Julia's
magical youth was aswirl with traditional old time music, handcrafts,
folk dancing, baroque ensembles, church choirs. She
studied cello from the age of 12, harmonized in a vocal group, toured
with a puppetry theater, performed and sang in summer theater, morris
danced and contra danced her way through her early years. In
1980, Julia returned to the family home place near Black Mountain, NC
and has lived there in a cabin built by her grandfather ever
since.
For 13 seasons she played cello with the Asheville Symphony, meanwhile
moonlighting on the fiddle, playing traditional old-time, New England
and Celtic music for square dances, contra dances and in
listening halls. She was the artistic director of the legendary Black
Mountain Festival for many years. Among her performance and
teaching venues: the LEAF, the Black Mountain Festival, Berea
Country Dance School, Pinewoods, Moondance, the Gypsy
Meltdown, Folkmoot International, and the Biltmore Estate.
Julia teaches both cello and fiddle lessons.
Julia has toured internationally as a dance musician, and performs
regionally with the string band Far
Horizons, as well as an
all
woman contra dance band, Fly
by Night, and a swing and
traditional
vocal group, Firefly.
She also plays cello in the group Trillium,
playing baroque and classical music for weddings, parties and
conferences. Julia has recorded on CDs of various artists
including singers Heidi Talbot, (produced by John Doyle)
and Vollie MacKenzie. In 2004 she released her own
acclaimed debut CD, The
View from Here.
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