Raccoon County Music Festival Archive: 1977-2023

04/25/2024

We (Pete McDonald, Gayle Wohlken, Jim Wohlken, Louise Keller, and Gordon Keller) are posting to let you know that Geauga County Historical Society is under new management. They have taken over the management of the festival and are going in a different direction in 2024. We have managed the festival as volunteers for the Historical Society since 2006, but we will no longer be involved in booking acts or managing the festival in any way. We want to thank everyone who has attended and supported the festival over the years. Thank you to all of our friends and family for volunteering over the years to make the festival possible. A special thanks to the musicians for giving their time and talent to the festival whether you were jamming, playing on stage, or leading a workshop. We tried to keep the festival focused on the early forms of traditional acoustic music, and we were always amazed at how authentically the musicians presented early blues, Cajun, old-time, bluegrass, Irish, jazz, and so much more! It was a great run and a joy working with everyone and seeing so many happy faces at the festival. We will be keeping this page as the Raccoon County Music Festival Archive: 1977 - 2023. There are so many wonderful memories here! Thanks again and take care.
For now, we have shut off posting on the page.

FYI.....We have stopped the ability for the public to comment but you can still message us. We would love to hear from you but keeping an eye on the page takes time so we will be looking at messages from time to time. Thank you all for so many wonderful comments. Keep an eye out for information on this year's music festival on August 10th at Century Village and the line up of music for the day. We hope it's a successful and fun festival and that the weather cooperates.

P.S. LOST AND FOUND FROM 2023:
2 MATCHING GREY CLOTH FOLD OUT CHAIRS
1 BLUE CLOTH FOLD OUT CHAIR
ALL THREE HAVE CARRY BAGS THE CHAIRS SLIDE INTO

08/14/2023

Thank you to all festivalgoers who were up for a weather adventure on Saturday in order to enjoy the 2023 Raccoon County Music Festival. Without you, the show wouldn’t have been the same! To all musicians, volunteers, sound, announcers, booth workers, food and drink vendors, museum staff, and anyone behind the scenes helping, you are what makes this happen every year, and what fun we had despite the two-time sprint for the Bond Building where the show went on seamlessly while an insistent rain storm or two played its own dramatic music! Thank you NEOMHA for sponsoring the Workshops in the White Barn again! We hope everyone had a good time. We did! It was so great seeing everyone again. And as Grandmother Dowell used to say to her country store visitors, “Y’all come back, now!”

Pictures coming soon. Here’s one of some folks moving to the tune of thunder toward the Bond Building!

08/12/2023

BLACK KETTLE BBQ will be the food vendor at the 2023 Raccoon County Music Festival.

https://www.facebook.com/blackkettlebbq216

Black Kettle BBQ is a Roadside BBQ food service experience; offering signature and classic Americana BBQ offerings, scratch sauces and freshly made sides. 100% Post Oak Smoked! Proudly serving Parma, Ohio and all surrounding communities of North East OH.

08/10/2023

THORNE MUSICA — The duo of Caroline King & Paul Kovac performs traditional instrumental music from European tradition.

Thorne Musica will be performing at 1-2 pm August 12 on the Outside Stage at the 2023 Raccoon County Music Festival, Century Village Museum in Burton.

08/09/2023

Here is the 2023 Raccoon County Music Festival t-shirt modeled by Jim Wohlken

Shirt Concept: Melina McDonald Cyrocki
Drawing: Madeleine Keller with assistance from Louise Keller and Melina McDonald Cyrocki

08/08/2023

WAXWING DUO consists of husband and wife Pete McDonald and Lisa Cyrocki – two members of The Waxwings Stringband, a northeast Ohio old-time band that played regularly in the Cleveland area from 2006 to 2011. They have been playing music together since they met in the fall of 2004 at the Wednesday night Algebra Tea House old-time jam in Little Italy.

Pete and Lisa will perform on the Church Stage from 3-4 pm on August 12 at the 2023 Raccoon County Music Festival at Century Village Museum in Burton.

Pete and Lisa sing old-time songs and play tunes on fiddle, guitar, mandolin, and banjo. They will be joined by Pete's brother Nate, another Waxwing band member, for a few numbers.

Pete has also been the director (as a volunteer for the Geauga County Historical Society) of the Raccoon County Music Festival since 2006.

08/03/2023

FULL 90 is a traditional Irish band from Cleveland, Ohio. The members are Alec Stott, Zach Smolko, Drew Andreatta, Anthony Papaleo, Cavan Dickson, Jarlath Caldwell, and Tom Barrett. Instrumentation includes uilleann pipes, tenor banjo, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, tin whistle, and bodhran.

Full 90 will be performing on the Outside Stage at 2 pm at the 2023 Raccoon County Music Festival, Century Village Museum, Burton, Ohio.

08/02/2023

THE ONE SONG SHOWCASE is a combination of music and storytelling. It is seven acts in succession, each responding to the same question:

“If you could play just one traditional song or tune that is personally meaningful to you, what would it be?”

Before they play their song or tune, each person or duo will tell a story that illustrates why they chose the song or tune. Maybe it’s the first, hardest, oddest, or prettiest tune they ever learned on a certain instrument or in a particular style. Or, maybe it’s a traditional song that’s associated with a key relationship, moment, experience, or period in their life. Or, maybe, it serves as a quintessential example of something especially compelling about traditional music. Together, the story and the song are the performance. The seven acts are veteran local traditional players, including Zach Smolko, Christina Freno, Harmon Gladding, Kate & Ray Ritchie, Louise Haas Keller & Rachel McKinney, and brothers Chris & Mark Haas.

Nate McDonald will host and introduce the One Song Showcase on the Church Stage at 12:00 Noon, August 12 at the 2023 Raccoon County Music Festival, Century Village Museum, Burton, Ohio.

08/01/2023

WOMEN IN MUSIC “This musical program celebrates the great women musicians over the past 100 years. We will explore ten female artists and their musical contributions, songs and struggles, and will share their stories. All of these women have been inducted into various musical halls of fame. Musical genres include vaudeville, the blues, jazz, early country, soul and gospel. We start our program in the 1920’s and move up through the decades. Here is a list of the female artists we will highlight: Sophie Tucker, Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie,
Ma Rainey, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, Kitty Wells, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Ruth Brown, Nina Simone and Ann Peebles.”

The program is performed by the Bent String duo of Kari Ann Rutushin and Kevin T Richards. You will find the music exciting and the stories intriguing. Vocals are accompanied by guitar, uke, percussion and flute.

Kari Ann Rutushin and Kevin T Richards’ Women in Music will be performed at 1 pm on the Church Stage on August 12 at the 2023 Raccoon County Music Festival, Century Village Museum, Burton, Ohio.

If you are interested in this program for your own venue, please contact: Kevin T Richards — email: [email protected]

07/29/2023

BENT STRING performs a mix of American roots music, including early jazz, acoustic blues, gospel, country and originals.
The quartet centers on the vocals of Kari Ann Rutushin and underpinned with the feel of jazz age swing. With Reed Simon’s hot violin, Kevin T. Richards on the archtop guitars and Cleveland Blues Hall of Fame inductee, upright bassist, Raymond DeForest.
http://www.bentstringmusic.com/page-7/

RAY DEFOREST is a master bassist. He is a founding member of the country blues quartet, SpYder Stompers and Sugar Pie and performs with Ohio-based bands in all manner of styles, from country blues to jazz, on the electric and acoustic bass. He was inducted into the Cleveland Blues Hall of Fame in October 2022. Ray studied upright bass with Harry Barnoff, principal Bassist, Cleveland Orchestra. He has backed many national acts including Clark Terry (trumpet), Odean Pope (Sax Choir), and Johnny Johnson (pianist with Chuck Berry). He has been a band member with the jump swing band Blue Lunch for two decades. He teaches private bass lessons part time at Musicologie, Cleveland Heights.

KEVIN T. RICHARDS plays many different American roots guitar styles, including blues, jazz and early country. In Bent String, Kevin focuses on the guitar sounds and styles of Freddie Greene and Charlie Christian. He is recognized by the Ohio Arts Council as a master musician in the Country blues guitar style. He also plays mandolin, fiddle and banjo. Kevin was the founder of the non-profit organization Roots of American Music in 1999, and served for over two decades in various roles. He has performed at major festivals including Merlefest, the Brooklyn Folk Festival and the National Folk Festival. He has been on staff multiple times teaching blues & swing guitar at Augusta Heritage Center. He is an owner of the music school Musicologie, Cleveland Heights. https://kevintrichards.com

KARI ANN RUTUSHIN Growing up in North East Ohio, Kari Ann started her musical journey like many musicians before her, in a church pew. She is the vocalist front and center with Bent String. She has a passion for early jazz, gospel, blues and roots country music. Kari Ann is a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Champion, OH. and is a professional vocalist with over a decade of sharing stages across Northeast Ohio. She entertains with her uke, washboard, flute and piano. She has worked with the bands Swap Meet and the Larry Elefante band. She is a teaching artist with Roots of American Music. https://kariannrutushin.com/home

William Reed Simon is North East Ohio’s premier Jazz/Swing violinist. His music influences are many including Stephane Grappelli, Joe Venuti, Duke Ellington, and Stuff Smith, all giants of the earlier jazz swing age. Reed is the main soloist in Bent String. He also works with the music group the Hot Club of Cleveland, the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, and Hot D’Jang, performing swing, bebop and beyond.
He has been known to share the stage with Lost Bob and the Ozone Ramblers performing bluegrass classics. William Reed Simon is an Associate Professor and head of the Fine Arts Department at Notre Dame College in South Euclid, Ohio. There he teaches both studio Art and Design as well as Graphic Design. In 2001, Reed earned an MFA from Pratt Institute of Art in Painting with a minor in Art History.

BENT STRING will be appearing at the 2023 Raccoon County Music Festival on the Outside Stage at 3 pm, Century Village Museum in Burton, Ohio.

07/27/2023

The Stand Bayou Cajun band

Accordionist Brad Smedley’s world was set afire seeing the trio of Mark Savoy, D.L. Menard, and Doc Guidry perform the traditional Cajun music of southwest Louisiana on accordion, guitar and fiddle, at the 1979 Kent State Folk Festival. The high energy of the band’s performance had Brad heading to Goose Acres Folk Music Center to order his first Hohner single row button box accordion. For Brad the 1980’s were filled with trips to Louisiana to visit old masters of Cajun music, regular band rehearsals, and many regional performances.

Bob Smakula grew up in a musical family with his father, Peter, playing fiddle, banjo, and guitar, In the early 1970’s the Smakula Family band performed regularly in northeast Ohio including the Standing Rock Access radio show and the Kent State Folk Festival. Bob was also at the Savoy, Menard, and Guidry performance in 1979 and was more than willing to learn Cajun fiddle.

Guitarist Kevin Enoch started his musical career playing contemporary bar guitar in the late 1970’s. His pivotal musical experience was receiving a banjo purchased from Goose Acres Folk Music center as a gift. From there he has traveled down the roots music trail of Old Time, Cajun, and Zydeco music.

Stand Bayou was most active from 1985 to 1990. Though Bob and Kevin moved away from northeast Ohio, making practice sessions hard to accomplish, all three members kept their interest in the music of south west Louisiana. Brad founded Zydeco Dependents, Bob was the fiddler for Tracy Schwarz and the Cajuneers, and Kevin played bass with the Washington DC area band, Squeeze Bayou.

Stand Bayou has performed at several events in recent years and realized how much fun it is to play together. They look forward to reuniting at least once a year to fire up the dance floor with traditional Cajun two steps and waltzes.

STAND BAYOU will be on the Outside Stage at 5 pm at the 2023 Raccoon County Music Festival at Century Village Museum August 12.

07/26/2023

MR. HANEY plays traditional old-time music in Northeast Ohio at dances, weddings, concert halls, coffee shops, parties and more. Comprised of Ken Roby on fiddle, banjo and mandolin; Laura Lewis on fiddle; Jim Eisenberg on claw hammer banjo; Jim Richards on guitar; and Nancy Tozer on bass, the band takes their uplifting music and casual banter wherever it's needed. Follow the band at facebook.com/mrhaneystringband.

Mr. Haney will be performing on the Outside Stage at 12:00 pm Noon at the 2023 Raccoon County Music Festival on August 12 at Century Village Museum in