Links and Information About Performers Who Have Graced the FAMA Stage

Also included: Additional Links to Other Notable Performers

Contact Information

Bill Staines performed the first FAMA concert. We'll always have a soft spot in our heart for this great performer. "Any new song that can live comfortably beside the well-worn songs of folk tradition has a good chance of surviving the test of time. Such, we believe, are the songs of Bill Staines" -- Charles Paton, Folk Legacy Records.

Mike Rayburn is an incredibly talented guitarist who "spins" songs like Will Rogers spun yarns. That great combination of humor and sensitivity. Do check him out when he's near you.

Small Potatoes did it again (for the third straight time!). They have completely sold-out (in advance!) and with good reason. Rich plays jaw-dropping guitar solos and delicate, melodic fingerstyle accompaniment. He makes it look so easy, but we all know the truth. Jacquie's rich voice and rhythm guitar compliments Rich's hot guitar playing perfectly and you'll never hear two voices that blend as well.

Harmonious Wail-Take a handful of Louis Jordan, a cup of Manhattan Transfer and a full slice of Django Reinhardt and you've got the Wail. Two-time performers on the FAMA stage, they are virtuoso performers and an evening you must experience.

Tamarack

Paula Joy Welter plays beautiful songs that tug at your heart.

KG & The Ranger-Saddle up your imagination for a ride to the Old West with KG & The Ranger. Their smooth harmony singing will bring back memories of the Sons Of The Pioneers, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and other cowboy stars of the silver screen.

Johnsmith is a winner of the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Award and a perennial finalist at Telluride's Troubadour competition and is one of the warmest human beings you'll ever meet. His wit, his humor, and his beautiful voice have made his shows a tremendous success.

Sally Barris shared the FAMA stage with Johnsmith and demonstrated why she is a two-time Kerrville Folk Festival finalist and a performer that you shouldn't miss when she's in your town.

LJ Booth plays fingerstyle guitar that makes living room guitarists drool and spins yarns with his songs that settle in and become part of you. His live shows are infamous for his uncanny ability to improvise lyrics which usually result in his onstage song of the day.

Michael Jerling is the guy next door. His quiet unassuming manner comes through in his picture perfect depictions of places and events in his life. He's a wonderful songwriter and a wonderful guy.

Bill Camplin , besides owning one of the best folk venues in the state (Cafe Carpe), is a powerful performer with a rich deep voice and a talent for writing about deep feelings.

Cosy Sheridan is a terrific songwriter with tons of passion coupled with enormous vocal and guitar talent. She thoroughly entertained the FAMA crowd.

The Sons of the Never Wrong don't do a laid back relaxing folk show. The "Sons" provided FDL with a fresh and inventive new twist to acoustic music, that most of us had probably never heard before. Bruce Roper, Sue Demel, Deb Lader and traveling bass man "Al" gave us all a fun-filled night of quirkiness and rich dancing harmonies.

Bob Franke is the songwriter's songwriter. He delivers his songs in such an unassuming manner it is easy for the audience to feel the song's emotions. Check out his website for more information about this talented songwriter.

Jack Williams

Rani Arbo, former lead singer of New England's beloved roots band, Salamander Crossing, has a new band filled with deep grooves, greasy fiddling, and mesmerizing vocals. Funky, emotive, acoustic, and adventuresome. Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem dip into country blues, swing, gospel, Appalacian, funk, and folk styles to deliver a bracing, contemporary fusion of American roots music.

Kat Eggelston sings songs about relationships and personal struggles. She paints beautiful pictures with her lyrics, her melodies, and beautiful guitar work.

Hans Mayer is a gifted musician who is comfortable playing everything from bluegrass (as he did for FAMA as a member of String Ties) to folk and rock standards to touring with Bill Miller to his incredibly fun children's performances. It was his children's music that first brought him to FAMA's attention and he has performed several times for FAMA kids of all ages.

Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer call their music "all-original, postmodern, mythic, American." It is the perfect combination of beautiful and haunting. If CD sales during intermission and after the show is any indication of how well the FAMA audience liked them, then they were a huge hit!

Steve Goodman Scrapbook Dedicated to the memory of the "Songwriter's Songwriter" and one of the most influential performers of the late twentieth century, although you probably would never know it. Steve Goodman was the performer who made Chicago, the Folk Music Mecca of the 1970's and was the author of the classic Arlo Guthrie hit, "City of New Orleans."

Michael Smith is one of the greatest songwriters in the world of folk/acoustic music. His songs have been covered by many (including Small Potatoes, Steve Goodman, Anne Hills, Claudia Schmidt, Bonnie Koloc, and Jimmy Buffet) and deserve even wider exposure. And....he tells a great snail joke... (you just had to be there....lol).

Susan Werner, long a favorite of several members of the FAMA Board, performed her first show after a few weeks off for Christmas to a sold-out, new attendance record-setting, audience for FAMA and surpassed our expectations. Her voice, her musicianship on guitar and piano, and her vision of life-the highs and lows of real life viewed with a combination of humilty and humor- left the audience clamoring for more. Don't miss this incredibly talented performer and generous, gracious personailty.

Pigs Eye Landing treated the FAMA audience to a foot-stomping good time. The evening started with a nice mixture of traditional music performed both vocally and instrumentally and ended with a couple hours of great dancing.

Peter Keane performed his rootsy mix of fingerstyle blues guitar playing and quietly soulful singing for an extremely appreciative FAMA audience. Everyone walked out smiling and happy....after a blues concert?!? Go figure! Catch Peter when you can!

Claudia Russell with Bruce Kaplan partnered up with Eric Lewis and Andy Ratliff for an evening of hot picking, country crooning, and back porch fun. Each is a formidable act on their own. Together they were dynamite!

Karen Mal with Bill Passalaqua provided a packed FAMA House Concert audience with an incredibly satisfying, personal concert. Karen is a marvelous songwriter and has the kind of voice singers dream about. On the strength of her House Concert performance, we invited Karen back with her husband and sometime musical partner, Chris Erwin, to perform for our concert series the following season. Karen pulled off the ideal, a large concert that felt as intimate as a house concert. She and Chris traded turns on the mandolin and harmonized beautifully. She is a treasure.

Peter Mayer walks casually out to the stage, gives the audience a brief hello and then launches into an incredible display of songwriting, singing, and the kind of guitar playing that inspires all musicians-guitarists, mandolinists, pianists, and more. Peter had everyone smiling, tapping their feet, and mesmerized.

Bryan Bowers is THE autoharp player. He plays it like no other. Sings songs of humor and fun (like "Four Wet Pigs" and "The Scotsman") and also tells both funny and poignant stories. His story about his trip to Alaska which was beautiful, but then his tranquility was interrupted by the events of 9/11. As all of us have been wondering, he pondered what he could do. His answer: be the best you, you can be. The best father, mother, teacher, salesman, etc.