Charlie Poole Festival Performance Schedule | Charlie Poole Festival

Thursday Night Performers - Starting at 5:00 pm

Celebration of Kinney Rorrer, with David Menconi

The biggest reason Charlie Poole is so well-remembered 95 years past his death is his grand-nephew Kinney Rorrer, who worked tirelessly to keep his music and memory alive. Kinney died this past April. As he was a friend of the Charlie Poole Festival, we honor Kinney’s memory by kicking off the festival with friends, peers and admirers discussing his life and work. Kinney was always one for a story, so we’re going to tell some about him.The program will also include presentation of this year’s Charlie Poole Festival Lifetime Achievement Award (which is being renamed in Kinney’s honor). This year’s recipient, David Menconi, will lead the discussion, joined by Wayne Martin, Darren Moore, Jesse Smathers, and Devon Flaherty.

Kinney Rorrer

David Menconi

Devon Flaherty & His Railroad Ramblers

Devon Flaherty & His Railroad Ramblers (Andrew Walker and Andrew Berger-Gross) are an award-winning old-time string trio based in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina. With a shared appreciation for the musically-rich landscape of the Carolina Piedmont in which they reside, the Ramblers strive to preserve and carefully build on the musical traditions of the region. As frequent attendees of fiddlers' conventions and festivals around the country, Flaherty has won the 2024 Charlie Poole Festival Three-Finger Banjo Grand Champion Award, and each member has won prizes for their skill on their respective instrument, and as well as a group. Flaherty is a member of old-time string band The Three-Top Serenaders and the American Primitive-style trio Grant/McGuire/Flaherty. Andrew Berger-Gross (and occasionally Andrew Walker) play with the Italian string music trio Oak City Serenaders.

The New North Carolina Ramblers

New North Carolina Ramblers: Kinney Rorrer formed the New North Carolina Ramblers in the 1970s to carry on the music of Charlie Poole and Posey Rorrer. The current members of the band, Darren Moore, Mark Hudson, and Wayne and Margaret Martin, have pledged to continue Kinney’s work to bring greater public visibility to this legacy. Through the years Kinney mentored many talented musicians from the region encompassing his home communities of Danville, Virginia and Leaksville-Spray, North Carolina, including Darren and Mark. They grew up listening to Kinney’s weekly country music radio program, and Kinney was delighted when he heard them play when they were young and discover they were absorbing the region’s stringband and bluegrass music traditions. Wayne and Margaret Martin live in Raleigh, North Carolina and feel fortunate to have heard the recordings of Charlie Poole at an early age, which eventually led to a friendship and ten-year musical collaboration with Kinney.

Jesse Smathers

Jesse Smathers was born and raised in Eden, NC, but holds his Western NC roots close. Jesse comes from a long line of musicians. His grandfather, Harold Smathers, and grand-uncle, Luke Smathers, recorded for June Appal and were awarded the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award in 1993 for their contributions to North Carolina folk music. Jesse began playing the guitar at age eleven, and added the mandolin not long after. His teens were spent competing at fiddlers conventions, including his home festival, the Charlie Poole Festival. In 2010, he began his career as a touring musician with the James King Band, and in 2014 he joined the Nothin’ Fancy band. The Lonesome River Band welcomed him to the group in 2015 as their mandolin player, with Jesse earning the IBMA Momentum Award for Vocalist of the Year in 2017. In 2021, Jesse switched over to the guitar position with Lonesome River Band, and continues to tour with them around the country. In 2022 Jesse released his first self-titled solo album, and his latest single to be released is a Charlie Poole tune – “Take a Drink on Me.”

Friday Night Performers - Starting at 6:30 pm

Lu Furtado & Elizabeth Dunlap

Hear the generational voices of the Shenandoah Valley from Lu Furtado and Elizabeth Dunlap, friends born into two of the most prolific families of the area who made a musical family of their own. From their early days of playing full time as the oldtime band Banana Express, to their own solo work with groups like Joe Troop and Truth Machine, The Fly Birds and their musical collaborations, they fit into modern day showtimes; time and distance can’t keep this duo or their nuances apart. modern-day

Martha Spencer

Martha Spencer is a singer-songwriter, mountain musician and dancer from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She grew up in the musical Spencer family and learned to play several instruments (guitar, fiddle, banjo, bass, dulcimer, mandolin) and flatfoot/clog at a young age. She performs and has recorded with various groups and has been involved with several roots music projects. She has played shows, festivals, and led workshops across the US, Australia, UK, Canada, and Europe. Martha’s first solo album in 2018 and latest release “Wonderland” in 2022 have been featured in articles in Rolling Stone Country, No Depression, Holler, Wide Open Country, Bluegrass Situation, Americana Highways, PopMatters, and more. She also has been included in articles in the NY Times, Austin Chronicle. And Billboard, and was a part of the Fiddlin’ documentary.

Rissi Palmer

Rissi Palmer made history in 2007 with her breakthrough single "Country Girl" from her self-titled debut album, becoming the first Black female country artist to chart on the Billboard Hot Country Singles Chart in 19 years. Over 17 years later, Rissi’s debut album has earned its place in music history, with Spin Magazine recognizing it as one of “Ten Essential Albums by Black Artists” in 2024. A trailblazer for Black women in country music, Palmer has since independently released three albums, including Revival (2019), which was named one of Rolling Stone's “Top 25 Country-Soul Albums of All Time.” Her discography also includes the Back Porch Sessions EP (2015) and the children's album Best Day Ever. Palmer, who describes her musical style as “Southern Soul,” has made numerous national appearances on Oprah & Friends, CNN, CBS This Morning, GMA, Entertainment Tonight, and FOX Soul’s “The Book of Sean and has been featured in national publications including Associated Press, Ebony, Essence, Huffington Post, New York Times, Newsweek, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PEOPLE, Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, to name a few. A few highlights throughout her musical career include performances at The White House, New York’s Lincoln Center and multiple appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. She has toured extensively across the country, sharing stages with Taylor Swift, The Eagles, Chris Young, Charley Crockett and many more.  Rissi is now the host of the Apple Music Country show, Color Me Country Radio w/ Rissi Palmer, a Special Correspondent for CMT’s (Country Music Television) Hot 20 Countdown, and is also among some of country music’s most notable stars being showcased in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s “American Currents: State of the Music” exhibition.

Saturday Night Performers - Starting at 6:30 pm

P.I.C.K.

P.I.C.K. stands for Piedmont Instrument Classes for Kids and it’s the wonderful traditional music program offered by Piedmont Folk Legacies, nonprofit presenter of the Charlie Poole Festival. This group is made up of the most advanced of the nearly 50 students who study with the program on an ongoing basis. Jackson Gunter, Cora Ellis, Audrey Nappier, Ryker Flynn, and Braylen Rodriguez are excited to showcase what they’ve learned in the program, led by band teacher and prime bluegrass fiddler, Katie Griffin. 

Murphy Campbell

Murphy Campbell is a rising star in the old time music world. All of 19 years old, but an old soul who values the roots of both her heritage and the music she loves, Murphy has just recorded a remarkable project as her first full length album. “Revenant” features ballads written by her female ancestors in Mitchell County, North Carolina. These ballads were written down by Cecil Sharp, the famous English folk song collector, who visited the area in the late nineteenth century. Murphy explains her inspiration for this project: “Revenant is a word that means “one coming back from death”, as well as a genre of traditional Appalachian ballad where the dead return to share a message with the living. It is a fitting word to describe my family’s ballads; songs lost to time that I intend to unearth for the world to hear.”

Amythust Kiah

A native of Chatanooga, TN, Amythyst Kiah is a graduate of East Tennessee State University’s Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies program. Her breakthrough album, “Wary + Strange” was lauded by Rolling Stone as one of the 25 best Country and Americana albums of 2021. Amythyst’s most current recording – “Still + Bright” – is a darkly cinematic twist on her previous work, exploring her affinity for Eastern philosophies and spiritual traditions, a deep connection to the natural world, and life lessons learned in her formative years as a self-described “anime-nerd mall goth.” Amythyst’s career has seen collaborations with an eclectic mix of the brightest stars in Americana music today, including performing with the women-of-color supergroup, Our Native Daughters, which also includes Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell. 