Dance Musicians' Week Staff Concert @ John C. Campbell Folk School

Contra dance music is a joyful blend of Irish, Scottish and French Canadian jigs reels and hornpipes, Appalachian hoedowns, Scandinavian couple dance tunes and beautiful waltzes. The performers hail from different parts of the country but have performed together at various dance camps and events over the years. 

David Kaynor is a fiddler, caller, dance composer, and organizer of the famous Greenfield contra dance in Massachusetts. David has made several influential recordings and has served on the staff of many dance camps and weekends.

Sue Songer is co-author and publisher of the Portland Collection tune books and plays piano on their companion CDs. She organizes and directs the 80-member Portland Megaband, which plays a large annual contra dance in Portland, Oregon.

Peter Siegel plays guitar, banjo, and mandolin with the Greenfield Dance Band and the Berwyck String Band. He also performs extensively as a folksinger/songwriter and has shared the stage with such performers as Noel Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul and Mary), Pete Seeger and Tom Chapin.

Betsy Branch is a contra and English country dance fiddler from Portland, Oregon. She teaches fiddle privately out of her home and is associate music director for the Portland Revels® theater company, where she arranges music for chorus and instruments. She also plays in several contra dance bands, including Wild Hair and Night Owl, and her fiddling can be heard on a number of recordings - most recently "Midnight in Montague," a collection of fiddle duets with David Kaynor.