Daily Schedule

All of our instructors have prior experience in well-known workshop settings, and are skilled, patient, and caring teachers. A typical day’s schedule will be as follows:

Daily Events

9am - 12pm Group Classroom Instruction

12pm - 1:30pm Lunch

1:30pm - 2:15pm Individual Instruction

2:15pm - 3pm Slow Jams

2:15pm - 3pm Staff Showcase of Styles

3pm - 4pm Masters Program

2026 Allegheny Echoes Music Masters

The daily Masters Program features an hour-long presentation by different Master artists each afternoon. Master artists are chosen for their long-term commitment and contribution to the arts of the Allegheny region and West Virginia. Students and instructors have an opportunity to interact with these Masters before and after the presentations, connecting with folk artists who learned their craft from pioneer era sources.

Sammy Shelor got an early start when his grandfather fashioned him a banjo from an old pressure cooker lid when Sam was only four years old. By age 10, he was performing in local bands and became a full time professional musician when he graduated from high school, joining The Heights Of Grass at age 19. Since becoming a member of Lonesome River Band in 1990, Sammy has been featured on dozens of successful recordings, both with LRB and as a guest player. Sammy has received a multitude of awards and recognitions during his impressive career including his induction into the 2009 Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame, 5-time recipient of the IBMA Banjo Player of the Year Award, 2011 winner of the 2nd Annual Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass, and 3-time winner of the SPBGMA Banjo Performer of the Year Award.

Amanda Smith was born in the small town of Davisville, West Virginia, and grew up singing in church choirs and participating in talent contests at local fairs. “I always sang, my mom and dad said, even before I can remember,” she says. She started playing guitar in high school to accompany herself, and soon discovered bluegrass music through female artists such as Rhonda Vincent and Alison Krauss.

Bobby Taylor, a fourth-generation West Virginia fiddler, has played fiddle for more than 40 years, learning from his Kanawha County neighbors Clark Kessinger and Mike Humphries. He also was influenced by Doc Roberts, The Skillet Lickers, and Sam Jarvis. He has performed with the Morris Brothers Band, The Kanawha Tradition, and many other groups, and can be heard on his solo tape, “Bobby Taylor: Kanawha Tradition”. He is the contest coordinator for many regional contest and has served as a judge for the Galax Old-Time Fiddler’s Convention. Bobby toured Ireland and Australia in 2007 and appeared at the National Folk Festival in Australia in March of 2008. In 2025, Bobby received the Dr. Perry F. Harris Distinguished Fiddler Award and appeared on the Grand Ol Opry.

Richard Hefner lives in Renick, WV, but was born and raised in Mill Point, Pocahontas County, WV. His traditional bluegrass group, the Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys, has played across WV and the East Coast since 1968. The band’s high finish in Nashville’s SPBGMA contest solidified Richard’s standing as one of the best traditional bluegrass banjo players in the field. A three-time winner at Vandalia Gathering, he has won the WV and Maryland state championships. His repertoire includes tunes from Flatt & Scruggs, Don Reno, The Stanley Brothers, and Del McCoury.

Mud Hole Control - JR Loudermilk, from Greenbrier County, WV is well known for his work in old time and bluegrass music. He played with his dad Charlie and Junior Spencer in an earlier version of the band. He has worked with Richard Hefner and the Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys as well as the Bing Brothers. He is joined by cousins Eric and Pudge Spencer. Eric is well known for his lead and tenor singing and solid guitar work. He has played with Robert Montgomery and Mountain Rhythm, Steel Creek, and Homegrown Bluegrass. Pudge Spencer lends his great baritone voice, which has been a feature of Mud Hole Control for years. Together with Allegheny Echoes alumni Stephen Casto on banjo and Ben Davis on fiddle, they make up the current iteration of this beloved band that has entertained in West Virginia and the South for decades.

Creative Writing Master

Doug Van Gundy is a nationally-known Appalachian musician who has performed and taught throughout the United States and in Canada and Great Britain. Doug learned music in his family, his hometown of Elkins, West Virginia, and from master musicians Mose Coffman (1905 – 1995) and Dwight Diller (1946 – 2023). In 2017, Doug was recognized as a Master Artist by the Folklife Program of the West Virginia Humanities Council. For the past 28 years he has been playing fiddle, guitar, mandolin, harmonica and banjo with Paul Gartner as the old-time string duo, Born Old. Doug also directs the Low-Residency MFA program in Creative Writing at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, West Virginia. His poems, essays and reviews have appeared in dozens of journals, including The Guardian, Poets & Writers, Poetry, The Oxford American, and Guernica. He is co-editor of the anthology Eyes Glowing at the Edge of the Woods: Contemporary Writing from West Virginia (WVU Press) and the author of a book of poems, A Life above Water (Red Hen Press). His second poetry collection is forthcoming.