The Flat Possum Hoppers
(photo by June White)

Please mark your calendars for our next exciting Gathering on Friday, February 10th, featuring The Flat Possum Hoppers, a stringband that performs old-time and early country music. They will be pesenting songs that were recorded in Charlotte in 1937, a time when the Queen City outshone Nashville as a country music and gospel recording center, and the likes of Bill and Charlie Monroe and the Carter Family made records here.

The concert gets underway at 7:30 PM in the Great Aunt Stella Center, 926 Elizabeth Avenue, in Charlotte. Doors open at 7 PM.

Full story and video clip:  here.

This is the sixth offering of our 2011-2012 concert series, which is better than ever!. The full season's schedule is:  here.

The concert and gathering will be at the Great Aunt Stella Center, a beloved downtown landmark located at 926 Elizabeth Avenue (map here) on the edge of downtown Charlotte, was originally designed as a church. The former sanctuary offers a warm and beautiful performance space with seats for 400.

Admission. Please enter through the front doors only, which will open @ 7:00, after the sound check is done.

Handicapped Access. There is a handicap accessible entrance and an elevator for those who need it through the ground floor side door on the right side of the building (looking at the building from the parking lot).

Parking. Free surface parking is available adjacent to the Stella Center. The arm of the nearby parking deck goes up for the weekend at 8 PM. So, you can grab a ticket on the way into the parking deck but you will not have to pay on the way out if you leave after 8 PM. A GoogleEarth picture showing how to get from the Elizabeth Ave entrance to the parking deck is:  here.

Charlotte Folk Society Gatherings are family-friendly and free. Donations are appreciated and essential to presenting the concert series in the Stella Center. The hour-long concert will be followed by refreshments, a Song Circle, a Slow Jam and an occasional fast jam. Visitors are also invited to the Charlotte Appalachian Dulcimer Club meeting after the concert, where folks are invited to try out a "loaner" dulcimer and join their session..

Our Gatherings are made possible, in part, with funding from the Arts & Science Council and the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Cultural Resources, and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

Charlotte Folk Society Swannanoa Gathering Scholarships!
Auditions February 26th

Marilyn Meacham Price

The Charlotte Folk Society is pleased to announce the 11th Annual Marilyn Meacham Price Youth Scholarship to the Swannanoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College, is now being offered. The scholarship is named in honor of the founder of the Charlotte Folk Society.

Sara Spencer
(photo by Tom Covington)

In addition, the Charlotte Folk Society will offer the 4th Annual Spencer-Bryant Adult Scholarship to the Swannanoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College, now being offered. Named in honor of Sara Spencer, for many years our Central Piedmont Community College Music Department faculty sponsor, and the late Gene Bryant, long-time CPCC Music Department Chair, this scholarship will be awarded to an adult.

Gene Bryant
(photo by Tom Covington)

Offered as a means of fulfilling our mission to perpetuate traditional music, this scholarship will be fully funded through a partnership between the Charlotte Folk Society and Warren Wilson College. The scholarship covers tuition ($475),provided by the Folk Society, and room and board ($370), provided by the college, a total scholarship of $845.

IMPORTANT!  Please note that the application deadline is Friday, February 17, 2012, and that the auditions will be held at 2:30 PM on Sunday, February 26, 2012 at Myers Park Baptist Church. Auditions must be in person. No exceptions to the time and place can be made.

To learn more about these incredible opportunities, and how you can audition, check:  here.

Sharing the Spirit:
Bringing the Gift of Music to Christmas

Charlotte Folk Society volunteers provided music and helping hands at the annual Cathedral of St Patrick's Christmas Dinner this past holiday season.

In 2007, as part of the Folk Society's 25th anniversary year, we produced a wonderful compact disc. 21 songs have been compiled on a single CD that represents some of the more memorable performers over our 25 year history. You'll love it! It is available for $10 at Folk Society events, or you can order it at the following link. Listen to samples; Buy the CD!.

Pebble in a Pond is a documentary about the Charlotte Folk Society. This program debuted on WTVI on November 22, 2010 and has aired many times since.

Marilyn Meacham Price truly tossed a "pebble in a pond" when she founded the Charlotte Folk (Music) Society in 1982, and the ripples continue ever outward. Supported and nurtured by a succession of volunteers, the organization has not only achieved its mission, but also created a very special community in the process.

You can purchase this DVD and read more:  here.