Banjo 1, Beginning Banjo: Pete Kosky grew up learning traditional music in the Kanawha Valley.  He began playing guitar at age 11.  His early musical influences were country singers Marty Robbins, Johnny Horton, Johnny Cash, Gordon Lightfoot, and especially WV’s David Morris. Pete’s interest in traditional ballads naturally led to songwriting, and he won 5th place at the 1st Annual Mountain Stage New Song Festival. He has taught workshops at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival and songwriting workshops for Allegheny Echoes. Pete has won several awards over the years.  This class will happily progress very slowly.

Banjo 2, Intermediate: Steven Casto was raised and resides in Pocahontas County WV where he learned banjo from the likes of Charlie Loudermilk, Junior Spencer and Tim Bing. His driving style is influenced by the Bing Brothers and the Hammons Family. A former student of Allegheny Echoes and a graduate of Glenville State College, he currently plays with the old time band, Mudhole Control. Stephen placed 4th in the Old Time Banjo contest at Galax in 2019 and 3rd in 2025, and 1st place in the Hammons Family Fiddle and Banjo Contest in 2025.

Banjo 3, Intermediate/Advanced: Tim Bing originally from Barboursville WV, is widely recognized as one of the best old time banjo players anywhere. A nominee for the first class of inductees into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, Tim learned his craft first-hand from such legendary West Virginia greats as Sherman Hammons and Frank George. His driving yet intricate drop-thumb style has led to many banjo contest blue ribbons. He is a member of the Bing Brothers Band, and has performed across the U.S., Canada, Ireland Australia and Scotland. He can be heard on “Banjo Legacy” and “Just For The Sake Of It”.

Fiddle 1 Beginning: Ben Davis is a hard driving fiddler from Knapps Creek in Pocahontas County West Virginia. He started playing at age nine and came under the influences of legendary fiddlers Junior Spencer and Jake Krack. Ben won the 2015 Vandalia youth fiddle contest and has high place finishes in the adult division of the same. He also has taken 2nd and 3rd place at the Fly In Festival contest in Huntington WV. Ben is currently the old time fiddling sound behind the band Mud Hole Control, who grabbed a place at the Galax Old Time Fiddlers Contest in 2022.

Fiddle 2, Intermediate: Tessa McCoy, from Saint Albans, W.V., a 7-time West Virginia state fiddle champion. Known for her hard-driving and intricate style, she's learned from and played extensively with Bobby Taylor, Jake Krack and Dave Bing. In fall 2024, she appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, showcasing her fiddling as Traditional Grand Master Fiddle Champion. She’s appeared on NPR’s Mountain Stage and has also been featured in Fiddler Magazine.

Fiddle 3, Intermediate/Advance: Jake Krack, from Nicut, West Virginia, started playing the fiddle at the age of six. He has spent over fifteen years studying and apprenticing with West Virginia master old-time fiddlers Melvin Wine, Lester McCumbers, and Bobby Taylor. He has performed and taught workshops at venues such as the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Chicago Folk Festival, Merlefest, and the Detroit Festival of the Arts. Jake has won fiddle contests at Vandalia, Appalachian String Band Festival, Galax Old-time Fiddlers Convention, Mt. Airy Fiddlers Convention, Ed Haley fiddle contest, and the Henry Reed Fiddlers Gathering. He currently is the fiddler with The Bing Brothers. Jake serves as the Director of Operations of the Board of Allegheny Echoes.

Fiddle 4 Intermediate/Advance: Dave Bing began playing guitar when he was five years old, banjo in his mid-teens and fiddle soon after. He was lucky to have learned from several different old time fiddlers with various styles and incorporated these styles into what has become his own. Dave has taught and performed old time music internationally and does annual fiddle and banjo workshops in Spain and England. His style of teaching focuses on rhythmic bowing techniques, different methods, dynamics, and timing that makes an old time fiddle tune more interesting to listen to and fun to play. Dave performed with his brothers for over 25 years and organized and performed with the groups Gandydancer and High Ridge Ramblers. He now lives with his wife on a farm in central West Virginia and builds fiddles.

Guitar 1, Beginning: Jesse Milnes grew up immersed in the traditional music of West Virginia. From his earliest days he knew and learned from an older generation of fiddlers, ballad singers, banjo players and more. As a teenager he began to compete in fiddle contests and play for square dancing, while also playing electric guitar in rock bands with his friends. Jesse spent six years touring with his wife’s retro-country band, the Sweetback Sisters. He currently plays guitar with the State Birds, leads his own honky-tonk band (the Jesse Milnes Band) and is an in-demand fiddler for bluegrass bands, songwriters and square dances around the state.

Guitar 2, Intermediate/Advanced: Jesse Smathers, guitar player and tenor singer, with The Lonesome River Band, is from Eden, North Carolina. He began playing the guitar at age 11, mandolin at 15, and In 2009 won the guitar championship of the Virginia Folk Music Association. In 2013, High Voltage, featuring Jesse as the lead vocalist, won first place in the bluegrass band category at the Galax Old Time Fiddler’s Convention. In 2015, LRB welcomed him to the group and in 2017, Jesse won the IBMA Momentum Award for Vocalist of the Year! Jesse comes from a long line of musicians. His grandfather, Harold Smathers, and grand Uncle Luke Smathers, recorded for June Appal and were awarded the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award in 1993 for their contributions to North Carolina Folk Music.

Guitar 3, Advanced: Robin Kessinger from St. Albans, West Virginia, was the National Flatpicking Champion on guitar in 1985 and 1988. Robin also won the Best Overall Performer at Galax, Virginia. He is the son of mandolin great Bob Kessinger and the great-nephew of fiddle legend Clark Kessinger. His adaptations of fiddle tunes have amazed audiences across the U.S. and in Ireland. “Contest Favorites” with Wayne Henderson, “Star of County Down” with Steve Kaufman, and “Breakfast of Champions” with Robert Shafer are among his audio offerings. Robin’s class will concentrate on developing and refining complex and intricate techniques and styles.

Mandolin - All Levels: Scott Rucker, Scott Rucker, an Eastern Kentucky native, has been playing and performing string band music with a variety of people for about two decades. He has performed at various festivals in several different bands over the years but loves informal jams just as much as performing. Scott plays multiple instruments and styles but is an old time mandolin player first and foremost. He focuses most of his musical energies on adapting fiddle tunes of the Ohio Valley region to the mandolin. Scott’s teaching style focuses largely on teaching tunes that feature different techniques and styles that can then be applied to other tunes and playing situations.

Val Mindel and Olivia Perske - Val is a longtime musician and workshop leader, specializing in the close, buzzy harmony that makes American old-time, bluegrass and country harmony so compelling. She s led the singing class at Allegheny Echoes for many years. Olivia is a singer and passionate music educator from Clarksburg, WV. Olivia is the founder and artistic director of the Voices of Augusta Children’s Choir and co-leads the monthly Community Sing through the internationally acclaimed Augusta Heritage Center. Val and Olivia will provide a program based on traditional secular and gospel old-time songs, small ensemble work, harmony and improvement of singing technique.

Bass – All Levels

Tim Corbett Tim Corbett is an experienced bass player from Huntington, WV, who has played with several bands throughout the region over the past 25 years.  Tim is originally from The Catskill Mountains of Upstate New York, where he was taught by fellow musicians Walt & Keith Edwards, as well as his father Paul Corbett. He moved to West Virginia in 1997 to attend Marshall University, and played Bass for the Marshall Marching Thunder and Pep Band.  Since 2003, Tim has been the Bass player for The Bing Brothers Band, and for Don Rigsby since 2015. He has produced all of The Bing Brothers Band Recordings since 2011 and produces the Annual Fly In Festival in Huntington every July.  Tim began his involvement with Allegheny Echoes in 2004, and became the main Upright Bass Instructor in 2010.