Julian Berman is a musician based in the Hudson Valley of New York state. He uses guitar and mandolin to express music in a wide variety of styles, and performs with a variety of local bands. Julian teaches music professionally to kids and adults at various music camps, workshops, and also privately. He has taught alongside notable professionals such as Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, Larry Baione (Berklee College of Music), and Jefferson Hamer.

Matt Shipman is a performer and teacher of acoustic and traditional music. Matt and his wife Erica Brown have been music educators for over 12 years and recently opened a teaching studio in their Portland, Maine, home called Darlin’ Corey Studios where they give lessons to people of all ages and abilities. Matt performs with Erica in a duo Darlin’ Corey, as well as with Erica Brown & The Bluegrass Connection, High Range, and Boghat, a traditional Irish band. Although guitar and mandolin were his first loves, he also plays bouzouki and clawhammwer banjo. He received his degree from Vermont College, a self designed major of Traditional Music Studies. Matt has put out recordings with High Range and Erica Brown and has also released two recordings of his own; most recently ‘When Evening Falls’ with Darlin’ Corey. Matt currently resides in Portland. Matt’s websites: darlincorystudios.com, shippymusic.com

Lorraine Hammond’s numerous credits as a traditional singer, songwriter, teacher, performer and instrumentalist include a Homespun Appalachian dulcimer instruction series and two elegant dulcimer books with Yellow Moon Press. Lorraine plays, performs on and teaches dulcimer, banjo, mandolin and harp. Her extensive mandolin teaching experience includes the John C. Campbell Folk School, WUMB-FM Acoustic music weeks and weekends, and nearly a decade at Mandolin Camp North. She is a lecturer in folk music at Lasell College in Newton, MA, and Music Director of WUMB-FM’s Summer Acoustic Music Week. Lorraine performs and records with her husband Bennett Hammond.

Avril Smith is a teacher and award-winning multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. Avril’s mastery of a wide range of styles makes her a sought-after on-stage and studio performer. Her musical palette draws from country, jazz, bluegrass, rock-n-roll, and old time music. Avril has performed at top venues and festivals including the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage (Washington D.C.), Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival (Oak Hill, NY), the Birchmere (Alexandria, VA), the Knitting Factory (New York, NY), Freight & Salvage (Berkeley, CA), the Rock-n-Roll hall of fame (Cleveland, Ohio), and on the south lawn of The White House. Avril has played with Emmylou Harris, Pete Seeger, Hazel Dickens, Tom Morello, Della Mae, Joe K. Walsh, Dar Williams, Jill Sobule, Darol Anger, Frank Solivan, Lester Chambers, Boots Riley, and John Kadlecik, among others.

Betsy Rome is well-known for her flatpicked guitar, blending bluegrass, old-time, Celtic, & swing influences. Noted for her rock-solid rhythm and inventive leads, she has won or placed in numerous band and instrumental contests. Betsy teaches guitar and mandolin, both in person and online via Skype. She has taught workshops at Grey Fox, Joe Val, Podunk, Winter Village and Thomas Point Beach festivals, and Marist College. A founding member of Too Blue, one of the Northeast’s most respected bands, Betsy is also an occasional member of Stacy Phillips and His Bluegrass Characters, and plays mandolin in the Walkingwood Mandolin Quartet.

“Betsy plays with a direct, highly effective approach…Everything about her playing is catchy and infectious, the sign of a total pro.”– Dan Miller, Flatpicking Guitar Magazine feature article.