George Eckard is a Decatur resident who has lived in the Atlanta area for more than 50 years. When his parents bought a little red ukulele for him, much to their surprise, he began to play it, they began to acquire more instruments for him and they offered encouragement for his musical endeavors. His big brother took him to see Bob Dylan at the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Atlanta for his 15th birthday. That same year Miss Harbin, his ninth grade English teacher who looked a little like Greta Garbo, told him that he had the heart of a poet. Somewhere in this soil the seeds of songwriting were planted. He started songwriting in college and has had a passion for it ever since. He has played at local venues solo, with the Unusual Suspects and, currently, with the 4 Man String Band. Today, he is completing work on his second collection of songs called Love the Land.

Max’s first love is traditional American music. He has led workshops on worksongs and other call-and-response songs at colleges, farms, and community centers all over the northeast, including Sheepscot General, Whitefield ME; Williams College; Full Plate Farm Collective, Ithaca NY; Common Ground Farm, Beacon NY; Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation, Williamstown MA; SUNY New Paltz; and Billings Forge Community Works, Hartford CT.  He has also taught worksongs and old-time fiddle at the Folk Music Society of New York Spring weekend 2014.

Max’s vision is to give his students the tools they need to play by ear, play with others, improvise, and teach themselves. He makes it fun and easy for people learn together by using a call-and-response teaching method that develops a strong connection between ear, voice, and instrument. Then it’s natural to learn new music and join in with any group, and to play or sing well, too!

Max regularly performs in Atlanta at Freedom Farmers Market at the Carter Center, Grant Park Farmers Market, East Atlanta Farmers Market, Root City Pop-up Markets, and The Pullman in Kirkwood. Max’s essays on worksongs have been published in Taproot (Issue 13) and on Bennett Konesni’s worksongs.org.

Facebook pages for Max’s current projects:

Max and Maggie

Max Godfrey (Solo performance, lessons, writing, and workshops)

The New Millennium Jelly Rollers

Sourwood Honey

Max teaches Old-time American fiddle styles, clawhammer banjo and country-blues and folk guitar privately. You can contact him about lessons at mgodfrey218@gmail.com, or maxgodfrey.me or 404 218 4707.

Andy Howard
Director, American Racket Cloggers
Director, Florida Clogging Festival

Andy Howard is a sixth generation Floridian currently living in Atlanta. He earned a Masters of Arts in American Dance Studies from Florida State University, authoring a thesis on the history and social origins of American Team Clogging. He also earned a Masters of Arts in International Business from the University of Florida. He is a leader in the clogging community, a regular featured instructor at C.L.O.G. national conventions and regional events throughout North America. His troupe, American Racket, has performed throughout the U.S. and in South Korea, Brazil, Canada and Costa Rica.American Racket has shared stages with Bill Cosby, Ted Koppel, Wayne Brady, Sister Hazel, Sugar Ray, Dane Cook and others. Andy is an active performer, judge, instructor and conference presenter. His professional career focuses on marketing, art direction and public relations for companies including Orlando Opera Company, Orlando Repertory Theatre, the University of Florida College of the Arts, the University of Florida Department of Recreational Sports and (currently) the Georgia Tech Research Corporation in Atlanta. He has taught credit-earning dance courses in tap, clogging and world dance at Florida State University and Santa Fe College, worked as an entertainer at Walt Disney World Resort and has been a regular instructor for the University of Florida’s Dance for Life program which involves researching the impact of movement and dance on people with Parkinson’s Disease and their caregivers. Andy enjoys traveling, performing and outdoor photography, including underwater photography documenting Florida’s extensive network of pristine fresh-water springs. He holds a Group Exercise certification from the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA). He was inducted into the All American Clogging Team in 2002, the Clogging Team of the Decade in 2010, and the Florida Clogging Hall of Fame in 2015.

Mick Kinney enjoys fiddling a variety of styles including Appalachian, Cajun, Celtic, Blues and Swing. A professional musician since 1978, he has played the 1982 World Fair, McCabe’s, House of Blues, Bluebird Cafe, Rendez vous des Cajuns, and NPR’s Mountain Stage. Mick has performed with John Hartford, Victoria Williams, Michelle Malone, Atlanta blues man Frank Edwards, and 1920s recording artist Stranger Malone. Recent collaborations as a folklorist have been with the Smithsonian New Harmonies exhibit, Georgia Humanities Council, Carpetbag Theater, Dust to Digital Records and Northwest Georgia Textile Heritage Trail. Currently, Mick appears often with Elise Witt, jazz clarinetist Dub Hudson, and the Kinney family old time dance band “The HickHoppers.” He has been an instructor at Swannanoa Gathering, John C. Campbell Folk School, Mars Hill College, Alabama Folk School, and Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. His class will focus on traditional fiddle technique and musical concepts such as scales, modes, and harmony.

John McCutcheon is a 6-time Grammy nominee, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and legendary folk music performer. He is one of the foremost hammer dulcimer players in the world, one of the primary figures in the US hammer dulcimer revival, showcasing traditional players, and authoring instruction methods and workshops that have introduced thousands to this ancient and beautiful instrument.

John put down guitar and took up penny whistle as a young lad in the 1970s after realizing there were just too many Jimmy Page, Ace Frehley and Doc Watson wannabes to compete with. After meeting the great Chicago uilleann piper Joe Shannon, he added the pipes and Irish wooden flute to his instrumental arsenal and set off on a lifelong musical journey. In the late ’70s/early ’80s John was keen to destroy a few good tunes with fellow beginners at whatever establishment or street corner would be fool enough to have them.

But by the mid ’80s he found his way and started The Buddy O’Reilly Band, for many years the big cheese of the Atlanta Irish/folk music scene. “The Buddies” have produced 3 albums and a whole lot of great music and fun!

John has since gone on to a solo career and participate in many bands and collaborations. His latest venture is with the music and dance trio, Ah Surely. And he’s been involved with productions big and small. He created and produces Atlanta’s annual Celtic Christmas concert, celebrating 27 years in 2018.

He’s a leader at The Marlay House Trad Tuesday night in Decatur – 10 years of trad music!

John’s been teaching Irish music workshops and privately for about half of his 58 years.

And he discovered, though he couldn’t quite match Jimi Hendrix’s guitar on uilleann pipes, he could at least come close to his soul!

Jeff has been playing music since taking up the trumpet in middle school.  Highlights of his four years in the high school marching band include a stint on tuba and meeting his wife.  Jeff also began playing guitar in high school.  When Jeff’s children were younger, neighbor Frank Hamilton recommended the ukulele for them.  The kids didn’t learn the instrument, but Jeff did.  The ukulele led to banjo and then a return to guitar.  Over the years, Jeff has spent countless hours sharing music with school-aged children and adult peers.

Jeff approaches music lessons as a collaboration between teacher and student. By nurturing a rapport with his students, he can shape his classes to satisfy the individual tastes and goals of everyone in the group. In his class you’ll develop not just as an instrumentalist, but as a musician; learning by ear will give you the both the ability to play the songs you’ll learn from Jeff, but the capacity to play along with songs you don’t know!

Fritz has played and taught guitar for over 40 years and has performed folk music and “songs of the heart” in halls, coffee houses and bars for about as long as a singer/songwriter. He has taught private and group lessons in local music shops. Fritz loves to kindle the light of musical passion in his students, and his warm, relaxed teaching style reflects the pleasure he takes in bringing people and new music together.

Fritz studied classical guitar and music theory with Lyster Bass (Lyster currently teaches at Maple Street Guitars in Atlanta). During that time he played in the master class seminar at Emory University.

Fritz also enjoys playing ukulele, octave mandolin, mandola and harmonica. His luthier work includes restoring and repairing acoustic stringed instruments in the violin, guitar and mandolin families.

Mike Simpson has been a leader in the Atlanta Irish music scene for 25 years.  In the early 90s he wrote what was for years the web’s leading tin whistle tutorial, and taught slow sessions in the late 90s and early 2000s.  He has played in numerous bands and ensembles over the years including Caislean, The New Road, and The Long Drop, and anchored Atlanta’s longest-running traditional music session from 1993 to 2013. In 2004 he went to Dublin and obtained the T.T.C.T. certification for teachers of Irish music (on fiddle), and in 2009 he released a self-produced CD entitled, “Other Forms of Magic”. He currently anchors a weekly session at The Wrecking Bar, and performs for contra dances and special occasions.