Mark Tamsula and Richard Withers will present a concert in the Music in the Orendorff Commons series, in the Orendorff Music Library (Cogswell Hall, room 101), on Friday, March 23, 2012, at 8:00 p.m.
They specialize in the traditional dance music of Western Pennsylvania. Ellen Gozion will join them to sing some Pennsylvania ballads as well. The concert is in conjunction with the national meeting of the Appalachian Studies Association and is free and open to the community.
Mark Tamsula has been performing and teaching in the Southwestern Pennsylvania region for over 30 years. He plays and teaches fiddle, banjo, guitar, and mandolin, drawing from an ever-expanding repertoire of tunes and songs. He performs regularly with the bands Lackawanna Longnecks (old time) and Grand Bon Rien (Cajun).
Richard Withers has performed and recorded old-time music on the banjo and Irish music on the flute, whistle, and other instruments over the past three decades. He can be heard playing clawhammer banjo on recordings with the old-time string band Lackawanna Longnecks and Irish style flute with Hooley, a Pittsburgh-based traditional Irish group.
Their new CD, Up in the Batten House, features the traditional music of Western Pennsylvania as collected and transcribed by Samuel Bayard. Find out more about Up in the Batten House.
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