Old-Time Front Porch Visit with Tom & Betty Druckenmiller and Norm Williams

Name: Old-Time Front Porch Visit with Tom & Betty Druckenmiller and Norm Williams
Start: 2024-06-23T14:00:00-04:00
End: 2024-06-23T16:00:00-04:00
Location: Godfrey Daniels

Schedule

Sun Jun 23 2024 at 02:00 pm to 04:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Godfrey Daniels | Bethlehem, PA

2 PM | MATINEE SHOW!
Spend a summer afternoon enjoying old-time tunes and rare song gems from the past with Tom & Betty Druckenmiller and Norm Williams! Tom, Betty, and Norm play the old-time music that people relied on to entertain themselves and their neighbors, using banjo, fiddle, mountain dulcimer, and guitar. Together they’ll share songs, tunes, and a story or two!

TOM & BETTY DRUCKENMILLER
tomandbettymusic.com
Tom and Betty play old-time music – the dance tunes, fiddle music and parlor songs that people used to entertain themselves and their neighbors before the time of recorded music or radio.
Tom has been a musician for nearly all of his life. As a guitar player he played in a number of Lehigh Valley bands, but around 40 years ago he discovered old-time music and the clawhammer style of banjo playing he’s known for today. His first learning experiences at the Augusta Heritage Center Workshops included working with Craig Johnson, Gerry Milnes, and Dwight Diller. They shared their music with him and also the history of the music and the people who played it, giving Tom the strong appreciation for both music and musicians that he passes along to his students today.
Tom also creates and produces radio programs, including “In the Tradition” for WDIY, the National Public Radio station in Bethlehem Pennsylvania, and The SingOut! Radio Magazine, which is nationally syndicated and also available on podcast.
Tom and Betty, with their son Nate, began performing and recording in the 1990s. With Norm Williams and others, they have made six recordings, most recently “Bound to Change.”
Betty began playing fiddle as a direct result of hearing J.P. Fraley play “Margaret’s Waltz” on the Augusta stage one summer evening. In following years, she learned from Rachel Eddy, Dave Bing, the late Bill Hicks, James Bryan and Mike Bryant. Luckily enough, she also spent two master class weeks with West Virginia fiddler Wilson Douglas before his passing in 1999.
Betty has especially enjoyed learning unusual older tunes and those with great stories which may or may not be true. She enjoys playing for farmers’ markets and dances, as well as singing songs with great harmonies.
NORM WILLIAMS
awayfarer-normw.com
Norm Williams is a performer/teacher of the mountain dulcimer who also plays guitar, banjo, ukulele, native flute, and vocals. Old-time Appalachian fiddle, gospel songs, tunes, and other folk styles influence his playing and singing. In 2017 he released a solo recording entitled “…a Wayfarer; Songs of Hope and Encouragement.”
He is a co-founder of The Pocono Dulcimer Club and a coordinator of their DulcimerFest held annually in Stroudsburg, PA: a co-founder of the Maiden Creek Old Time Music Festival held annually the 2nd weekend in July. Norm began teaching mountain dulcimer in 2002 and has been faculty at festivals throughout the Northeast (including the Pocono DulcimerFest; Maiden Creek Old Time Festival, the French Creek Music Retreat, DAA Mountain Dulcimer Music Fest, August Dulcimer Days, Ashokan Music Camps & Augusta Heritage Center, WV). Additionally, he coordinates music for Quiet Valley Historical Farm & Living History Museum in Stroudsburg for their annual Harvest Festival in October, Old Time Christmas caroling in December and their Music in the Valley program in July.
Norm also performs & records with the bands Wayfarers & Company, Tom & Betty Druckenmiller, with Cliff Cole & Rob Yoder in the band, Dulcimer Boys, on occassion with his good friend Russ Rentler …and in lots of informal old-time string bands who jam at Farmers Markets and the like throughout the Lehigh Valley. He is also a volunteer news and folk programming host at WDIY 88.1FM, Lehigh Valley Community Public Radio.