2026 Schedule

The Latvian Center will be open on Friday Oct. 9th from 3 pm – 11 pm, and on Saturday, Oct. 10th from 11 am – 11 pm.

All concerts are in the Ballroom of the Latvian Center on the main floor.

Friday

• 5:30-6:30 pm Cliff Perry and Laurel Bliss

• 7:30-8:30 pm New Vintage Revelers

• 8:45-9:45 pm Flat Bridge String Band

Saturday

• 5:30-6:30 pm Bug Tussle

Saturday Square Dance

• 7:30-8:40 pm New Vintage Revelers

• 8:40-9:00 pm  Break

• 9:00-10:15 pm Flat Bridge String Band

Alex MacLeod and Amy Carroll, callers

All workshops are on Saturday, Oct. 10th

11:30 am-12:30 pm Paul Elliott (fiddle) Ballroom

A Bunch of Billies (in the Lowground) Billy in the Lowground is one of those families of tunes that share a name but can be so different from each other. In this workshop we’ll get familiar with different cool versions from the fiddling of Lowe Stokes, Emmett Lundy, Byard Ray, Art Galbraith, and Lem Isom.

11:30 am-12:30 pm W.B. Reid (guitar) Conference Room

Fingerpicking Old-Time Rhythm Guitar While more rare today, fingerpicked guitar accompaniment was more common before the 1930s and exemplified by Riley Pucket, Maybelle Carter, Lester Flatt, and others. We'll cover basic techniques and cool tricks along with some historical and regional examples.

11:30 am-12:30 pm Mark Graham (harmonica) Lounge

Three Tunes in Three Different Styles Barlow Knife, Fall on My Knees, Sandy Boys. BRING A 10-HOLE DIATONIC HARMONICA IN THE KEY OF G. No other harp will do.

12:45-1:45 pm Harry Liedstrand (fiddle) Ballroom

Jewels of the San Joaquin Valley Fiddle tunes from Kenny Hall, Dad Crockett, Ron Hueghy, and others. We’ll dive into the Happy Hayseeds, the Crockett Family, and consider how fiddle tunes might have traveled from Kentucky and the Ozarks to the Golden State. Possibilities include Yellow Gals, Dad Crockett’s Reel (watch out for those chords), the Happy Hayseed Two-Step, and Alabama Jubilee by Bill Helms and his Upson County Band.

12:45-1:45 pm Cliff Perry & Laurel Bliss (singing) Conference Room

Carter Family Harmonies Have fun learning some Carter Family harmony techniques - unisons, crossing and double crossing!!  And we’ll sing a bunch of favorites, too.

12:45-1:45 pm Daniel Ullom (mandolin) Lounge

Developing Your Rhythm on the Mandolin Mandolin frequently is an important part of the rhythm section, thus it's really important to practice rhythm as much as you practice playing tunes. We are easily enamored with the fretting hand, but it's most often the picking hand that has the biggest musical impact. We will discuss how to practice good timing, how to count beats, how to lock in with other musicians and how to be interactive when you're supporting others. Open to mandolin players of all levels.

2:00-3:00 pm Amy Carroll & Alex MacLeod (dance calling) Ballroom

Spicy Squares and Fancy Figures Every caller has a few figures they rarely get to call. We trade them like rare collectibles, flip past them on their crisp, un-smudged note cards while building a dance program. Amy and Alex will reach deep into their dance collections to teach and call an hour of fancy figures and spicy squares. If you're a dancer that's been itching to tackle a bit of advanced human entanglement, to duck and dive your way well beyond the right and left grand, this is your chance! If you're a caller looking to collect a few more rarities for the bottom of your deck of dances, this is the hour for you!

2:00-3:00 pm Paul Kotapish (guitar) Conference Room

Chasing the One: Going for Broke on Backup Guitar We’ll look at the way that I approach accompanying fiddle tunes and songs on the guitar, which I must confess occasionally strays from the conventional. We’ll explore chord choices and voicings, bass walks and runs, tone production, ergonomics, how to make the most out of every boom and chuck, navigating crooked tunes, keeping calm when things seem perilous, and developing an unshakeable commitment to the “one.” I’ll have a few examples to share, and we can dissect some tunes that you might be wrangling with, too.

2:00-3:00 pm Dan Warrick (banjo) Lounge

Getting in the Mode: Soulful Tunes in A Modal on the Banjo We’ll dig into some classics from fiddler Henry Reed, “British Field March” and “Santa Ana’s Retreat”, along the way teasing apart what “modal” actually means, or at least poking at the murky topic with a stick. Then if time allows, I’ll show how to play Hank Bradley’s Greekish old-time masterpiece “Roscoe’s Gone” in D modal - actually easier than it sounds.

3:15-4:15 pm Emma Rast (fiddle) Ballroom

Old-Time Fiddle Bowings and Repertoire Finding your groove on the fiddle can be challenging. Emma will teach a few tunes from Western North Carolina that feature basic bowing patterns. We will discuss how these patterns can apply to other fiddle tunes and how to best practice so your bowing sounds natural and strong. Open to intermediate to advanced fiddlers.

3:15-4:15 pm Led Jam Conference Room

Jam leader TBA

3:15-4:15 pm Led Jam Lounge

Jam leader TBA

Thursday Oct. 8th from 7:00 – 9:00 pm ⭑ Emma Rast & Daniel Ullom ⭑ The Watershed Pub

Come early and have dinner. You might want to bring an armless chair for yourself.