Meet Our Artists

Soulful bluegrass/folk vocalist and award-winning songwriter

Randy is a sure-fire triple threat; top shelf songwriter, award-winning vocalist, and stellar instrumental prowess on guitar and banjo, all wrapped in one soulful and timeless presentation. Winner of numerous Washington Area Music Association Male Vocalist of the Year honors in Traditional Folk and Bluegrass. A true gem for fans of great songs and great singing. Lights of Home also earned a WAMMIE for the 2002 Bluegrass Album of the Year.

Listen to "City of Lost Souls" from Lights of Home

Listen to "In Loving Memory of You" from Each & Every Day

Exciting and energetic all-star Celtic ceili band

What do you get when luminaries from throughout the world of Celtic music come together in one all-star lineup? The Bog Wanderers, long a favorite among Ceili bands, are comprised of Joe DeZarn (The Mighty Possums), longtime Falling Mountaineer Tabby Finch, champion accordionist Danny Flynn, the soaring vocals of Betsy O'Malley, and the venerable Jesse Winch (Celtic Thunder). The quintet brings their virtuosity to an impressive collection of reels, slides, jigs and songs.

Listen to "Waiting for Bridget/The Magic Kingdom/The Great 38" from Here's To You

Singer of traditional and contemporary folk songs from North America and the British Isles

Blessed with an incredible voice and a gift for using it to breathe new life into folk songs, Debra enjoys national acclaim in particular for her signature unaccompanied singing style. Her fresh interpretation and carefully selected material make folk music come alive for audiences of all ages.

Listen to "The Poor Soldier" from Dad's Dinner Pail

Listen to the title cut from The Long Grey Line

Innovative original and traditional works for acoustic, 12-string, and classical guitar

Acclaimed for his tasteful blending of classical, jazz and traditional folk music, Michael has been a composer and performing artist for almost 20 years, both as a soloist and ensemble player with Philo recording artists Oxymora and his current group, the traditional Celtic trio The Unfortunate Rakes.

Listen to "Infinite Loops: See Loops, Infinite" from Soli

Listen to "Ding! Dong! Merrily on High" from There is One Story and One Story Only

Listen to "O'Lydian's Mix" from And Then... Or Somewhat Later

Hear Michael with The Unfortunate Rakes; "Opening Air/The Unfortunate Rake/ The Road to Lisdoonvarna/Morrison's Jig" from Rakes Alive!

Hear Michael with Oxymora; "Siguiriya" from Thundering Silence

Hammered dulcimer, Celtic harp and piano spanning a world of musical traditions

A multi-instrumentalist from a musical family in southern West Virginia, Tabby Finch has been performing and developing her unusual repertoire of Celtic music, South American folk music, and other traditional styles from around the world since 1975. In addition to performances with many different dance bands around the Mid-Atlantic region, she also performs and records with Celtic ceili quintet The Bog Wanderers.

Listen to "The Moving Cloud/Lads of Laoise" from Cloud Cover

Listen to "Christmas Day in the Morning" from When The Snow Lay 'Round About

Hear Tabby with The Bog Wanderers; "Waiting for Bridget/The Magic Kingdom/The Great 38" from Here's To You

The Poet Laureate of the Shenandoah Valley

A Pulitzer-nominated poet who has recorded several of his volumes with a variety of musical settings. Among the musicians featured on these recordings are guitarists Seth Austen, Michael DeLalla and John Albertson; multiple reed virtuoso Marvin "Doc" Holladay, and percussionist N. Scott Robinson.

Virtuoso flutes and whistles in original Celtic and world music settings

Flute player, singer and tinwhistle player Linda Hickman is well known to Irish music fans in America and abroad for her performances with the popular group Celtic Thunder and as a soloist. She is a winner of numerous Washington Area Music Association awards.

Listen to "Chant for the Big Tree/Luna" from The Windy Day

Legendary dulcimist, singer and Mel Bay clinician

There may be no name more readily associated with the dulcimer in the United States - for decades this spellbinding singer and virtuoso player of hammered and mountain dulcimers has been highly acclaimed for her performances, several independent recordings, and as a gifted instructor both in person and in her series of books and videos for Mel Bay Publications. 

Listen to "Waterbound" from Across the Blue Ridge

Listen to "How Can I Keep from Singing?" from Morning Has Broken

Rural contemporary singer/songwriter, guitarist, storyteller and poet

Since permanently leaving his corporate environmental engineering career in 1996, Shenandoah Valley singer, songwriter, guitarist and poet Andrew McKnight's musical journey has traced over a quarter million miles of blue highways and small towns across the country, crafting his cinematic vignettes of Americans and their landscapes in music, poetry and prose in between 125 to 150 performances each year. His latest CD Beyond Borders was an Americana Album of the Year Finalist in the Independent Music Awards, and his song "Good Things Matter" won the 2005 Great American Song Contest (Acoustic/Folk).

Listen to the title cut from Beyond Borders

Listen to "The Road to Appomattox" from Turning Pages

Listen to the title cut from Where This River Runs

Listen to "Magnolia Tree" from Traveler

25 years ago Oxymora released its debut recording on Philo/Fretless records to great acclaim and enthusiastic audiences. Before anyone had heard the term "World Music", the quartet (Craig Matovich on oboe, Marcus Sims on mandolin, Jim Baird on bass and Michael DeLalla on guitar) that NPR's Tom Cole called "the cutting edge of New Acoustic Music"  created a unique and immediately identifiable signature sound. We are delighted to reissue Thundering Silence, along with two new pieces recorded by the original group with newest member, percussionist N. Scott Robinson.

Listen to "Siguiriya" from Thundering Silence

Original & traditional Celtic and American folk music from the mountains of West Virginia

While their own West Virginia-inspired originals are always a highlight, the couple easily traverse a wide range of traditional Celtic and American folk music, infusing it with rich vocal harmonies and their own special reverence for the music and a maturity that comes from over 2 decades of marriage, family and performing. The Pitzers also perform as part of the exciting Celtic-Appalachian quartet Wolf Creek Session.

Listen to "Living Out There" from West Virginia Serenade

Hear Keith & Joan with Wolf Creek Session; "Shady Grove"/"Julia Delaney" from Between Two Shores

Mountain folk songwriter and storyteller chronicles life with wry humor & rich baritone

In his colorful life, John's been a stone mason, auctioneer, storyteller and songwriter living on the Short Hill Mountain, and his music breathes with a deep appreciation for the mountain folk whose lives he chronicles with a simplicity of lyric and vivid detail.

Dynamic traditional Celtic trio exploring the music from the vast expanse of Celtic lands

Jigs, reels and waltzes; stories of false love, faraway places and fierce pride; for over a quarter century the Shenandoah Valley-based group The Unfortunate Rakes has brought all these and more to their performance of traditional music from Ireland, Scotland, England, Brittany and even Canada, tracing the far-reaching influences of Celtic music.

Listen to "Opening Air/The Unfortunate Rake/ The Road to Lisdoonvarna/Morrison's Jig" from Rakes Alive!

Sweet original contemporary and traditional acoustic music of many styles on many instruments

Pamela Temple and Spencer Funk of the Cincinnati-based duo wild carrot are rooted in traditional folk music but branch in diverse directions; jazz, blues, not-so-traditional folk songs, show tunes and originals using interesting arrangements with guitar, mandolin, concertina and bowed psaltery. Twice selected as cultural ambasadors to Chile by the US Embassy, their lengthy list of honors includes winning the Walnut Valley Festival New Songs Showcase and Best Folk Act in the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards.

Listen to "Real Love" from Hope

Energetic quartet blending traditional Celtic and Appalachian music

The synergy of the foursome shines beautifully through slow airs and lively reels as well as the occasional contemporary folk gem and honors the lineage of Celtic to American traditional music with passion and prowess.

Listen to "Shady Grove"/"Julia Delaney" from Between Two Shores