Jeni Hankins & Billy Kemp: Links

John Copenhaver: John is the closest thing to a brother I (Jeni) will ever have. In fact, my sister calls him brother John! He also happens to be a very talented writer trying to balance the writing life with the teaching life. He has a great blog (one of the few I have time to follow!) where he talks about his balancing act and raises some great questions about the writing (and teaching) life. Check it out!
Grassroots Leadership: Jeni & Billy are proud to know songwriter and activist Si Kahn who has been working for years to fight injustice and advocate for the forgotten. www.sikahn.com Through Grassroots Leadership, Si and his colleagues have been questioning and challenging the idea of For-Profit Prisons. In particular, they have joined others in raising awareness about immigrant family detention -- the practice of putting asylum seekers as well as undocumented parents and children behind bars. Please take a moment to join us in joining Grassroots Leadership.
Now & Then: Journal of Appalachian Culture: This magazine represents the very best in writing, thinking, & art-making about and through-out Appalachia.
Help Me to Sing: We are happy to announce our collaboration with Jim Lauderdale on a track for a tribute album of Sacred Harp music called Help Me To Sing. The two CD set is a companion to a fine documentary film by Erica & Matt Hinton called "Awake, My Soul." You can learn more about the film at www.awakemysoul.com The CD also includes performances by the Carolina Chocolate Drops, John Paul Jones & Rayna Gellert (of Uncle Earl), Tim Eriksen, the Innocence Mission, and many others.
Independent Music is Handmade too! Find out more about the Handmade movement at Buy Handmade
Rebecca Hall & Ken Anderson are Hungrytown!: Rebecca & Ken are an amazing duo who play retro folk music. They're great song writers and musicians who really have a knack for drawing you into a story and making you wonder exactly what happened or what will happen. They are also very gracious and fine people. They have a great new record called "Hungrytown."
Jim Lauderdale can keep you laughing even when you're singing!: Jim is one of the best songwriters that Billy and I have had the pleasure to meet in Nashville. He just won a Grammy for his most recent bluegrass record, "Bluegrass Diaries," and has a new country record out, "Honey Songs," featuring musicians who cut there teeth playing with none other than Elvis Presley. He has several other great records including two recorded with the legendary Dr. Ralph Stanley. We are particularly fond of his songs "Whisper" and "The King of Broken Hearts." Jim does country, swing, bluegrass and even jams with tribe band Donna the Buffalo, but he always maintains his unique voice and phrasing. Any fan of George Jones would be sure to love Jim and anyone with a sense of humor should make a beeline to one of his concerts. Jim is one of the funniest people we know. Oh, and one more thing, he wears a Nudie suit with more suave than Little Jimmie Dickens . . .
Buddy and Julie Miller: Buddy and Julie are incredible artists. Buddy helped us out with some equipment questions and there is no other way to describe him than patient and kind. Jeni is crazy about Julie's beautiful idiosyncratic voice and her mining disaster song Quecreek. You can hear that song and many other fine tunes on their duo compilation record "Love Snuck Up."
Darcy Cotten: Darcy is one of the sweetest people that you'll ever meet. Through Cotten Music, the business she shares with the wonderful Kim Sherman, she is an advocate of the makers of handcrafted fine instruments. As a singer she is an advocate of the very best songs and the musicians who help bring them to life. We are proud to have been part of her sincere and sweet project "Remember Me." We wish her all the best in her musical journey!
Millennia Music and Media Systems: If you are looking for some folks who are very serious about sound then go no further than the folks at Millenia. Our pre-amp is solid, simple, quiet, clear, and pure. Nothing better for acoustic music.
Cotten Music: We played a bunch of guitars until we found the perfect guitar for Jeni at Cotten Music. Kim and Darcy are two of the nicest ladies you’ll ever meet and they have an incredible selection of guitars from Luthiers around the USA. Check out Jeni’s new Goodall Guitar on the photos page. Well, as it turns out, a few months later we found the perfect guitar for Billy at Cotten, too, a Collings made in Austin, TX. You can see Billy playing it in our most recent photos at Foxfire Village. The folks at Cotten are some of the nicest and most helpful people we've met in Nashville and we would advise anyone who wants a fine instrument and a fine shopping experience to get on down to Cotten Music in Hillsboro Village.
Old Groove: The folks at Old Groove are a great resource for artists who want to promote their work. They also just make amazing t-shirts and buttons! We met them at Clifftop in WV and they certainly took the prize for being the nicest folks we met all summer long and we met a lot of very nice folks! Check out their doings and you're sure to leave smiling.
Collings Guitars: Billy is thrilled with his new Collings guitar which he found at Cotten Music in Nashville, TN. Sometimes the bell-like quality of the sounds coming from Billy's guitar astound us to the point that he just plucks a string and we listen to the sound swirl around for it seems like minutes in the sound hole. You can see a photo of Billy with his new guitar on our Photos page at our Foxfire Village concert.
James Goodall: Jeni’s just getting to know her new concert jumbo guitar from this Hawaiian luthier.
Blue Ridge Autoharps: Jeni’s maple and spruce autoharp was made by this champion autoharp player in the Blue Ridge mountains of West Virginia. John Hollandsworth teaches an incredible autoharp class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in the Spring. He and his wife Kathie make beautiful music that really takes you back.
Ramsey Banjos: Billy plays an open-back banjo that Jeni made with the help of Mike Ramsey in Appamattox, VA. Mike is an incredibly generous fellow and teaches a great banjo building course at the Holiday Lake 4-H Camp in Appamattox.
Gillian Welch: Gillian Welch and David Rawlings have set the bar when it comes to new-old music. Once you hear them you will want to hear more and more and more.
Molly Andrews: Molly sings Appalachian ballads and original tunes with a lonesome and honest voice. And she also happens to be a lovely person full of light and life.
Polecat Creek: Kari Sickenberger and Laurelyn Dossett make up this North Carolina based duo. These women combine some of the best old-timey, early country inspired songwriting with two of the rarest voices around.
Uncle Earl: See Jeni's journal entry about this group of talented Traditional American musicians.
Sheila Kay Adams: Sheila Kay tells amazing stories and sings ballads with such an emotional alto voice that she’ll make your hair stand off your head. Jeni studied with her at the Blue Ridge Old-time Camp in Mars Hill, NC.
American Visionary Art Museum: This is one of our favorite art museums in the universe! And it just happens to be in one of our favorite cities, Billy's hometown, Baltimore, Maryland. Get ready to see things you've never seen before and to come away from the museum experience transformed and enlightened. Rebecca Hoffberger, the Founder and Director of AVAM, is an outstanding individual who has given so much to the world community through her search for unacknowledged and truly unique visionary people.
County Sales: Visit their online store or go see them in Floyd, Virginia, for the best selection of old-time, bluegrass, and country music in the universe.
Appalshop: This online store is a great resource for Appalachian music, videos, books, and events.
Running Dog Guitars: Billy plays a Running Dog Sprite guitar made by Rick Davis and claims it’s the sweetest guitar he’s ever heard.
Burton Optician: You may have noticed that Billy has a swell new pair of glasses. Well, if you're looking for spectacular new spectacles go no farther than Burton Optician. Even if you don't need glasses you should consider stopping by just to visit with the lovely and vibrant Ms. Virginia Burton herself.