Welcome to Our FOTMC 2024
Guest Artists

Ann Whitley Singleton spent years playing fiddle and singing with the Peavine Creek String Band, the Atlanta Swamp Opera Cajun Band, Whistlin’ Rufus, The Rosin Sisters, and Good in the Kitchen.  She was Curriculum Director for the Georgia Pick & Bow Traditional Music School for many years, an after-school program teaching Appalachian Music to 3rd Graders through High School aged children in Dahlonega, Georgia, and continues as a Board Member and teacher for Pick & Bow.  For over twelve years she co-directed the Blue Ridge Old-Time Music Week at Mars Hill University in North Carolina, and with the Rosin Sisters, she taught harmony singing there for over a decade. She’s spent a considerable amount of time in Florida playing for old-time contra dances, has been a guest artist at a few Florida festivals, and has taught at the Stephen Foster Old-Time Music Weekend.

 

John Day has become a mainstay of Dahlonega’s old-time and Celtic music community. He and his wife Cathy moved from Del Rio, Texas, to Dahlonega over ten years ago.  He began playing guitar as a young boy and became an accomplished guitarist playing everything from the Beatles music, to leading worship in his church, to Bluegrass, but quickly immersed himself in Dahlonega’s old-time and Celtic communities, playing an integral part in organizing and leading those regular jams.  He is now a Board Member of Georgia Pick & Bow and teaches guitar and mandolin for its workshops. John has become an important member of the staffs of Dahlonega’s ‘Bear in the Square,’ the Swannanoa Gathering, and the Blue Ridge Old-Time Music Week, sharing his wealth of musical knowledge and his excellent vocal skills wherever he can.

 

Ann’s husband, Doug Singleton, began contra dancing in 1992 and was quickly drawn to the music and the whole experience of the dances. In the mid-90s he began learning the art of calling dances. When he and Ann met in 1998, he bought a guitar and his adventure into the world of old-time music-making began. He began playing the bass in 2000 while at the same time he sharpened his dance calling skills. Doug has been a dance caller for over twenty years in the southeast areas of the United States, including the Florida cities of Tampa, Fort Meyers, Fort Lauderdale, Gainesville, and Coco Beach. He has also called danced in the mid-west. Doug is a Board Member of Georgia Pick & Bow, teaching bass and guitar in their workshop classes.