Picknbow Instructors for Aug 22-24, 2025

DANNY GOTHAM’s musical roots spread deep and broad, a master flatpicking and fingerpicking instrumentalist, cutting his musical teeth playing in various rock, jazz, blues, bluegrass and country bands. In 1980, Gotham took Second Place in the prestigious National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship in Winfield, KS. His musical collaborations include accompanist to the great folksinger Tom Paxton and original "Prairie Home Companion" music director, Peter Ostroushko. As a teacher, he has maintained an extensive private student roster, and, since 1974, conducted numerous workshops in the US and Canada. Gotham, along with Jane Peppler and Bob Vasile, founded Picknbow in 2011.

Danny teaches mandolin, guitar, uke, and leads the Sunday afternoon uke parade.

JON SHAIN, from Durham, NC, is a veteran singer-songwriter who’s been turning heads for years with his words, fiery acoustic guitar work, and evolved musical style that combines improvised Piedmont blues with bluegrass, swing, and ragtime. In 2019, Shain won the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN in the solo/duo category. Jon has released nine solo albums to date, along with two albums with duo partner FJ Ventre, a Jon Shain Trio live album, and one album of co-writes with Joe Newberry. Shain’s newest album, Restless Soul Syndrome, recorded at Good Luck Studios was released April 9, 2024 and went to #5 on the Folk Radio chart. Shain is also the author of the music books ‘Gettin’ Handy With the Blues – a Tribute to the Legacy of W.C. Handy’ and ‘Jon Shain’s Fingerstyle Guitar Method’, both published by Mel Bay.

Jon is the Teaching Workshop Coordinator at Picknbow and teaches classes in songwriting, fingerstyle guitar, blues, and improvisation.

JOE NEWBERRY is known around the world for his clawhammer banjo playing, Joe Newberry is also a powerful guitarist, singer and songwriter. The Gibson Brothers’ version of his song “Singing As We Rise,” featuring guest vocalist Ricky Skaggs, won an IBMA “Gospel Recorded Performance” Award. With Eric Gibson, he shared an IBMA “Song of the Year” Award for “They Called It Music.”

A longtime and frequent guest on A Prairie Home Companion, he was a featured singer on the Transatlantic Sessions tour of the U.K., and at the Transatlantic Session's debut at Merlefest. In addition to performing solo, Joe plays in a duo with mandolin icon Mike Compton, and also performs with the dynamic fiddler and step-dancer April Verch.  

Growing up in a family full of singers and dancers, he took up the guitar and banjo as a teenager and learned fiddle tunes from great Missouri fiddlers. He moved to North Carolina as a young man and quickly became an anchor of the incredible music scene in the state. He does solo and studio work, and plays and teaches at festivals, camps and workshops in North America and abroad.

Joe teaches banjo, guitar, and songwriting.

RACHEL EDDY, a native of West Virginia, grew up in a musical family steeped in the traditions of Appalachian music and dance. Now based in Washington, D.C., they are known throughout the world as both a dynamic, emotionally powerful performer and an engaging, thoughtful teacher. Rachel’s soulful singing and multi-instrumental finesse—including fiddle, banjo, guitar, and mandolin—may be heard on numerous solo and collaborative recordings as well as at dances and jam sessions, where Rachel is dedicated to fostering community and sharing a love of music with others.

A passionate teacher, Rachel regularly teaches private lessons as well as workshops. They are committed to ensuring an inclusive classroom, in which all students can succeed and experience the joy of developing their own musical talents—whether as beginners or long-time players. Indeed, Rachel’s students frequently remark on their teacher’s ability to lead them through a well-thought-out musical journey that leaves them more deeply connected with their instruments and inner creativity.

Rachel teaches fiddle, banjo, & guitar

KARI SICKENBERGER (with Laurelyn Dossett) is the co-founding member of the original roots band, Polecat Creek. A performing musician and singing workshop leader since the mid-1990s, Kari performed on the radio show, A Prairie Home Companion. She has also toured and recorded with the musical duo, Tracy Schwarz and Ginny Hawker. She’s led workshops for many decades and taught at prestigious camps including Augusta, Pinewoods, The Swannanoa Gathering, and Kaufman Kamp. She continues to lead a variety of singing and songwriting workshops, helping folks find their voices and hone their singing skills.

“Kari Sickenberger is the most engaging teacher I’ve come across in a long time. Even though she is smart and thoroughly prepared and organized, what students pick up on immediately is her warm and inclusive personality. They feel safe to try new things and rewarded for their first efforts in a class.  Kari knows a lot about music and singing in particular and is confident in her experience, and she brings the entire class along on her fun journey.  Along the way they learn much more than they expected, whether the class is for one hour or a week.  She always leaves them wanting more.”  -Ginny Hawker

JIM WATSON went to his first fiddlers convention in 1965. He played with the Hollow Rock String Band and in 1972 was a founding member of the Red Clay Ramblers playing mandolin, guitar, and autoharp. In 1988, he started playing with Robin and Linda Williams and their Fine Group. He works with the world-famous country duet Duke LaCrosse and Pinky Wyoming and plays string bass with the Green Level Entertainers. Jim also performs with the Piedmont Melody Makers, which features IBMA Hall of Fame member Alice Gerrard, Chris Brashear & Cliff Hale. Besides his recordings with the Red Clay Ramblers and Robin & Linda Williams, he has several solo recordings, plus ones with the Piedmont Melody Makers, Craver Hicks Watson & Newberry, and the late Alan Jabbour and Ken Perlman. 

Jim teaches guitar and mandolin.

JULIE ELKINS is a treasure. An incomprable musician, singer, and performer and we are delighted to have her soulful voice and exquisite bluegrass banjo back this year.  She’s toured internationally with several different bands, and recorded all kinds of cool music on various projects throughout the past two decades. With family roots in East Kentucky, she comes from a long line of bluegrass musicians and singers. By age 12, she was the three-time winner of the Classic West Open Banjo Competition, and was invited to join her first band before she was old enough to drive. Julie received her bluegrass education while performing a long stint with North Carolina's renowned bluegrass band, New Vintage. In 1999, she joined the trailblazing bluegrass/Americana band, Kane's River, and in 2006, she was awarded an IBMA award for "Recorded Project of the Year" for her contribution to "Back To The Well," a recording  featuring the Daughters of Bluegrass.

Julie teaches bluegrass banjo, guitar, and singing

FJ VENTRE plays some of the most brilliant, kick-ass upright and electric bass you’ll ever see and sings honky-tonk and country-swing as if he’s borrowed Bob Will’s hat and string tie. He performs with numerous acts from The Triangle area, including Jon Shain, Wes Collins, and others. He’s also played with the Chris Stamey Group, the Swang Brothers, Rebecca and The Hi-Tones, Mel Melton and the Wicked Mojos, The Stars Explode, and Tom Maxwell.

As a highly sought-after teacher of upright acoustic and electric bass, he’s one of the most popular music teachers in the area. Many local musicians, and nationally touring ones as well, have benefited from his decades of expertise as a recording engineer. His studio, Good Luck Studio, has recorded and mixed projects for Jon Shain, The Swang Brothers, Jeff Hart, Hailey Clark, The Infidels, Tad Walters, Tom Maxwell, and many others, including a number of Picknbow campers.

FJ teaches all levels of acoustic and electric bass as well as sound system use, home recording, and music theory.

CATHERINE ALDERMAN is one of the NC Triangle's most dedicated and experienced voice instructors. If you hear someone sing at camp and love how they do it, there’s a good chance they’ve had a few lessons with Catherine. With over thirty years of experience, she leads vocal technique workshops at Picknbow, and shows all of us how to bring out the best in our singing.

Catherine teaches voice, vocal technique, and harmony singing

KENNY JACKSON is known in the world of American traditional music for his fiddle, banjo, and guitar playing. Featured in the May 2015 issue of Fiddler Magazine, Kenny has been called "one of the finest old-time musicians active today" (Old-Time Herald), and "a fiddler’s fiddler whose playing has depth, nuance, and layers of subtlety along with fire" (Erynn Marshall). Kenny's interest in traditional country and folk music was inspired by early memories of music played and sung at family gatherings. The charms of old-time fiddling eventually drew him to pursue fiddle music from Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina sources, with an occasional foray elsewhere. His visits with elder masters, uncounted hours of deep listening to the old field and commercial recordings, years of informal sessions with some of the most accomplished old-time musicians around, and tons of woodshedding morphed his playing from the merely imitative to truly personal expression. 

In the mid-1980s Kenny toured as guitarist/singer with acclaimed old-time musicians Brad Leftwich and Linda Higginbotham. Over the ensuing years, Kenny co-founded, performed, and recorded with top-notch string bands The Rhythm Rat, Big Medicine, and The Bow Benders. Kenny also contributes fresh fiddle music to the tradition, and on occasion, he's been known to show his hand as a songwriter. He’s an experienced teacher who believes in passing along his knowledge and has, over the last 35 years, taught private lessons as well as at workshops and music camps around the country. 

BILL NEWTON sings and plays harmonica and saxophone. From the first note he played on a $1.75 Hohner Marine Band in 1971, he was hooked on the instrument. Since then, he has played with many bands, starting in blues and bluegrass, branching out to swing and jump blues, taking up the saxophone, playing clubs and festivals, and doing session work. Bill has recorded and toured extensively with his good friend Jon Shain since the 1990s. He also currently plays with the Willie Painter Band, the Duke Street Dogs, and the Wiley Fosters. He has taught group and individual harmonica classes for years. Bill’s harmonica cases hold blues harps in multiple tunings, as well as chromatic and tremolo harmonicas.