Advanced Old-Time Guitar
Don’t you just wish you could tie your guitar to your side and bring it along with you to this old-time rhythm workshop? Well… what are you waiting for?? We’re going to be tightening up the nuts and bolts of old-time guitar while developing our ability to be more interactive and expressive musicians. We’ll sharpen our listening skills as we glean stylistic vocabulary from recordings of the old-time masters. Exploring leading lines, we’ll try out some new bass runs to spice up your backup. We’ll also delve into some tasteful and accessible approaches to melodic playing. Ideally, we’ll never stop learning and practicing the guitar so let’s enjoy the journey and have fun nerding out about old-time guitar picking!
Ashlee Watkins
Having grown up in a musical family in New South Wales, Australia, Ashlee Watkins is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter whose powerfully unadorned vocals exhibit a refreshing directness of expression reminiscent of Maybelle Carter, Molly O’Day, and Hazel Dickens. She has been awarded a number of blue ribbons from fiddlers’ conventions around the Southeast for her folk singing and old-time banjo and guitar playing, and in 2021, her string band The Alum Ridge Boys & Ashlee won first place at the 85th Annual Old Fiddlers' Convention in Galax, VA. The New Floyd County Ramblers, co-founded by Ashlee, has won numerous old time band contests including those in Mount Airy, NC (in 2024 and 2025) and Clifftop, WV (2025).
In 2022, she completed a Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship with Floyd County master musician Mac Traynham. In addition to touring with her bands and performing as a duo with Andrew Small, Ashlee has also performed with artists including Grammy-winner John McEuen and local SWVA legend Larry Sigmon. She is also a member of old time string bands The Mustard Cutters and The Crooked Road Ramblers.