Janie Rothfield is an award winning clawhammer banjo player and powerhouse fiddler who has been playing Old Time Music “forever”! Janie got her start playing with older generation fiddlers and banjo players from New England, North Carolina and Quebec and since high school has had bands that played music rooted in Traditional American and Celtic music styles. She is known for her melodic and rhythmic style on both fiddle AND clawhammer banjo!, and original tunes. Two of her tunes have won the Best Non-Traditional Tune at Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival! Her newest solo CD, OUT OF THIN AIR, features all of her own compositions and songs, and in 2016 she release both wonderful CD of Fiddle/Harmonica duets with harmonica master, Brendan Power called PUFNSAW, and OFF THE CUFF AND ON THE FLY with her duo Hen's Teeth (With Nathan Bontrager)! Jane performs with numerous bands, including Coracree, Hen's Teeth, The Janie Rothfield Old Time Trio and with daughter Shona Carr as Little Missy.
Janie has taught clawhammer banjo and fiddle for over 35 years, privately and at camps and festivals such as Banjo Camp North, Old Songs Summer Camps, Janie's Jumpstart, Heart of the Alleghanies Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Folk College and the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes and even as far away as Australia! Her teaching method combines an easy to learn technique that combines strategies for learning to play by ear quickly with a focus on musicality and rhythm!
"Janie came highly recommended so I had high expectations. They were met and exceeded. I've been playing fiddle for years, trying to learn from books and the internet. After Janie showed me the proper way to hold the fiddle and bow, and proper bowing technique, all those tunes I know became so much easier to play. Then she showed me the most important thing about playing any instrument; the difference between playing notes and making music. And the whole time I never feel like I'm taking lessons. I feel like I'm just hanging out playing music and learning new things. Most importantly, I'm excited about learning because it has become fun again." Jamie McCracken- Janie's Fiddle student
“Janie has shown me how to pull the melody out of old time tunes on my banjo… to make them less busy and more musical. I had developed some poor habits throwing every banjo cliché I ever learned into each tune I played. Janie showed me how to strip out all of the unnecessary stuff… to concentrate on the melody and rhythm which ultimately “pops” the tunes and makes them more beautiful.” Tim Wade-clawhammer banjo (Doylestown, PA)
https://hensteethduo.bandcamp.com/releases Listen to Janie with Hen's Teeth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnGu_bHMLMY Garfields Blackberry Blossom
April 27-29, 2018
Oxford PA
Meet the Instructors
Pete Peterson is a master Old Time musician, specializing in finger style banjo for over 50 years in the styles of DaCosta Woltz, Frank Jenkins, and Uncle Dave Macon, while his chief banjo hero is Charlie Poole’s sound and songs. He also is a master of the old time guitar style using a thumbpick, in the ways of old time guitarists such as Roy Harvey, Maybelle Carter and Riley Puckett. Pete has traveled the world performing at festivals, concerts, music camps and workshops, and has won many prizes for his banjo and guitar playing, as well as for solo singing and in duets singing with his wife, Kellie Allen. With Kellie, he plays with the Orpheus Supertones, as well as with the Ubiquitones, and in the Janie Rothfield Trio. He can be heard on many recordings.
Gailanne Amundsen is an award winning fiddler, guitarist,singer and clawhammer banjo player and Song writer from Orlando Florida. She has been playing and performing since she was before 10 years old and has numberous recordings with her family band, Jubal's Kin with whom she was in the finals at Clifftop Appalachian Music Festival Neo Trad band 2011-2013. More recently, she won the Florida State banjo competition in 2014, and won ribbons in dulcimer, fiddle and autoharp. In 2014, her new band, “The Buck Stops Here” finished 2nd at Clifftop, and won the “Best New Tune” award. In 2015 Buffalo Gap (with Gailanne and Shona Carr), won the prestigious Traditional Band Competition at Clifftop.
She has participated in and led workshops in fiddle, banjo, guitar and songwriting. She has been a staff assistant on banjo and fiddle on many occasions, for instance at Suwanee Banjo Camp and at numerous Janie’s Jumpstart camps. Gailanne also plays with The Buck Stops Here (with Shona Carr), and their debut CD has garnered them critical acclaim and bookings at festivals and concerts, including MerleFest, IBMA, and more!
Shona Carr is an award winning singer, fiddler, guitarist, clawhammer banjo player and song writer who was born into a musical family rich in traditional Old Time and Celtic Music. She grew up surrounded by fiddle and banjo music from her mother Janie Rothfield, and Scottish traditional singing and Celtic music from her father, Allan Carr who is from Aberdeen, Scotland. Shona’s music and singing reflects the fusion of these musical styles and she is known for her unique voice, song and tune writing. Shona plays fiddle, banjo, tenor guitar and guitar and performs with her band THE BUCK STOPS HERE, LOST INDIAN and with Jane Rothfield as LITTLE MISSY. Shona’s original tune “Fly Bird” won the 2014 Best Original Tune at the Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival and her band, The Buck Stops Here took home 2nd place for Neo-Traditional band. In 2015, Shona’s band, Buffalo Gap won FIRST PLACE TRADITIONAL BAND at Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival! She has performed throughout the East Coast of the U.S. in concerts and festivals such as the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Old Songs Festival, the Music Fest at Sugar N’ Grove, Merle Fest, New Bedford Folk Festival and the Portsoy Traditional Music Festival in Portsoy, Scotland. Shona teaches out of her home in Staunton VA and has taught numerous times at Janie’s Jumpstart Old Time Weekends in Oxford, PA. www.thebuckstopshereband.com
