Adam Hurt & Beth Hartness

Friday, February 28, 9:10pm

Prize-winning musicians Adam Hurt and Beth Williams Hartness perform duets of traditional music from the Appalachian south and elsewhere with clawhammer banjo, fiddle, fingerstyle guitar, and vocals. Their engaging program will appeal to players and fans of old-time music as well as those who may be getting their very first taste of this captivating genre.

Deemed a "banjo virtuoso" by the Washington Post, Adam Hurt has fused several traditional old-time idioms to create his own elegantly innovative clawhammer banjo style, having been introduced to the instrument at age eleven in his native Minnesota. A respected performer and teacher of traditional music, Adam has played at the Kennedy Center and conducted banjo workshops at many venues around the country and abroad. Since moving south in 2002, Adam has placed in or won most of the major old-time banjo competitions, and he has claimed several state banjo and fiddle championships. Adam's music can be heard on multiple recordings.

Raised on a tobacco farm in Caswell County, North Carolina, Beth Williams Hartness began singing and taught herself to play the guitar at the age of twelve, influenced by her mother's passion for early 1960s folk music. Beth was first introduced to old-time music in the 1980s while living in Charlotte, North Carolina, and during this time she was a founding member of the Charlotte Folk Music Society, serving as vice president and festival organizer. Beth has been a member of numerous award-winning string bands, and she has won ribbons of her own in competitions for back-up guitar. Her playing is featured on several recordings.