Bubbaville is led by a team of dedicated volunteers who make up
the organization’s Board of Directors.
Our board meets each month and we’re always looking for new members, so if you’re interested in joining us or getting involved, please email bubbavillepdx@gmail.com. Meeting minutes are available upon request by contacting the above email.
My first exposure to old-timey music was a Pete Seeger record I played over and over as a five-year-old, but it wasn’t until I saw Foghorn Stringband open for Richmond Fontaine at the Blackbird in 2002 that I had that “eureka!” moment and was hooked. A few years as a spectator and square dancer gave way to occasionally playing guitar with Michael Ismerio at his Alberta Street Pub session (also where I met my partner Stephanie Noll!), and then at Caitilin and Barb’s Waypost jam. Michael hooked me into the Old-Time Gathering Committee in 2010, and then onto the Bubbaville Board a couple of years later, where I’ve been happy to serve ever since. These days I chase my five-year old boys around, and once in a while I get to play guitar and fiddle with my old-time band Maris Otter.
I was first exposed to Appalachian old time music not long after moving to Portland in 2008. My interest and involvement has grown, thanks in large part to the Portland String Band Class and the annual Gathering as well as summer festivals, local jam sessions, and the tolerant ears of roommates, partners and pets. I play banjo and guitar in Old Barn Preservation Society and put together the “Gathered” compilation album.
I am from the mountains of East Tennessee and have spent most of my life involved in traditional Appalachian culture and music. I worked as the director of the Traditional Music Project at Appalshop, a non-profit media, arts and education center based in Southeast Kentucky. It was the best job I’ve ever had, organizing and supporting the traditional Appalachian music, storytelling and dance community through cultural arts education programs, festivals and workshops across Appalachia’s coal mining communities. This work connected me with Portland Old Time Music Gathering, and eventually I ended up moving out to Portland in 2008. Musically, culturally and geographically, I feel a deep connection between the Pacific Northwest and my Appalachian homeland. My other major passion is the environment, and my “day job” is working as the Development Director at Crag Law Center, a non-profit that provides legal aid to the environment to community and conservation groups across the Pacific Northwest. I have also worked as an Arts Integration Facilitator for The Right Brain Initiative and the Development Director at Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls. I enjoy exploring the wilds of the Pacific Northwest and bicycling or walking around Portland, gardening, cooking and playing banjo.
I’ve lived in Portland for over 40 years (I’m originally from northern Washington State) and have always been involved in music. I’ve been a member of the POTMG organizing committee since 2010 and I edit Bubbaville’s Portland Old Time Music email Newsletter. I joined the Bubbaville Board of Directors in 2015 and I’m excited to expand my participation in the Old Time community as a board member.
I’m a banjo player. I started with Scruggs style, but when I moved to Portland in 2005 and joined Maggie, Patrick and Sophie’s String Band Class I learned claw hammer. It is now my favorite style. My husband, George, plays primarily mandolin and Cajun accordion, though he’s been known to pick up a fiddle. We discovered the Old Time Gathering in 2006 and have been going every year since. I’m now retired, but until retirement I worked for Legal Aid and, later, for the Small Business Legal Clinic of Lewis and Clark Law School as a lawyer specializing in nonprofit and small business law. I joined the Bubbaville Board of Directors in 2017.
I am an old time musician in Portland, Oregon. I play banjo and sing in Tall Poppy String Band, produce a clawhammer instructional series at pitchforkbanjo.com, and host the Get Up in the Cool podcast, a weekly old time music show featuring conversations and musical collaborations with traditional musicians.
My path toward old-time string band music has been somewhat windy. Although it started as a kid in the 80s watching my dad pick at campouts and parties around southwestern PA and northern WV, I didn’t start getting into folk music in earnest until I was 18, when I got a copy of Rich Kirby and Michael Kline’s They Can’t Put it Back LP on June Appal Recordings from a friend. In time that record kick-started an obsession which led me to Folkways, Harry Smith, and the Lomaxes, as well as the “American Primitive” guitar work of John Fahey. The latter, along with my love of Minimalist drone, psychedelic rock, and the various musics of the Near East and northern India, informed a great deal of what I’ve
performed and recorded for the last 20+ years.
It wasn’t until 2008 or so, when an old friend told me about growing up watching a well-known Midwestern fiddler play, that I realized “Old-Time” was a living, breathing thing. Fast forward a few years, I was living in Pittsburgh and began messing around with an old banjo I had lying around, eventually taking some lessons from Dwight Diller on a friend’s recommendation. I moved back to Portland in early 2021 after a long hiatus and immediately felt the urge to serve this beautiful, vibrant old-time music and dance community.
I was sucked into the PNW old-time scene in 2007 when I was invited to play with some old-time musicians at the Seattle Folklife Festival and finally made the connection with those New Lost City Rambler and Doc Watson records my dad had around the house when I was a kid. I’m a groovy-jam style fiddler and am really enjoying learning guitar and square dance calling, as well! I live in Eugene, Oregon and was encouraged by Bill Martin to create the nonprofit, Mud City Old-Time society which promotes old-time music and dance in the southern Willamette Valley. So very happy to continue to help connect folks to the old-time community!
