Echoes Across the Smokies: A Night of Bluegrass, Ballads, and Tall Tales

Sheila Kay Adams - Born and raised in the Sodom Laurel community of Madison County, North Carolina, Sheila Kay Adams is a seventh-generation ballad singer, storyteller, and claw-hammer banjo player. Originating in the border country between England and Scotland, the ballads that Adams sings have been passed down through her family since the early 1700s, when Adams’ ancestors first settled in Appalachia. Learning how to sing as a child from her great-aunt, Adams has developed an illustrious resume showcasing, documenting, and advocating for Western North Carolina’s unaccompanied ballad singing tradition. She has performed at festivals, workshops, and other events all across the United States and the United Kingdom, including the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., and the International Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Her songs and stories have been recorded for several albums: My Dearest Dear (2000), Other Fine Things (2004), and Live at the International Storytelling Festival (2007). Her two books, Come Go Home With Me (1997) and My Old True Love (2004), have garnered praise from Life Magazine, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and other outlets. (Source: National Endowment for the Arts).

Donna Ray Norton - Donna Ray Norton is an 8th generation Ballad Singer from the Appalachian Mountains of Western North Carolina. She is from Sodom Laurel, a part of Madison County very well known for its rich heritage and musical community.  Sodom was described as a "Nest of Singing Birds" by the famous folklorist Cecil Sharp when he visited the area over 100 years ago, and Donna Ray's family is a direct lineage from the folks who Cecil Sharp recorded singing the old "love songs." Her maternal grandfather was a very well known fiddle player around the country, Byard Ray. Her paternal grandfather was also a musician who played the banjo, tune bow, and the paper bag, Morris Norton. Her mother is ballad singer Lena Jean Ray, who attended college in NYC during the Folk Music Revival. She is the 2nd cousin of renowned ballad singer, storyteller, and musician, Sheila Kay Adams. 

William Ritter - William hails from of Bakersville, NC and is an alum of Western Carolina University.  He graduated with a degree in Technical Theatre, but spent most of his time in school studying the musical folk traditions of Western North Carolina.  In 2017, William  received his MA in Appalachian Culture and Music from  Appalachian State University.  William plays banjo, fiddle, guitar, and other "string-ed things." He is particularly interested in old mountain folkways, foodways,  and humor--ever eager to swap lies, half-truths, tales and seeds.  William serves as Festival Manager for the Happy Valley Fiddlers Jamboree.  He performs regularly with Asheville based artist Tim McWilliams.  Several years ago William was added to the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Traditional Artist Directory, and in 2019 received the first North Carolina In These Mountains Apprenticeship grant to study under late renown ballad singer and storyteller Bobby McMillon.  In 2021, William was selected for the first cohort of SouthArts' Emerging Traditional Artists Program. William is the founder and owner of Song-to-Seed, which offers programming featuring Appalachian Heirloom Seeds, heirloom songs, and other traditional folkways and foodways.

Born and raised in Europe, brothers Jens and Uwe Kruger started singing and playing instruments at a very young age. Growing up in a family where music was an important part of life, they were exposed to a wide diversity of musical influences. The brothers were performing regularly by the time they were
eleven and twelve years old, and they began their professional career in 1979. Jens’ and Uwe’s first public performances were as a duo, and in just a few years they were busking on the streets of cities throughout eastern and western Europe.

CBS Records contracted with Jens and Uwe when Jens was just seventeen years old, and shortly thereafter, the Krugers hosted a radio show on SRG SSR, the Swiss Public broadcast group. Several years later, the brothers teamed up with bass player Joel Landsberg, a native of New York City who also had a very extensive musical upbringing in classical and jazz music (studying with jazz great Milt Hinton), thus forming a trio that has been playing professionally together since 1995. Together, they established the incomparable sound that The Kruger Brothers are known for today. The trio moved to the United States in 2002 and is based in Wilkesboro, NC.

Since their formal introduction to American audiences in 1997, The Kruger Brothers’ remarkable discipline, creativity and their ability to infuse classical music into folk music has resulted in a unique sound that has made them a fixture within the world of acoustic music. The honesty of their writing has since become a hallmark of the trio’s work.

In their ever-expanding body of work – Jens Kruger (banjo and vocals), Uwe Kruger (guitar and lead vocals), and Joel Landsberg, (bass and vocals) – The Kruger Brothers personify the spirit of exploration and innovation that forms the core of the American musical tradition. Their original music is crafted around their discerning taste, and the result is unpretentious, cultivated, and delightfully fresh.

Discover more about the Kruger Brothers by visiting their website, Spotify, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

KONTRAS QUARTET explores the role of chamber music in the new millennium, at once keeping classic tradition and style alive while embracing new opportunities and fusing genres to expand the art form and include a more diverse audience. Formed in 2009, the "superb Chicago-based ensemble" (Gramophone Magazine) has become known for its vibrant and nuanced performances, “crisp precision" (Palm Beach Daily News), "superlative artistry" (CVNC Arts Journal), and unique penchant for exploring the folk roots of classical music. Kontras’s "enjoyable musical personality" (Fanfare Magazine) and welcoming, friendly approach to the recital stage have attracted audiences near and far for over a decade. Kontras means ‘contrasts’ in the Afrikaans language- fitting for a string ensemble whose colorful repertoire spans centuries, genres, and continents.

Kontras Quartet's recent engagements include international tours of South Africa and Switzerland, broadcasts on classical radio stations nationwide (including Performance Today and a 3-month residency with Chicago's WFMT 98.7 fm), performances at Chicago's Symphony Center and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and television appearances on NBC and PBS. Kontras served as Artists in Residence with San Diego’s Art of Elan from 2018-2021, commissioning and premiering multiple new works, and collaborating with numerous artists including Malashock Dance and Branford Marsalis.

Kontras Quartet has released three critically acclaimed albums with two more slated to be released in 2023. The first, Origins, on MSR classics, was commended by Gramophone Magazine for the quartet's "scrupulous shading and control". The second, Lucid Dreamer, a 2013 Chamber Music America commission, treads the line between classical music and American folk and invigorates Kontras' ongoing collaboration with the esteemed Kruger Brothers trio, as does their 2017 release, the Roan Mountain Suite. Upcoming plans for Kontras and Kruger Brothers include a fall 2023 tour of Switzerland, and an album release of their latest septet, The Moonshine Sonata, on DoubleTime Records.

All four Kontras members are passionate music educators. In addition to holding faculty positions at Elmhurst University, Kontras served as Quartet in Residence at Western Michigan University from 2014 through 2020 and held short-term teaching residencies at University of California San Diego, University of Chicago, University of Oregon, and others. In 2016, the quartet received a grant from the Boeing Company to perform a series of outreach programs to thousands of students across the Chicagoland area.

Kontras Quartet gained early acclaim during a four-year chamber music residency with the Western Piedmont Symphony established through Chamber Music America's Residency Partnership Program. While in North Carolina, the quartet made a significant community impact in the Hickory metro area with their innovative and interactive programming, performing for over 40,000 school-age and college students in addition to their popular recital series.

Kontras Quartet’s early mentors included the Vermeer and Juilliard Quartets.

Discover more about Kontras Quartet by visiting their website, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.