ABOUT OUR PERFORMERS

Sheila Kay Adams: A seventh-generation Blue Ridge Mountains ballad-singer and storyteller, Sheila Kay is one of the best-known living ballad singers in North Carolina. Sheila Kay has also won countless awards and honors including the National Heritage Fellowship—the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts—and the prestigious North Carolina Heritage Award from the North Carolina Arts Council.

William Ritter: William was born and raised in Mitchell County, and has been soaking up tales, songs and tunes from old-time mountain storytellers for over a decade. He sings a number of songs dating back to the 1700's and earlier, many of which were sung in or around the Toe River Valley—including the original "Frankie Silver" ballad written in the 1830s. William plays banjo, fiddle, guitar, and other "string-ed things."

Donna Ray Norton: Donna ray is an eighth-generation ballad singer, the granddaughter of fiddler Byard Ray and Morris Norton, who played the banjo and mouth bow, daughter of singer Lena Jean Ray, and cousin to Sheila Adams and many other prominent Madison County musicians. Donna Ray was honored with the Bascom Lamar Lunsford Youth Award for Balladry.