TRADITIONAL MUSIC
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Nick Dauphinais
mandolin, guitar,
& banjo
Beginning at a young age, Nicholas Dauphinais began his musical journey both in the bluegrass, and classical world. First picking up the mandolin, and then the guitar, he joined his father’s bluegrass band by the age of seven. Eventually, Nick would go on to study classical and jazz trombone. After studying classically, he refocused on his bluegrass studies and moved to Asheville, where he has performed and recorded with the Larry Stephenson Band, Grammy award-winning Jim Lauderdale, Grammy award-winning Bobby Hicks, Roland White, the Mountain Faith Band, the Dauphinais Brothers, and many local bands as well.
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Lyndsay Pruett
fiddle
Lyndsay Pruett is a freelance fiddle player/teacher in Asheville, NC. She belongs to several bands and ensembles because she enjoys the way different songwriters and musicians draw her voice out in new ways. Lyndsay has spent her 18 years as a violinist/fiddler developing an individual voice on the violin. She manages to compliment others' music and add striking color to the music through her improvisations and textural playing. Making the violin speak as a voice is of utmost priority for Lyndsay, yet she knows how to play in a way that guides the listener's ear to what is important in a song and support the musicians around her.
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Josh Goforth
fiddle, mandolin, guitar, & banjo
Josh is an award-winning Master Fiddler whose passion is encouraging a love of traditional music through teaching fiddle, mandolin, guitar, bass and banjo lessons. Goforth is already much in demand as a music teacher and performs full time as well. He has performed all over the world and received a Grammy nomination in a collaboration with David Holt. One of his goals is to increase youth interest in traditional music.
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Jerry Sutton
guitar, banjo,
& ukulele
Jerry Sutton brings to AFTA a life-time of playing experience and uniquely personal teaching style for students of the 6-string guitar and the 5-string banjo. Family and friends alike cite him as an important musical mentor. He can be heard on recordings with his father, Grover Sutton, with the Hominy Valley String Band and the Pisgah Pickers, as well as with his son Bryan on Sugar Hill Records.
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Jackson Grimm
mandolin, guitar,
& banjo
Jackson Grimm lives in Asheville, North Carolina, and can be found playing solo or around Western North Carolina with bluegrass band, The Bull Moose Party. Grimm studied Traditional Music at Warren Wilson College under the tutelage of great players like Wayne Erbsen and Kevin Kehrberg. He also studied guitar, banjo, mandolin, and singing with the Western North Carolina music master, Josh Goforth. Josh was the obvious choice when it came to finding a producer for Jackson's latest album.
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Katie Waldren
lap & hammered dulcimer
Katie found her musical voice on the lap dulcimer in 1971. Swept up by the dulcimer’s uniqueness, Katie began integrating its sound with other instruments at churches & coffee houses from Southern California to the Pacific Northwest. In 1979, she relocated to NC, immersing herself in the musical culture of Madison County. She founded The Western North Carolina Dulcimer Collective in 1981 and began her series of Mountain Dulcimer Companion books.
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Tim McWilliams
guitar, banjo, mandolin, & ukulele
Tim McWilliams is an accomplished musician embodying the diverse roots music traditions of Western North Carolina. Upon receiving his M.A. in Appalachian Music: Roots & Influences from Appalachian State University in 2014, Tim launched his professional music career with a three month cross-country tour. Since then, he has performed full-time as the leader his group, The Tim McWilliams Band, as well as a solo artist.
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