Stringed Instrument Workshops

Bailey Hill is a multi-instrumentalist and experienced songwriter based out of Fultondale, Alabama. He got his start learning Mandolin at The Alabama Folk School at Camp McDowell and soon expanded his horizons to Banjo and Guitar. Bailey specializes in American Old Time and Bluegrass music but has a firm grasp on multiple other styles as well. His experience in the world of teaching includes Directing the Alabama Folk School at Camp McDowell, Banjo instructor at The Alabama Folk School’s Youth Camp, Ukulele Instructor for the Magnolia Nature Preschool, Youth Songwriting Workshop instructor for The Alabama Folk School, and Private lesson teacher since 2016. He has also taught Banjo workshops at the University of Alabama’s New College program Bailey is also an experienced performer. He has performed at Cavefest, The Acoustic Cafe, Artwalk Birmingham, The Birmingham Museum of Art, Samford University’s Children Week, FOOTMAD of Birmingham’s Monthly Contra Dances, Bluegrass on the Rim, and many more. Bailey’s passion for teaching and performing comes from a fundamental drive of wanting more music in the world. Bailey views music as not just a great hobby or job, but an excellent way to build community and fellowship.

Carter Laney has been learning old-time banjo for 32 years! Over that time, he has listened to and been influenced by Round Peak players like Tommy Jarrell, Kyle Creed, and Fred Cockerham and revivalist and current generation players like Paul Brown, Richie Stearns, Frank Lee, John Herrmann, Al Tharp, and Gordy Hinners. Carter listens to old-time music every bit as much as he plays it and that has overwhelmingly been the best way for him to learn. His favorite thing to do is play banjo in a string band setting. Over the years Carter has played with Vulcan’s Britches, The Yahoos, and currently plays with The Whistlebees. Carter won first place in the Old-Time Banjo competition at the Tennessee Valley Old-Time Fiddler’s Convention in 2023 and 2024.

Aerin deRussy first picked up the violin at age four for classical instruction but started learning fiddle when she was six years old from her grandfather, an old-time fiddler from Monroe County, Kentucky. It was a rocky transition – her grandfather was thirty years out-of-practice and mostly deaf – but the old time foundation was laid down. After years of exploring other genres, Aerin joined the alternative old-time band, The Yellow Dandies, which brought her back to the old-time genre and introduced her to the joys of playing contradances. She is currently focused on the Southern old-time fiddling tradition with special interest in Alabama tunes and fiddlers.

Dillon Hodges is a Shoals native, 2024 Emmy Award-winning composer, and National Flatpicking Champion. At 13, Hodges was endorsed by Gibson Guitars after he won the Jr. Guitar Championships in Smithville, TN. At 17, he made history at the National Flatpicking Championships in Winfield, KS — the second-youngest winner ever, the first left-handed, and the first from Alabama. Atlantic Records released his album “firekid” in 2015 with “Lay By Me,” “Magic Mountain,” and “Die for Alabama.” In 2021, Warner Chappell’s Neon Cross released Muscle Shoals Metaphysical, featuring “Backwoods” and “Blue Roses.” His song “We’re Home,” written for PBS’s Reconnecting Roots, earned him the Emmy for Outstanding Original Song. Dillon mentors aspiring flat pickers across the country, helping them reach their full potential with his multidisciplinary curriculum.

Edward L. (“Ed”) Carnes was born and grew up in Leitchfield, Kentucky, the son of Freddie and Ida Carnes. Ed graduated high school as co-valedictorian of his class, with a perfect 4.0 of 4.0 GPA. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Western Kentucky University, majoring in Computer and earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree (summa cum laude) from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Ed has played the fiddle as a hobby since 1976. He began playing as a charter member of the Grayson County School Orchestra in 1974 in his hometown of Leitchfield, KY and learned to play fiddle with several other students who also became champion fiddlers.

Along the way, Ed has won fiddle championships in 5 states – KY, IN, TN, AL, OH, and placed as high as Runner-Up in the Grand Master Fiddler Championship. He has won numerous other championships, such as the Mid-America Championship (5 times), Empire State Championship, Western KY Championship, Texas OTFA Out of State Champion (2 times) and many others. Ed has fiddled all over the US, and also in Canada. An accomplished and NOTFA Qualified fiddle judge, Ed has judged the KY, TN, AL, IN, and TX State Championships, the U.S. National Contest in Weiser ID, the Western Open Contest in Red Bluff, CA, and many other contests. Ed has two solo recordings of his music available, has been featured on several fiddling collections, and has appeared and performed on the WSM Grand Ole Opry numerous times.

Ed is an organizer and co-founder of the Grand Master Fiddler Championship, one of the most prestigious fiddling competitions in the world. He serves as Vice-Chairman on its Board of Directors, directs the competition, and was the key driver in establishing it as a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention and as head Fiddle judge. Ed also helped found and directs the Twin Lakes National Fiddler Championship, a Nationally Certified contest, and helped get his hometown of Leitchfield named “The Fiddling Capital of Kentucky” by the Kentucky State Legislature. Ed worked with the Bluegrass Music Museum and Hall of Fame to re-establish the Kentucky State Fiddle Championship contest and serves as its contest director. Additionally, Ed provides technology support for the Texas Old Time Fiddlers Association.

Ed makes his career as an Information Technology Executive, working for such companies as EDS, Perot Systems, NCR, Dell, Sony Music Publishing, Round Hill Music. He also founded his own Microsoft Technology Consulting company and a Managed Services Provider company along the way.

Ed has two sons, Jared, and Jason, two stepsons, six stepdaughters, and is married to Jennifer. They make their home in Franklin, TN.

Jamie grew up in the Shoals area of North Alabama. She got interested in violin at an early age, traveling with her mom and grandmother to dulcimer events across the Southeast. She took her first Irish fiddle lessons from Daniel Carwile. As a Davidson College student, she was exposed to the rich old-time fiddling and traditional dance scenes of North Carolina and Southwest Virginia. As a chemistry doctoral student at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, she was a regular at local sessions and traveled to several counties to experience source Irish fiddling and music. She also collected more traditional music while a student and researcher in Ottawa Canada, Portugal, and England. While teaching at Emory and Henry College, she was a J.A.M (Junior Appalachian Musician) program instructor, working with local after-school students. In 2023 she moved back to North Alabama where she teaches fiddle, assists with local school string programs, and attends regional festivals and contests including the Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention. She and her husband Jim Holland play regularly for traditional dances, weddings, and other community events.

Jim and Joyce Cauthen are nationally known for their work collecting and preserving old-time fiddle music of Alabama, much of it showcased their popular collection on CD, Possum Up a Gumstump: Home, Field and Commercial Recordings of Alabama Fiddlers and Joyce’s book on Alabama’s rich fiddle tradition, With Fiddle and Well-Rosined Bow: The History of Old-Time Fiddling in Alabama. Rather than focus on fiddle tunes, in this workshop they will focus on what Joyce learned about backing up old-time fiddlers guitar. They’ll share recordings of fiddlers who had particularly good back-up guitarists and play some of their favorites tunes from their collection.

Russ Holder (Huntsville, AL) has been playing Guitar/DobroTM Resonator Guitar since he was in Junior High School and has been teaching those instruments since the year 2000. He is a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist that has performed across the United States from Florida to Ohio and North Carolina to Hawaii (any many points in-between). His parents introduced him and his younger brothers to music at an early age. Once he and his brothers & friends learned to play guitar/mandolin/banjo/bass/Dobro in their teen years, they formed a Bluegrass music group and began performing around the Southeast US. They have been attending/jamming at TVOTFC since 1974.
From 1998 to 2024, Russ performed/recorded with several different music groups touring the mid-South region. He has been a regular performer at the Bluebird Café, Big Spring Jam, Panoply, Concerts in the Park and regional music Festivals. Russ has had the honor to perform/jam with such artists as Charlie Louvin, Ken Mellons, Rob Ickes, John Hartford, Charlie Collins, Vassar Clements, Claire Lynch, Pete Wernick and hundreds of jammers at IBMA, SPBGMA, Great American Jam, Station Inn, CMA Fest, IBMA and ABMA events.
Russ is currently a Board Member for the Huntsville Traditional Music Association, a member of the Grasstronauts Bluegrass band, the WoodPickers acoustic Americana band, Cristina Lynn Trio songwriter group, teaches at the Huntsville Strings Shop, attends local/regional music Jams & enjoys working with music students of all ages. In 2025, Russ became a certified Wernick Method Jam instructor and enjoys helping students play music in groups.

Ryan Brown is a musician & educator in Birmingham, AL and counts himself lucky to have 14 years of experience as a professional Upright & Electric Bassist. Ryan has played & studied almost every style of American music. He learned to play Bluegrass & Old Time by joining up with The Yellow Dandies after years of playing jazz and rock and was whisked away to play many a String Band festival and, subsequently, to work with some of the best pickers around at the Alabama Folk School. Ryan has learned that intentional rhythm is what makes great music and will be very pleased to talk about making great time with anyone that asks.

Scooter Muse is an accomplished banjo and guitar player with more than 55 years of experience rooted in traditional Bluegrass, folk, and Celtic music. A master of three-finger Scruggs, melodic, and old-time banjo styles, he is also an acclaimed Celtic guitarist known for his work in open tunings and solo recordings including Saddell Abbey and The Road to Kintyre. Scooter is a founding member of the internationally recognized The Full Moon Ensemble and has spent the last 25 years performing with Henri’s Notions and alongside Jil Chambless as Chambless & Muse. A multi-time bluegrass, old-time banjo, and finger-picking guitar champion, he has performed with artists including Vassar Clements, Claire Lynch, and Jerry Reed. Scooter is also a designated Master Folk Artist for the Alabama State Council on the Arts, a respected music educator, festival leader, and retired city planner from Florence.

I have been playing guitar since I was ~12 years old. Started playing the Texas Style backing guitar in the mid 80’s. I went to a fiddle gathering in spring of 1986 in Leeds, Alabama where the legendary champion fiddler JT Perkins was attending (there were a bunch of other good fiddle players there as well). Guitar players there included Claudie Holt, and Clayton Martin, both who had, or were, backing JT at the time. They played Texas Style guitar and I was simply amazed. I could only do 3-chord stuff at the time and had never seen “a chord per beat.” I had access to the four JT Perkins albums and made up my mind: “I’m learning how to do that.” So, I spent an entire summer into the wee hours every night listening to those albums, learning every tune, and trying to mimic the Texas Style guitar. There was another jam session later that year – JT was there. I started requesting tune after tune and knew how to accompany them. Later that evening, JT told me “Boy, you’ve gotten a lot better since the last time I saw you.” I then started going to JT’s house in Arab, Alabama and playing with him. Next thing I know, he asked me if I wanted to go with him to a contest in Anderson, Alabama, and I backed him from them on till his passing in 1998. And we went to contest after contest for ~10 or 11 years.
Playing with JT opened the door for me. Almost immediately, other fiddlers see me playing with JT, so they start asking me to accompany them. I know and have played with many of the best fiddle players in the country and are good friends with them. Now I go all over the South and out to Texas to fiddle contests and get asked to accompany – sometimes with 50-75% of the fiddlers there. I go to about 1 contest per month.

Tony Robertson has been playing Bluegrass mandolin, guitar and banjo for some 49 years alongside bluegrass icons such as Vassar Clements, Hershel Sizemore, Jake Landers, Rual Yarbrough. He is currently spending 26 years in the Iron Horse bluegrass band which has recorded some 25 projects for Los Angeles based CMH record group including two which made the Grammy nomination list. He has also been a judge in competitive contests over the southeast.

Tyler Andal is a Nashville-born multi-instrumentalist rooted in bluegrass and folk, whose versatile playing has earned him multiple state and national championships. Known for warm, expressive tone and precise technique, Tyler brings authentic, story-driven music to every stage. Offstage he supports the fiddle and violin community as a skilled maker and restorer of violin bows—a craft he’s refined since the early 2010s.