Heading 1
This October is shaping up to be a blast! Here are the public performances on the docket-
October 7-8
Mystic Folkways Festival at Mystic Seaport
I'll be hosting a stage from 12:30-4pm where some excellent old time musicians from the region will be jamming old time fiddle tunes, string band blues, swing and more, and there may be some appearances by musicians from the other stages who want to come throw down for a few.
October 13-15 all day and night
Jam Camp North: I'm on teaching staff at this annual event in Charlton, MA, where master Bluegrass, Old Time, Blues, and Celtic musicians from around the country will lead attendees in jams ranging from slow sessions for beginners to full on raging sessions not for the faint of heart.
October 14
Thames River Cruise/New London County Historical Society
Join us for a beautiful fall cruise up the Thames River from new London to Norwich, CT and back on a Block Island ferryboat, while Jerry Bryant, Jeff Davis and I regale you with chanteys, river songs, nineteenth century fiddle tunes, songs from the West Indies trade in the age of sail, ballads, and music from the days when Long island Sound was the highway to New York aboard steamboats and the entry to ocean paths to the wide world aboard sailing ships. (Yes, I got a leave of absence from Jam Camp to do this!)
October 22
First Old Time Jam: Roots Music Stomp at the United Theatre
First in a monthly series I'm hosting, this will showcase an astonishing range of guest musicians expert in styles including Old Time, Blues, Cajun, Irish, and Chanteys. Over the course of two hours you'll get a whirlwind tour of the American Roots Music styles that have shaped American vernacular music. Come prepared to sing, and if you don't want your feet to move bring your lead boots.
...and a preview of November:
November 2-5
Fiddle Hell
I'm teaching nine sessions of fiddle, banjo, and dance band at his immersive teaching camp, held in a big hotel in Westford, MA, that annually draws hundreds of fiddlers from all over the country and teaching staff from all over the world. Pretty much any style of fiddling you've ever heard of is taught by expert players, as well as other instruments, and there are concerts and jamming everywhere. If you're a fiddler or traditional musican, it's really Fiddle Heaven.
I'm also teaching regularly at the United Theatre in Westerly, RI where the Roots Music Stomp takes place- if you'r interested in lessons on fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, button accordion, or ukulele, I have some slots open.
INFO
Craig Edwards plays a broad range of American roots music: traditional fiddle styles including Appalachian old-time, blues, bluegrass, Cajun, Cape Breton, Irish, and Swing, old-time 5 string banjo, flatpicking and fingerstyle guitar covering Delta and Piedmont blues, honky-tonk, rockabilly, and swing, Cajun and Zydeco accordion, and solo and group singing. Alone or with other musicians, he plays with the drive and conviction that characterize these musical traditions.
Craig first began playing music as a child growing up in Staunton, Virginia. When no one was around he’d slip his father’s fiddle out of the closet and try to coax music out of it. Singing at civil rights events his parents brought him helped form an early understanding of the deep power of traditional music. Inspired by the fertile music scene in the Shenandoah Valley, he began playing music at age eight and picked up guitar, fiddle, banjo, and later button accordion. Even in his teen rock’n’roll period he noticed that the musicians he most admired spoke of early blues and country players as inspirations.
In 1976 he attended the legendary Stompin’76 festival in Galax, Virginia, which featured many of the leading performers in what’s now called “roots music”- Doc Watson, Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder, Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt, David Bromberg, John Prine, John Hartford, and many others. He began spending summers learning fiddling and banjo in West Virginia from honored old timers like Ernie Carpenter and Melvin Wine, and going from one fiddler’s convention to another, immersing himself in American roots music traditions.
Craig majored in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University. He studied West African drumming with Abraham Adzenyah, and traveled to Ireland, Louisiana and Nova Scotia to learn from old-timers there. His two-part thesis featured a written “Study of Four Musicians of Central West Virginia” based on his visits there, and a concert with both solo and group performances called “The Roots of Southern American String Band Music”.
After graduating, he formed a series of bands playing Old-time, Irish, Cajun, Zydeco, blues and other roots styles. He worked as a staff musician at Mystic Seaport for many years and served as director of the Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival, incorporating maritime music from African-American, Afro-Caribbean, Native Alaskan, and many other cultures into the festival during his tenure there. Craig now performs solo and with several groups playing a variety of genres, teaches Traditional Fiddle Styles at Wesleyan University, and designs music installations for historic music exhibits at museums. He was named a Connecticut Master Teaching Artist by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, and has won numerous fiddle and banjo contests.
Craig has performed throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe at festivals, concerts, and other venues. He plays, records, and tours with several bands in addition to performing solo and teaching.
