Demonstrations
Lyle Reedy
Fiddle maker
Brevard, NC (Transylvania County)
Long-time Transylvania County resident Lyle Reedy first became interested in building fiddles when he moved to North Carolina nearly a quarter century ago. He learned by self-instruction, trial and error, and the advice of local instrument-makers. "Most of the wood I use is local, much of it grown in this county and obtained from a friend who has a small sawmill. All of the carving is done by hand, with power tools used minimally for a few operations, such as drilling peg holes. Many of my tools are home-made, for both economy and functionality."
Read more about Lyle ReedyElmer Roush
Blacksmith
Brasstown, NC (Clay County)
Virginia native Elmer Roush has been a blacksmith since 1975, and has devoted himself to the art full-time since 1985. Previous careers included fifteen years spent working in a coalmine in southwest Virginia (both above and below ground), but Roush concluded that he would "rather burn coal than mine it." Roush learned his smithing skills in Virginia, and also spent time studying with master blacksmith Vaslav Jaros in the Czech Republic. Now a master himself, he has traveled around the world teaching, including to Ireland and Australia.
Read more about Elmer RoushRichard Saunooke
Specialist in historical Native American dress
Cherokee, NC (Qualla Boundary)
Richard Saunooke has been creating historically accurate and beautiful Native American dress and crafts for the past twenty years. He does meticulous beadwork, leatherwork, quillwork, and painting to create medicine bags, pipe bags, pouches, shields, knife sheaths, quivers, and drums.
Read more about Richard SaunookeMelissa Ann Maney
Cherokee potter
Cherokee, NC (Qualla Boundary)
Melissa Ann Maney demonstrates traditional pottery making and also teaches hands-on pottery classes to groups of all ages. She particularly enjoys working with students who are eight-to-twelve years old. She is a founding member of the Cherokee Potters Guild.
Read more about Melissa Ann ManeyTerry McKinney
Bluegrass, country, gospel musician
Marion, NC (McDowell County)
Terry McKinney grew up in Mitchell and McDowell counties surrounded by traditional mountain music, and he has been singing and playing music most of his life. Terry was born in Spruce Pine. He remembers having a dry-cell radio at home before they had electricity. "The family would gather around that old radio and listen to the Grand Ole Opry," Terry remembers. "But that was like the pre-show," he continues. "When it was over, they'd be excited and go to pickin' live." Terry remembers cousins coming over to play on the porch in the summer and in the living room during winter.
Read more about Terry McKinneyAlfred Michels
Luthier and fiddler
Creston, NC (Ashe County)
Alfred Michels was born and raised in Germany, and he apprenticed with a master violin maker in Europe. Since 1982, he has made, repaired, and played stringed instruments in western North Carolina.
Read more about Alfred MichelsAmy Michels
Oldtime banjo player, singer, traditional foodways specialist
Creston, NC (Ashe County)
Amy Michels was born and raised in a rural farming community where her interest in music began. She has lived in western North Carolina since 1977 learning and playing traditional mountain music with a number of notable area musicians such as the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers and Buna Hicks. She was eighteen years old when she moved to western North Carolina. "They had a program for high school younguns to work on the farms and visit the farmers and learn crafts and music," she says. "So I came, and I knew I was staying."
Read more about Amy MichelsEve Miranda
Herbalist
Topton, NC (Cherokee County)
"My great-great grandma, my great-grandma, and my grandma were all herb women, called ‘yarb women'" says herbalist and Cherokee County native Eve Miranda. They "grew and gathered their own medicinal plants, roots, bark. They grew poppies and made cuts on the pods, gathered the juice/sappy stuff, and made dough pills for pain. They dried leaves of datura and mullein to help folks with asthma and coughs caused by tickly throats.
Read more about Eve MirandaShirley Jackson Oswalt
Cherokee beadworker, gourd carver, basketmaker
Robbinsville, NC (Graham County)
Shirley Jackson Oswalt does beadwork, carves designs on gourds, and makes white oak baskets. She demonstrates these crafts at festivals and schools, and can also teach hands-on workshops. She can also lecture about Cherokee crafts in general, for example, explaining how blowguns are made. Shirley grows the gourds that she carves as well as the corn beads she uses in beadwork. Other natural materials such as vines and seeds are incorporated into her work. A native speaker of the Cherokee language, she can lecture on and provide workshops about the language.
Read more about Shirley Jackson OswaltPhil and Gaye Johnson
Acoustic country musicians
Lynn, NC (Polk County)
Gaye Johnson grew up in eastern Polk County, in the township of Green Creek. Attending Mill Creek Church of the Brethren, where her mother was the choir director, Gaye got an early education in singing. She also taught herself to play guitar early on, and started playing at church socials and other local events. As a young woman she spent time acting in California, where she met Phil.
Read more about Phil and Gaye Johnson
