Old-Time & Gee's Bend 2026
At Old Time & Gee’s Bend, painting, ceramics, and blacksmithing students pursue their work in an encouraging atmosphere while music students fully immerse themselves in Old-Time workshops, their days and nights filled with instruction from expert musicians and community jam sessions. Mary Ann Pettway and China Pettway will simultaneously host their famous quilting retreat.
Registration Opens May 2026!
MINI CLASSES
Hosted throughout the event, mini classes require no registration and are open to all students. Some loaner instruments will be available, but please bring your own if you know you'd like to participate a music mini-class. Mini class offerings coming soon!
Afternoon mini-classes give all participants a chance to take part in learning something totally new. Guests are also welcome to spend their free time exploring the beautiful nature that surrounds Camp McDowell. At night, attendees are invited to a concert led by our instructors. Lodging for this event will be in Bethany Village. Participants have the option to stay in a Parsley Commons lodge room or a dorm-style cabin. All lodging options include refreshments on opening night and nine meals throughout the weekend starting with Thursday supper and ending with Sunday lunch.
Keep scrolling for pricing & details about each workshop and instructor:
Workshop Offerings:
- Banjo I: Charlie Hunter
- Banjo II: Joseph Decosimo
- Fiddle I: Tricia Spencer
- Fiddle II: Susan Platz
- Fiddle III: David Bragger
- Harmony Singing: Kay Justice w/ Kathy Hinkle
- Old-Time Repertoire: Sami Braman & Allison DeGroot
- Intro to Wheel Throwing: Brian Cooley
- Crankies: Aaron Sanders Head
- Watercolor Painting: Howard Rains
- Coppersmithing Bowls & Repoussé: Quinn McKay
- White Oak Baskets: Robert Haygens & Sarah Bell
Gee's Bend Quilting Retreat
Mary Ann Pettway & China Pettway
PRICING
Workshop prices range from $260 to $325.
LODGING PRICES RANGE FROM:
- Lodge Room & Meals for 2: $600.00
- Lodge Room & Meals for 1: $455.00
- Cabin Bunk Bed & Meals for 1: $190.00
- Commuter Fee & Meals for 1: $90.00
- Old-Time & Gee's Bend is made possible in part by grants from Alabama State Council on the Arts.
Banjo I with Charlie Hunter-Cook
Banjo I is for beginning clawhammer players looking for a friendly, collaborative environment to build confidence and competence. As we learn tunes in a range of tunings, we'll strengthen our foundation and explore the wide variety of right- & left-hand techniques we can deploy to add color and texture to our playing - drop thumbs, double drones, Galax rolls, slides, "chucks", and more. We'll share and discuss strategies for jamming and picking up new tunes, with special emphasis on demystifying the not-so-dark art of learning by ear. And we'll devote time to listening - to recordings, to each other, to ourselves - and sharing the old-time music that inspires and excites us.
This class is designed for players who are comfortable with the basic clawhammer stroke and know at least a few tunes at a moderate tempo.
Charlie Hunter-Cook is a lifelong musician and former Alabama state banjo and fiddle champion. He has been a member of several Birmingham-area stringbands, including Flying Jenny, The Yahoos, and The Whistlebees.
Banjo II with Joseph Decosimo
Workshop Description Coming Soon!
Raised in the rich traditional music community around Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau, Joseph Decosimo is a leading performer of Old-Time fiddle and banjo music. Joseph is a traditional musician and folklorist with a deep respect and love for the older sounds of his home state, Appalachia, and the broader American South. His Old-Time fiddling and banjo playing have introduced listeners around the US, UK, Canada, and Australia to the richness and vibrancy of the region's musical traditions. Based in Durham, North Carolina, he currently performs Old-Time fiddle, banjo, and songs anywhere people are willing to listen. A skilled teacher, he has taught a number of workshops, festivals, and even in a traditional music program at a university. Besides performing the music, he researches and writes about it: He holds a PhD in American Studies and an MA in Folklore.
Fiddle I with Tricia Spencer
Tricia will teach her approach to old time fiddle built upon the shortcuts her grandma, Iona Spencer showed her when she was young. These are things every fiddler should know but maybe haven’t picked up along the way. This chord-based approach teaches seconding first and then how to find fiddle tunes in the chord shapes. Tricia will also teach some of her bowing techniques and how they generally apply to fiddle tunes.
Tricia Spencer is a Kansas fiddler who grew up on her family’s farm learning the tradition of old-time fiddling knee to knee from her grandpa, Vernon Spencer. Tricia is known for her unique approach to seconding on the fiddle and is a multi-instrumentalist, teacher, artist, composer, and author of the book The Fiddle Garden.
Fiddle II: Susan Platz
Workshop Description Coming Soon!
Susan Platz, originally from Illinois, has been singing and playing the violin all her life. She holds a degree in music from Lawrence University, and became a permanent member of the old-time band Sausage Grinder after years of studying fiddle with David Bragger in Los Angeles. Her bowing rhythms and harmonies fit hand in glove with David's fiddle and banjo. Susan serves as the Director’s Assistant in the UCLA Old-Time String Band Ensemble, and is a two-time winner of the Santa Barbara Old Time Fiddlers’ Contest. She is also a powerful singer and has taught old-time yodeling workshops at festivals around the country. Susan and David collaborated to release the first-ever old-time fiddle duet album, King’s Lament. Having forged a powerhouse old-time duo with David, she has been invited to teach and perform fiddle duets across the US and abroad. When she’s not playing music, Susan is a pediatric occupational therapist and has been serving children with special needs and their families for over 7 years.
Fiddle III: David Bragger
Workshop Description Coming Soon!
Traditional fiddler and banjoist David Bragger has become a ubiquitous figure in traditional American folk music. He is a musician, documentarian, UCLA ensemble director, 78rpm record collector, musical festival director and co-founder of the independent folk label Tiki Parlour Recordings. Having learned the “old-time” art of fiddling directly from two generations of traditional masters, David has been passing down these archaic musical secrets and sounds to fiddlers and banjo players worldwide. His critically-acclaimed debut CD Big Fancy instantly put him on the traditional music map and paved the way for his groundbreaking sophomore release. In 2018, he and fiddler Susan Platz released the very first American old-time fiddle duet CD ever recorded: King’s Lament–Old-Time Fiddle Duets. David has also recorded and performed with artists as diverse as Brad Leftwich & Linda Higginbotham, Hog-eyed Man, Rafe Stefanini, Bad Religion, Social Distortion, Paula Poundstone, Greg Graffin, and also provided the banjo and fiddle solos for the western feature film "Gone Are The Days." David has also produced, directed and recorded over 30 CDs and video projects for Tiki Parlour Recordings.
Guitar & Harmony Singing with Kay Justice assisted by Kathy Hinkle
Singing with the guitar is an intermediate level class with emphasis on guitar techniques used to accompany singing. Lyric sheets will be provided, chord choices will be discussed. Right hand techniques will be demonstrated and taught. Students should be able to play chords in the keys of C,G,A, D, E.
Kay Justice has been playing guitar and singing since the mid 1960's. She is entirely self taught on guitar and enjoys sharing her own approach to playing. She has taught for many years at various camps and retreats and is know for her patient, fun approach to teaching.
Musician and long-time friend of the folk school, Kathy Hinkle, will join Kay to assist with harmony singing. Kathy is a member of the Herb Trotman Band and an active member of the Birmingham Friends of Old-Time Music and Dance. She is a founding member of the Alabama Folk School and served for many years on our advisory board. She brings a joyful, kind presence to our workshops whether leading or learning.
Old-Time Repertoire with Sami Braman and Allison DeGroot
In this repertoire workshop, Allison and Sami will share a selection of our favorite tunes and discuss the experience of playing together in a banjo/fiddle duo setting! We will teach some of the tunes, practice accompaniment and chord choice, and focus most on rhythm.
Sami Braman has been playing the fiddle since she was 6 years old, coming up amid the music festivals and jamming communities of the Pacific Northwest’s vibrant traditional Old-Time music scene. A member of The Onlies and a frequent collaborator with Willie Watson (David Rawlings Machine, Old Crow Medicine Show), she has performed and taught across the US and internationally for many years. Sami and Willie just wrapped up a run opening up for Alison Krauss and Union Station on their summer 2025 Arcadia tour. Sami moved to Nashville in 2021 and shortly after recorded and released her first solo album of original tunes, Riveter. Aptly named for the myriad fiddling styles she nimbly “rivets” together, the album pulses with an old-time groove throughout and Braman’s sheer joy in playing her instrument rolls off it all in waves.
On clawhammer banjo, Allison de Groot has become a significant voice in the North American traditional, Americana, and roots music scenes. Her style is adventurous and grounded, and No Depression writes it “transports the listener to a different plane”. Starting out on banjo in her hometown of Winnipeg, MB, Allison’s grown into a career of exciting collaborations and continued musical exploration. She has performed and recorded alongside some of the most renowned traditional musicians in North America and Europe and was nominated by the Americana Music Association for 2023 ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’. Collaboration is at the center of Allison's music. Bandcamp Daily has described her duo with fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves as “one living, breathing organism.” Allison and Tatiana create an adventurous, masterful, and original sound. They expand on the eccentricities of old songs, while never losing sight of what makes them endure. Their latest release ‘Hurricane Clarice’ won two Canadian Folk Music Awards and was nominated for ‘Traditional Album of the Year’ at the Juno Awards. Alongside bandmates Tatiana Hargreaves, percussive dancer Nic Gareiss, and legendary fiddler Bruce Molsky, Allison has performed at festivals such as Newport Folk Festival, Pickathon, Red Wing Roots, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Hardly Strictly and Celtic Connections. For a second year in a row, Allison and Tatiana are working in the Celtic Connections Transatlantic Sessions house band led by Jerry Douglas.
Intro to Wheel Throwing with Brian Cooley
Join Brian Cooley of Rabbitfish Studio for this Introduction to Wheel Throwing course. It's perfect for beginners looking to explore the fundamentals of working with clay on the potter’s wheel, or intermediate students who want to hone their skills by focusing on specific practices. Students will learn basic techniques such as centering, pulling walls, shaping simple forms like cups and bowls, and finishing pieces for firing. Students are welcome to bring their own clay if preferred (stoneware clay is provided in the class). Bring a basic toolset for wheel throwing (bucket, sponge, preferred tools).
Although there is not enough time to fire work made in this workshop, participants are welcome to take their work home to local studios for firing.
Brian Cooley is the studio technician for Auburn University’s 3-D Arts Program where he formulates and prepares clays and glazes, fires kilns, and instructs students in special ceramic techniques. As an informal instructor in clay and glazes, Brian's skillset includes material knowledge about glaze chemistry, firing techniques, kiln building, and three dimensional form development. He and his wife Laura run Rabbbitfish Studio, a small-batch ceramics, printing and painting operation that embraces imperfection, oddness, and flights of imagination. Brian holds a BFA in sculpture from Kansas City Art Institute and studied historic preservation at Cornell University. He has worked with clay for over 10 years and loves making funky flower pots.
Crankies with Aaron Sanders Head
Workshop Description Coming Soon!
Aaron Sanders Head is a Southern, Alabama-based textile artist. Aaron was raised in rural Grady, AL and Hope Hull, AL, as the youngest of three children from an artist mother and an agricultural worker father. His grandparents were both rural mail carriers, and the times Aaron spent accompanying them on those trips cemented early on a fondness for rural areas and the importance of connection however it can be found. That learned sense of observation combined with inherited family traditions of textile and agriculture inform the unique visual language Aaron works in today, that exists in the worlds of quiltmaking, handwork and natural dyes. Aaron creates quilts and hand-stitched, naturally dyed textiles that explore the lived experiences of rural Alabamians.
Watercolor Painting with Howard Rains
In this class, we will be painting in watercolor, focusing on technique, drawing, composition, and overall conception. We will also learn about other artists. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never painted or if you’ve been painting your whole life. We will approach making art from a non-academic perspective.
Howard Rains is an artist, fiddler, and multiinstrumentalist from Texas, now living in Kansas, who comes from a family rich in music and art. Howard plays rare, old tunes learned from friends, family, mentors, and old recordings. As much known for his painting as his fiddling, Howard paints mostly in watercolor, works in collage, and is also the lead artist and graphic designer for Tiki Parlour Recordings in Los Angeles.
Coppersmithing Bowls & Repoussé with Quinn McKay
In this workshop, students will learn the principles of coppersmithing by forming decorative copper bowls and dishing and chasing a design into a sheet of copper using a process called repoussé. The techniques students will learn don't require much fancy equipment and can easily be practiced later at home!
Quinn McKay’s creative energies are rooted in a love of Architecture from an early age, blended with a deep connection to nature. Elements of his designs are inspired by the natural forms around and apart of us, as well as the clean lines which we surround ourselves with. To Quinn, art is about connection with the material and process, and the people and land we are in relation with. This philosophy follows through into his teaching. The goal of each workshop is to connect people with their innate abilities through connections with the material and each other. Quinn graduated from the American College of the Building Arts in 2023 with a great appreciation for traditional forging. Currently, he is putting that appreciation to work at Iron Horse Metalworks in Birmingham, AL.
White Oak Baskets with Robert Haygens and Sarah Bell
we will work from a white oak tree felled at Camp McDowell.Students will learn how to split a white oak log into workable weaving materials using various hand tools, then weave a basket. This process is physically demanding and will require good hand and arm strength. Previous basket weaving or woodworking skills are helpful but not necessary. The basket will be 8"W x 8"W x 6"H with a hand carved handle.
Robert Haygens lives in Opp, AL. He's been making white oak baskets for 36 years. His master of the craft includes many natural basketry materials such as white oak, black ash, rivercane, bamboo, poplar bark, hickory bark, birch bark and cedar bark. Robert made his first basket using commercial reed in 1971 when he was 10 years old and made his first white oak basket in 1989 when he was 27 years old. Robert says, "It was at that time that I was taught by the local community white oak basketmaker, 76 year old Ace Sasser and his son Wayne. Wayne took me to the woods and showed me the techniques and the knowledge on tree selection and how to prepare the white oak splits. The first few years of my basketmaking was spent perfecting traditional techniques and searching for my own personal style." Robert has studied many forms and styles of the Southern white oak basketry, Appalachian regional basket styles and Native Southeastern Indigenous rivercane and white oak basketry styles. White oak forms the basis for all my baskets. Like the early American Pioneers, Robert goes to the woods and carefully selects the trees and then hand splits the white oak logs to produce weaving splits that are both strong and durable. He believes both workmanship and materials are critical factors in making the finest baskets available. All of Robert's baskets are formed without use of machines, glue or nails, therefore, no two baskets will ever be identical. All handles and rims are hand carved from the heartwood of the White Oak. The splits are hand dyed using primarily native plants, trees, and on occasion, commercial dyes. All of these are assurances of creative hand craftsmanship. Robert has commissioned baskets in private collections throughout the United States and Europe, and 3 white oak baskets in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, IL.
Gee's Bend Quilting Retreat with Mary Ann Pettway & China Pettway
The Gee’s Bend Quilting Retreat at the Alabama Folk School provides a rare opportunity for quilters to sew alongside two of Alabama's famed Gee's Bend Quilters. China Pettway and Mary Ann Pettway are available to assist with hand and machine-stitching, and share tips for creating in the style of the Gee's Bend tradition. While everyone works, they sing gospel style spirituals and tell stories from their lives in the community of Boykin, Alabama. Quilters bring works in progress or fabric scraps to start something new and enjoy plenty of time to focus on their own projects in this uplifting community of fellow quilters. While the retreat is open to beginners, many participants will be intermediate to advanced quilters.
Mary Ann Pettway is the manager of the Gee's Bend Quilters Collective. She made her first quilt for the collective in the summer of 2005. The seventh of 12 children, Mary Ann Pettway was born and raised in Gee's Bend. After graduating high school in 1975, Mary Ann took college bookkeeping and accounting classes before working in a sewing factory for 20 years. Pettway is one of the lead singers of the Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church and began quilting again after hearing about the trips the quilters of the community went on. "Before I started back to quilting, I was with (friend) Sabrina's grandmother Arlonzia a lot and heard about these trips they would go on (to other cities through The Quilts of Gee's Bend traveling exhibition.) So I told her, "I'm tired of hearing how good of a time y'all are having. I want to start having a good time too." So she told me, "well then start quilting!" And Mary Ann is, thankfully, still quilting today.
In addition to being a famed quilter, China Pettway is one of Gee's Bend's leading gospel singers. Singing is her beloved hobby. She is one of the few Boykin locals who attended college and returned to live in the community. Now a home healthcare provider, Pettway enjoys working with the elderly. "I love my patients and I think they are the most sweet and beautiful people you can meet." China was taught to quilt by her mother, Leola, at the young age of eleven. "We had to quilt until ten at night. Then, she would let us stop and get to bed. That was every evening except Saturday and Sunday. I made my first quilt, it was a 'Star.' And I still have it,” she says. She and Mary Ann began teaching at the Alabama Folk School fifteen years ago.
