan Diem is a mixed-race Syracuse-based multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter hyphen-fan with a double-barreled last name. He specializes in using creative, contemplative, characteristic and compelling writing to compose catchy songs as well as craft clever one-liners. He was half-jokingly named eventual successor to the throne of hosting Entertain Us! by previous host Nelson Williams and in just his second year on the island he has ascended to that rank. Last year he proved he can perform his jokes, now he must prove he can perform as host. He does not know how to end a bio.
As a member of Punch Brothers since the band's inception, guitarist Chris Eldridge has been at the vanguard of acoustic music for much of the past decade. Although initially drawn to the electric guitar, by his mid-teens Chris Eldridge had developed a deep love for acoustic music, thanks in part to his father, a banjo player and founding member of the seminal bluegrass group The Seldom Scene. Eldridge later gained in-depth exposure to a variety of different musical styles while studying at Oberlin Conservatory, where he earned a degree in music performance in 2004. During his time at Oberlin, Eldridge studied with legendary guitarist Tony Rice. After graduating he joined the Seldom Scene with whom he received a Grammy nomination in 2007. In 2005 he founded the critically acclaimed bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters. At the 2007 International Bluegrass Music Association awards Eldridge and his Stringdusters bandmates won Emerging artist of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year for their debut album, Fork in the Road. Meanwhile, in 2005 he had caught the attention of mandolinist Chris Thile, who enlisted him, along with banjoist Noam Pikelny, violinist Gabe Witcher, and bassist Greg Garrison to start working on an ambitious side project. Soon after they decided to focus all of their collective energies into band and Punch Brothers was born. The band has since released 6 critically acclaimed albums, received 6 Grammy nominations and toured around the world. www.chriseldridge.net
Wila Frank makes music that’s searching, cinematic, and introspective with scalpel-like precision. Her songs can clear the air, putting to music emotions that are deeply felt but only rarely spoken. With her debut album Black Cloud, the Nashville-based songwriter immediately sets a mesmerizing mood that showcases her evocative lyricism as well as her tasteful ear as a multi-instrumentalist and producer.
Frank was raised on a farm in a rural bohemian community near the Oregon coast, where she formed a passion for classical and folk music. She is a talented multi-instrumentalist trained on the violin, piano, mandolin, cello, and guitar.
Jefferson Hamer is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Brooklyn, New York. He has toured and recorded albums with Anais Mitchell (Child Ballads, winner of a BBC2 Folk Award), Sarah Jarosz (as guitarist and harmony singer on her Grammy-nominated Blue Heron Suite), and Session Americana. The Murphy Beds, his long-running traditional folk duo with Eamon O’Leary, has released two self-produced albums, about which the Huffington Post wrote, “[the album] bears repeated listening from start to finish, with ten beautiful, crystalline songs.” His original songs and lead guitar work are featured on Alameda, an acoustic and electric collaboration with bassist Jeff Picker and drummer John Fatum, featuring special guests from the NYC folk community and beyond.
Amy Helfand is a visual artist and convener who grew up collecting beach glass on the shores of Lake Michigan. Her work has always been rooted in the study of landscape(s) and an effort to create a sense of place, whether through sculpture and installation, drawing, ceramics, or textiles. She is a collector at heart; of images, forms, and colors, as well as rocks, sticks, and other ephemera.
Amy has her hands in many things other than clay and dirt, including the non-profit arts and food justice worlds. She lives at the House of Love, in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and has hosted concerts in the living room, often featuring MoM friends, since her first year at camp in 2012.
Zachariah Hickman is a double bassist, multi-instrumentalist and producer based out of Boston, MA. Originally from Lynchburg, VA, he received his formal training in jazz performance and composition from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. For most of his adult life he has toured with singer-songwriter Josh Ritter, traveling all over the world and recording 9 full-length albums. Currently, he is performing as bassist and musical director for Ray Lamontagne. He has performed at many notable venues and festivals, including Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Red Rocks, Bonnaroo, Dublin Castle, The Fillmore, and the Royal Albert Hall. With Josh Ritter, he has also performed with the Boston Pops in Symphony Hall, the New York Pops in Central Park, and many other orchestras in Europe and the United States. Television appearances include five David Letterman appearances, Conan O’Brien, Ellen Degeneres, and Late Night with Jools Holland for the BBC. As a producer, Zachariah as made records with a number of talented singers, including Rose Cousins (for which he won a Canadian JUNO award), Mark Erelli, Laura Cortese, Miss Tess, and his own bluegrass band Barnstar! He has also produced and ring-mastered his own circus, released his own brand of mustache wax, and runs a vaudeville style variety show, Zack Hickman’s House of Ill Repute.
Lauren Horbal is a singer/ songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in Nashville, TN. She is the drummer and music director for 6 piece queer indie pop band Fame & Fiction. She relocated to Nashville from Connecticut in 2012 and has since had the privilege of working with incredible artists such as Bakithi Kumalo (Paul Simon), Morgan Jahnig (Old Crow Medicine Show), Tania Elizabeth (The Avett Brothers), Jobi Riccio, Rachel Baiman, and Liv Greene. Lauren has been teaching private drum lessons since 2003.
Because of her background as not only a drummer but a songwriter and guitar player as well, Horbal’s approach to teaching drums is from a songwriting and song building perspective. Lauren’s mission as a creator, performer, and teacher is to inspire women and girls to start drumming and to empower them to succeed in a male dominated industry.
Brad Kolodner is a Baltimore-based clawhammer banjoist and community builder who wears many hats as a performer, teacher, broadcaster, festival producer and ambassador for Old-Time and Bluegrass music. Regarded for his delicate touch, expressive style, and original compositions, Kolodner has rapidly gained national attention for his unique approach to clawhammer banjo. He regularly performs across the country with his father Ken Kolodner, a renowned hammered dulcimer player, and with the acoustic roots quartet Charm City Junction which blends Bluegrass, Old Time and Irish music. Behind the mic, Brad is an award-winning radio broadcaster for Folk Alley and Bluegrass Country Radio. For over a decade, he been a driving force behind Baltimore’s bustling Old Time music scene. He runs a bi-weekly Old Time Jam, monthly square dance, house concert series and directs the annual Baltimore Old Time Music Festival. He serves on the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Board of Directors. When he’s not playing banjo, on the air or organizing community events, you can find Brad rock climbing, playing soccer, hiking or tending to his veggie garden in the backyard of his Baltimore rowhouse.
Tom Krueger is a dancer and Fiddler and lover of life. He first discovered partner dancing about 20 years ago on a trip to Buenos Aires. Tango, of course. And once he caught the dancing bug, there was no turning back. Tango lead to two-stepping, lead to swing dance, which led to cajun and salsa, and on and on… And now it’s just a mash up of all of it. While he is perfectly capable of teaching the specifics of each style, he prefers to focus on the whatever is the most fun and works with the music.
Shane Leonard is a record producer, musician, mix engineer, and songwriter who lives in Eau Claire, WI. Equally at home in an indie rock band as he is in an old time stringband, those who work with Shane (Mipso, Field Report, Rose Cousins, Stray Birds, Larry Campbell) know him as a studio/live swiss army knife, helping their sound to evolve past previous benchmarks. NPR and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) have praised his production with descriptors like "goosebumps inducing" (NPR Music), "a monster musician" (Justin Vernon) and "exquisite" (Paste Magazine). Anna Tivel, Humbird, J.E. Sunde and others have entrusted multiple albums to his care; they reside alongside multiple releases of his own music - the most recent being Strange Forms (2019).
Nick Maione is a writer and artist from Upstate NY. He was a finalist for the National Poetry Series and his debut collection of poems, Infinite Arrivals, is out now from Angelico Press. He is a professional iconographer and painter. Nick also directs Orein Arts, an arts residency in Upstate NY. And despite degrees in Poetry and Visual Art, he is most proud of his honorary degree in faking it on the fiddle from Miles of Music Campiversity.
Instagram: @nmaione_
Formed in Big Sur, CA, Emily Mann now calls Nashville, TN, home. She specializes in Oldtime fiddle & banjo, songwriting, and genre-traversing on upright & electric bass. Emily was a key member of The Crooked Jades from 2015-2020, earning a 2019 Isadora Duncan Dance Award nomination for their collaboration with ODC Dance Company, 'World’s On Fire.'
Emily co-founded Paper Wings with longtime friend Wila Frank, an indie/folk duo known for their oldtime-meets-heartfelt-originals album 'Clementine.' In 2020, they shared the stage with Avi Kaplan during his US tour and are set to release their third album Spring ‘24.
With a deep love of creating in mediums beyond music - gardening, cooking, fiber arts, painting - Emily seamlessly weaves herself into a wide range of musical settings. As a foundationally supportive side musician, her steady flexibility and uncanny blending abilities add depth to every artist she supports. She plays/has played with: Jobi Riccio, the Onlies, Laurie Lewis, Darol Anger & the Furies, Sami Braman, Josie Toney, Liv Greene, Spencer & Rains, Violet Bell, and more.
@em.fiddle
Mike Merenda is a songwriting force and clawhammer banjo explorer raised in NH and now dwelling in NY's Hudson Valley. Youthful musical forays into rock and punk later led to the more traditional folk realms and a productive creative partnership with his wife Ruth Ungar spanning 2 decades (so far.) They have toured extensively as both the duo Mike + Ruthy and the full band The Mammals. Mike curates the lineup of their community music festivals, the Winter Hoot and Summer Hoot at Ashokan. He is most fond of hoisting his antenna into the ether and seeing what emerges thru singing with a guitar or banjo in hand. In addition to his own original compositions he has recorded posthumous "co-writes" with Woody Guthrie & Allen Ginsberg. The Mammals' recent title track Sunshiner, which came to Mike in a dream, was nominated for Folk Alliance International's 2018 Song of the Year award. He attended Miles of Music's very first camp and is honored to be back.
http://themammals.love
Multi-instrumentalist The Chris Miller measures his life in times spent on Three Mile Island and the friendships he’s made there. As your humble storekeep he will connect you with physical merchandise to help you through your time at camp along with tangible “memories" for years to come.
His 2021 trio release “The Faux Paws” was named one of the 10 Best Trad Albums of the year by Folk Alley and his Grammy-nominated dance band The Revelers continues to be legendary for their annual throw-downs at Blackpot Camp, Festival, and Cook-off in Southwest Louisiana.
Don Mitchell is a songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer based in Boston. Over the last decade and change, he's recorded and toured extensively with indie-folk band Darlingside and in the past few years has been focusing on producing/engineering records for others. Don grew up singing in children's choirs, started writing songs and forming bands in high school, studied music theory and creative writing (short stories) at Williams College, and other than a three-year sidequest as a field biologist/ornithologist in his early 20s, has been making music in one way or another ever since. He plays guitar and banjo, some bass and lap steel, and also enjoys writing songs on instruments he does not really understand. Don is thrilled to finally be joining the Miles of Music Camp community for the first time.
10 years ago, James Paul Mitchell hopped off a tour van in Denver with nothing but a guitar, an amp, and a suitcase. It was here that he would gain expansive and diverse musical experience, eventually leading to his raw, atmospheric solo project. Carrying on the Grateful Dead legacy he performed with supergroup Imagine featuring Ray White (Frank Zappa) and Melvin Seals (Jerry Garcia Band), he studied North Indian classical music, produced a record for indie folk band called Cardinal and began dipping his toe into his own artistry. James eventually made Nashville his home base as a touring and recording musician, releasing Was Sad Before it Was Cool in August 2019. His next record album, Breakup Record, showcased a more personal, surrendered facet of his artistry. Varied and vulnerable, these songs - each made with a different producer - showcase James’ emotional specificity and descriptive storytelling that pulls the listener into their focal heartbeat. Against the backdrop of complementary, moody guitars, James pulls you into these places, circumstances and stories.
Auyon Mukharji is a singer, songwriter, and a member of the indie-folk group Darlingside, in which he plays mandolin, violin, and a bit of guitar. Auyon's other interests include cooking, reading, and physical activity. He is currently working on an illustrated Indian cookbook with his mother Jyoti. Auyon has been described as "naïve, without financial wherewithal, and most probably very anxious to return home" by American Airlines' head of global investigations.
Known for his street performing and impromptu rap style, Tony Montpeirous first came to Miles of Music as a member of the Brooklyn-based band All My Friends Are Stars when they were artists-in-residence with us. He’s coming back on his own this year, helping individuals incorporate rap, rhythmic rhyme, and general lyric writing into their songwriting.
In recent years Tony has been living in Mexico, learning various styles of dance and Latin rhythm. From these experiences he is back to share his Kumbia and partner dancing knowledge .
Carrie Cahill Mulligan has the distinct honor of having attended Miles of Music every year since its beginning in 2011.
She’s worked a variety of Camp jobs: running the store, working in the kitchen (on salads, as Baker, as Kitchen Assistant), on Midnight Snack detail, as a porch captain, and as part of the check-in crew.
This year, Carrie will rely on all her varied Three Mile experiences in her new role as Camp Hospitality Coordinator, here to assist with any questions or concerns while you’re on the island!
Carrie is a Park Ranger-turned-fiber artist, who also loves clawhammer banjo, hula-hooping and playing ice hockey. She also happens to grow and harvest all the rhubarb we use in various ways during the camp week!
Sheena Ozaki is the Welcome Team and Travel Coordinator at Miles of Music this year. She is a creative producer with a passion for sharing great ideas, having previously worked with TED, VICE News, Spotify, and iHeartRadio. But her first love is music - she studied piano performance in college and has been lucky to have been part of the Miles of Music community since 2015.
Lizzy Ross is a singer-songwriter, visual artist, and co-founder of the original Americana group Violet Bell. Lizzy spent her childhood making art and exploring the marshes of the Chesapeake Bay. School brought her south to NC, where she came across mountain folk who gathered over Sunday potlucks to sing together. Her solitary musical experiments grew community roots, and she started performing her original music solo and in a band under her own name.
Eleven years and seven albums later, Lizzy’s still humming and rhyming. She’s a dirt-loving lazy gardener who’s deeply curious about literal and emotional composting. Lizzy’s art and music explore human connections to the mystical and natural world, healing intergenerational trauma, and the myths and archetypes that frame our past and hold the vision for our collective future.
Omar Ruiz-Lopez is a distinguished musician and educator with a remarkable command over multiple instruments, including violin, viola, guitar, and mandolin. His extensive teaching expertise extends to coaching chamber music ensembles and conducting.
Born in Panama and raised in Puerto Rico, Omar's early exposure to traditional Caribbean folk songs, courtesy of his father, laid the foundation for his deep appreciation for music. Spanish was his first language, and it remains an integral part of his cultural identity.
Together with Lizzy Ross, Omar co-founded the Americana group Violet Bell, where their collaboration seamlessly intertwines top-notch songwriting with a variety of musical landscapes. Omar, a bilingual songwriter and undercover composer, crafts music that beautifully reflects his cultural roots entwined with a rich tapestry of diverse musical influences.
After quitting her job in real estate five years ago, Naiika Sings bought a microphone and amplifier and took to performing on subway platforms and trains along the A, D and E lines. Her unplanned performances were based, she says, on the energy subway commuters were giving her that day.
Two years ago, a video of her posted by a rider on social media went viral as millions watched a packed train of commuters lose their inhibitions in a spontaneous sing-along. In other videos people danced in the aisles. When Naiika sings, said one post, magic happens.
In her debut album, the Haitian-American singer-songwriter demonstrates to the world why her sultry mix of soul and style has already attracted the attention of millions, including 50 Cent, Ledisi, and many more.
Since beginning his career in the music world, Matt Smith has been on panels and advisory committees at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, the International Folk Alliance, and the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance. He has worked as a tour manager and sound engineer for the singer-songwriter collaborative, Live From New York (Edie Carey, Teddy Goldstein, Anne Heaton, and Andrew Kerr) and the Celtic band Halali (Hanneke Cassel, Laura Cortese, Lissa Schneckenburger, and Flynn Cohen). Matt has also been a stage emcee at the Falcon Ridge and the Newport Folk Festivals, and he is the managing director of Club Passim and founder of Club Passim's Campfire Festival.
Dietrich Strause is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has worked extensively as a studio musician, engineer, and producer. Dietrich writes and records under his own name and released his latest album You And I Must Be Out Of My Mind on Blueblade Records in 2022. He lives part time in London, UK and works as an apprentice luthier at Outlier Workshop.
Valerie Thompson is a Boston-based cellist/composer/songwriter/improviser who has performed nationally and internationally in rock bands, string quartets, pit orchestras, chamber folk ensembles and as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. State Department. A cellist versed in many genres, Valerie currently tours with Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards, the MIDI-Marimba/cello duo, Goli, and Know Orchestra. Valerie holds a Bachelors of Music in Music Performance from the Berklee College of Music and a Masters of Music in Contemporary Improvisation from the New England Conservatory. Film/play composer credits include the A. Jacks (Trusette Entertainment & 3 Legged Bird Productions-2022), Umbrella Stage Company’s Bent (2020), and Bony Lil’s Creation (Extravagant Bedhead Productions-2007.)
Fun Fact: You can catch Valerie in the 100th episode of WB’s Gossip Girl.
Chef Timothy Tucker was born in Springfield, IL, and graduated from Sullivan University in Louisville, KY with a degree in Culinary Arts. He began his career working at restaurants such as The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and The Painted Table in Seattle. Since then he has established 4 culinary training programs for low-income populations in Louisville, Miami, Boston, and in San Francisco where he currently resides. Timothy has also been the chef for Three Mile Island (summer) and Miles of Music since 2011. The author of Food to Make Music To, a collection of recipes from Three Mile Island, was inspired by his time working with Miles of Music. He also has a food radio blog WGGF radio (World Gathering Good Food) and they now have their own publishing company called Good Food Gathering. In 2020, they released a book called Destination Chef which is a textbook Timothy uses to teach people to cook!
Ruth Ungar is a multi-dimensional collaborator, touring and recording artist, and event organizer based in the Hudson Valley of NY. This year she and her husband Mike Merenda toured the US and UK with their band The Mammals, toured festivals for a month in Australia as Mike + Ruthy (duo) with their two kids, recorded a new full length studio album to be self-released in 2020, and organized their two annual community music festivals, the Winter Hoot & Summer Hoot at Ashokan. For 40 years Ruth's family has hosted summer traditional music and dance camps at Ashokan, the place that inspired her father, Jay Ungar, to compose his evocative fiddle melody Ashokan Farewell. Ruth is similarly known for eliciting an emotional response from an audience of any size. Her background in theater has also fueled a lifelong fascination with stagecraft, vulnerability, and the beauty of taking risks.
Jonathan is a passionate and adventure loving oldtime musician and multi-instrumentalist from Baltimore, Maryland. He loves traveling, building, dancing and finding music in the world around us. In recent years he has become increasingly enthralled with some of the older sounds of banjo and is in an unending pursuit of the infinity loop that the banjo can weave. He has released a solo record and two records as a part of the Baltimore based group, Geraldine. Jonathan came to the island for the first time back in 2018 and ever since has been in love with the island and the creativity it empowers.
Naomi Westwater is a queer, Black-multiracial singer-songwriter from Massachusetts. Their work combines folk music, poetry, and spirituality. Their hope is that through ritual and storytelling they can aid nature in the end of capitalism and the return of community, creativity, and collective joy.
Naomi holds a Master of Music in Contemporary Performance and Production from Berklee College of Music and she is a part of the Club Passim Folk Collective. She was nominated for a 2021 and 2022 Boston Music Award for best singer-songwriter, and has been featured in Under The Radar, WBUR, Vanyaland, WGBH, The Boston Globe, and The Bluegrass Situation. More info @naomiwestwater and www.naomiwestwater.com.
Maddie Witler is a musician currently living in Baltimore, MD. Known mostly for her mandolin playing with groups like Della Mae and the Lonely Heartstring band, she can make meaningful and impressive music on a variety of string instruments. While she has been celebrated as a “shredder” at times, it is her ability to find the gaps in music, and leave space when needed, that gives her a subtle yet deliberate presence in any musical situation. With a deep knowledge and respect for bluegrass, and an awareness of the world and music she grew up around, she synthesizes a sound true to herself, at once traditional and contemporary. Maddie's 2022 debut solo album "Astronaut" showcases her songwriting, singing, and individual style of instrumental arranging.
Maddie also loves coffee and has worked as a barista, as well as competed in the 2023 and 2024 US Brewers Cup Competitions. In 2023, she was a member of the Glittercat Barista program where she received training and education from leaders in the coffee industry, focused on the brewer's cup (pour over) competition.
Elizabeth Ziman, who performs as Elizabeth and the Catapult, is a singer-songwriter from Brooklyn. She's toured with the likes of Sara Bareilles and Kishi Bashi; collaborated with Esperanza Spalding, Gillian Welch, Blake Mills and Ben Folds; scored, with Paul Brill, a variety of international award-winning documentaries including "Trapped," a Peabody winner; and won an Independent Music Award for Songwriting. Her songs have been featured in national television campaigns for Google and Amazon. She recently composed for Sara Bareille’s new show, “Little Voice”. Always writing, Elizabeth has narrowed her vast collection of previously unrecorded material down to her fifth full-length studio album "Sincerely, e”, which she self-produced at home and released on Compass Records in March 2021.