DEBUT CD NOW AVAILABLE
Chance McCoy is a master in the art of mountain fiddling. The roots of his music reach all the way back to ancient Scotland, Ireland and Africa, blended through the melting pot of early America and distilled in the mountains for centuries into a unique music still being passed from one generation to the next. Hailing from West Virginia, a state known for it's rich and long standing music tradition, Chance is widely known for his powerful fiddling which has earned many blue ribbons, including the West Virginia Championship.
On this debut cd McCoy conjures up images of his home with numerous fiddle tunes, rare ballads and solo instrumental pieces. They range from the opening cut "Dance All Night with a Bottle in Your Hand" which creates the atmosphere of a rowdy late night frolic, to the haunting fiddle/banjo duet "Little Rose is Gone," to groove tunes like "Betty Baker." Featuring some beautiful mountain singing and harmony "Birdie" is a stark solo piece sung by Chance and played on a gut-string banjo, boiling underneath with the emotions of the human experience, the performance is quite simply, naked. Songs like "Lazy John" blend beautiful harmonies with an incredibly catchy chorus.
All nineteen tunes on this album were derived from traditional sources from West Virginia and Kentucky, included with the cd is a 8 page booklet containing detailed information on each tune.
Chance McCoy is accompanied by The Appalachian String Band featuring:
Adam Hurt, Banjo: Deemed a "banjo virtuoso" by the Washington Post, Adam Hurt draws on diverse musical influences from the North Carolina piedmont, the mountains of central West Virginia, the Ohio River Valley, and beyond to create his own elegantly innovative clawhammer banjo playing. At age 24, Adam has already placed in or won most of the major old-time banjo competitions including Clifftop, Mount Airy, and Galax, and won the state banjo championships of Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio, as well as the state fiddle championships of Virginia and Maryland. A gifted and respected teacher, Adam has conducted banjo workshops at the Swannanoa Gathering, the Augusta Heritage Center, and Appalshop, among other venues around the country.
Danny Knicely, Guitar: Danny Knicely is a fourth generation Appalachian multi-instrumentalist from a Virginia family steeped in mountain music tradition. He has won many awards for both his mandolin and guitar expertise such as the first place in the mandolin contest of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. He has years of experience as a professional musician performing in many bands of varying musical styles. He has recorded and toured nationally and internationally with many groups including the award winning Magraw Gap, David Via and Corn Tornado, James Leva and Purgatory Mountain, and is a musical director for the Mountain Music Project and Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, featuring Mark Schatz and Eileen Carson.
Mark Hellenberg, Banjo Ukulele: Mark Hellenberg has been playing traditional music for over forty years, beginning as a drummer in his father's bagpipe band in the early sixties. Since then, Hellenberg has been featured as a percussionist on over a dozen recordings including two Green Linnet releases by the Celtic ensemble, The House Band. This past year, he appeared on NPR's All Things Considered with his band, The Sevens. He is currently also a member of the Ohio based Hotpoint String Band and works with other contra dance luminaries including the Reckless Ramblers and Wild Asparagus. When not playing music, Mark works as a producer and Classical music host at Ohio University Public Radio in Athens, Ohio.
Ralph Gordon, Bass: Ralph Gordon is one of the most in demand dance musicians active on the east coast, bringing more than 35 years of musical experience to the bass. Ralph, classically trained, studied music at West Virginia University and the Manhattan School of Music. He left Manhattan to perform with the New Jersey Symphony, then toured with Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians. He eventually returned to West Virginia where he joined the ground breaking folk ensemble, Trapezoid. Nine years and four recordings later he left the group in 1986 to become a free lance musician. Since then he has performed with many individuals and groups in a multitude of musical styles and settings. He is a sought after freelance artist and session musician in the Washington/Baltimore metropolitan area. Ralph can be heard on more than 100 recordings and contributed to arranging and producing on many of these.
Aimee Curl, Harmony Vocals: Aimee Curl, of Loudon County Virginia, her unmistakable breathy sound and sultry style combine in a musician with incredible depth. Original member of the Musemeant, she has toured with bands like Dave Matthews, Widespread Panic, and Blues Traveler on the Horde tour, as well as being part of the Appalachian folk-group Furnace Mountain. Her dynamic performances and mysterious persona have earned her a cult-like status in the indie scene.
Matthew Olwell, Flatfooting: Has been dancing and playing music for nearly 20 years. He has studied with some of the finest teachers in traditional dance, including Donny Golden, Eileen Carson, Benoit Bourque, The Fiddle Puppets Dancers, and Liam Harney. He danced for nine years with the Maryland-based Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, with whom he taught and performed nationally and internationally. (Matthew met Eileen Carson and other Members of Footworks, then The Fiddle Puppet Dancers, at Augusta Dance Week as a youth.) Matthew now lives in Virginia, and is continuing life as a freelance dancer and percussionist. He performs with James Leva, John Skelton, Danny Knicely and many others. In 2006 Matthew and partner Emily Oleson founded Smiling Mountain Dance Intensive, a youth summer program near Charlottesville Virginia.This layout was handmade with love by the folks at My space or yours? using original artwork by Marah Johnson. Go get one!
