Opening Reception Performers

Skip Taylor 
Skip Taylor is an Appalachian Folksinger who grew up playing folk and bluegrass music in the Mountains of North Carolina. While listening to Doc Watson, who lived 30 minutes from his home, he became interested in “Appalachian Folk Music” sounds. Skip performed country and bluegrass music at Carowinds and Kings Dominion theme parks for several years while studying music education at Winthrop College. He continued performing folk and bluegrass music after college singing and playing banjo in “Peppercorn Lane”, a bluegrass group out of Charlotte North Carolina. During that time, he directed the orchestra program at East Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte.

Skip was invited to further his musical education studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he earned a Master’s and PhD in music education and research. Upon completing his education, Skip joined the faculty at the University of Georgia, Hugh Hodgson School of Music, where he taught Music Education, Conducted the University Philharmonic Orchestra for twelve years, and developed the UGA Summer Music Camps.

Currently, Skip is the Head of the Department of Dance at the University of Georgia where recently he performed live Appalachian Folk Music with undergraduate student dancers during the UGA Dance Company Performance. Skip continues to play guitar and sing folk music as opportunities arise.

James Weidman
A valued pianist, James Weidman has been a sideman and accompanist in many settings over the past 30+ years, from Abbey Lincoln, Cassandra Wilson, Steve Coleman to Kevin Mahogany and the Grammy nominated Joe Lovano Us Five. In addition, James has also proven to be an increasingly significant bandleader and composer/arranger. His latest recording on Inner Circle Music “Spiritual Impressions” has garnered critical acclaim. It was selected by Cadence Magazine as one of the top ten albums of 2018.

James began playing piano at the age of seven. He was first schooled in the elements of jazz by his father, saxophonist James Weidman, Sr., and by the time he was fourteen he was playing organ in his father’s band. James studied at Youngstown State University (from which he graduated cum laude in 1976 with a degree in applied piano and music education).

It was with this background that aided him in the development of his skilled touch as an adept soloist as well as a superior accompaniment Weidman made his inevitable move to New York City in 1978, where he worked around town as a sideman with various veterans and up-and-comers, while co-leading the band TaJa with longtime Randy Weston saxophonist TK Blue, before coming into the orbit of conceptualist Steve Coleman and the M-Base Collective. Weidman’s early recordings with Coleman, along with M-Base colleagues Robin Eubanks, Greg Osby, Lonnie Plaxico and Cassandra Wilson, as well as other forward thinking players like Marty Ehrlich and Jay Hoggard, signaled the development of Weidman’s personally individualistic approach to music that has been continuously evidenced on his own recordings of predominantly original compositions, beginning with his 1997 debut as a leader, People Music (a trio outing featuring bassist Belden Bullock and drummer Marvin Smitty Smith) and continuing with succeeding dates All About Time (with Hoggard, bassist Ed Howard, drummer Marcus Baylor and vocalist Charene Dawn) and the superbly innovative Three Worlds (with trombonist Ray Anderson, saxophonist/clarinetist Marty Ehrlich, bassist Brad Jones and drummer Francisco Mela).

John Culwell
John Culwell is an award-winning classical guitarist and committed music educator. Originally from South Carolina, he has been involved in music and the arts for most of his life. As a performer, John enjoys an active career as a concert soloist, chamber musician, and regular contestant in competitions across the United States. As a teacher, he strives to make learning the guitar musical, meaningful, and enjoyable for students of all backgrounds and ability levels. Most recently, he won the 2021 Hugh Hodgson School of Music Concerto Competition at the University of Georgia.

He has been a featured artist nationally and internationally, playing concerts in Barcelona, Madrid, Alicante, and New York City. Since 2017, he is the adjunct professor of guitar and the director of the guitar ensemble at the South Carolina School of the Arts at Anderson University.

In addition to teaching, he is a full-time student pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Georgia where he is a graduate teaching assistant in the music theory department. Currently, he teaches Aural Skills III, a core class for sophomore music majors that teaches sight-singing and ear training. Previously, he received his Masters of Music in performance from the University of Georgia and was a William R. Kenan Excellence Scholar for his Bachelors of Music at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. He has participated in master classes with renowned guitarists such as Paul Galbraith, Adam Holzman, Benjamin Verdery, and David Leisner. While his previous teachers include Joseph Pecoraro and Lyman Golden, he currently studies with Dr. Daniel Bolshoy at the University of Georgia.

Cassie Chantel
Leading with the story-telling element of classic Hip Hop while being as unorthodox as today’s Rap/Pop music, Cassie Chantel is a recording artist whose body of work cannot be categorized with generic labels. The tone of her voice defies gender and sexuality stereotypes with its ambiguous depth and transcends into her image. Known for embodying both feminine and masculine energy, Chantel gives a fresh perspective to the music industry.

Named Songwriter of the Year for the Vic Chestnutt award (2021) and Best Female Rapper for the Athens Hip Hop Awards (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018) Chantel is already considered a legend in her hometown of Athens, Ga. Her small-town support has tumble-weeds itself into international support with more than 300k streams across all countries.

Granddaughter of Folk singer Willie Hill, Chantel’s roots are poetic; starting her musical journey at 7 years old by way of freestyle poetry. By the age of 11, she was recording herself and sharing her music online and with close friends. She went "viral" before the term was coined, gaining more than 90k organic Youtube streams under her original stage name Hollywood at 18.

Coming off her summer 21’ tour that stretched from the east and west coast, Chantel is expanding her sound into several genres and expanding her musicality through music theory. Her latest performances have featured live musicians translating some of the tribe's favorite singles into entirely new entities.