Lee Knight - an extraordinary talent

Lee Knight is a wonderful singer, storyteller, song collector, teacher of folklore, folk life, and folk music of North America and the Southern Appalachians, and a student of Cherokee history and culture. Born in the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York, he lives in Cashiers, North Carolina. Knight has studied the folk cultures of the southern Appalachians, the Adirondacks, and the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia, learning his repertoire by visiting with local residents and musicians who have maintained their traditions. Knight has collected songs and stories from both close to home and a world away, including the Adirondacks, the southern Appalachians, Canada, Scotland, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Columbia and Peru. He plays the five-string banjo, fretless five-string banjo, Appalachian dulcimer, Cherokee flute, Cherokee rattle, Cherokee water drum, guitar, and mouth bow. He performs regularly at concerts, folk festivals and camps, telling stories, singing unaccompanied ballads, and calling dances. He has performed with Pete Seeger, Jean Ritchie, Bill Monroe, Alan Lomax, and many others. His most recent CD received favorable reviews in Sing Out!, the bible of acoustic folk music. He appeared at Carnegie Hall in April 2006, continuing his collaboration with Wu Man. His warmth, humor, depth of knowledge of folk cultures, and dynamic performing style make it a real treat to have him in our area.

Ann Arbor Tour

AACTMAD is sponsoring Lee's visit to the Ann Arbor area for a series of interactive performances, especially for school-age students and families. He'll be in the area from Jan 16 thru Feb 9, 2007. During that time he will perform several concerts as well as a series of in-school performances and residencies in five Ann Arbor area schools.

AACTMAD collaborated with the Ann Arbor District Library's "Library Songsters" residency. This unique program pairs folk musicians with local middle school classes to explore history and music. Over a three week period, Lee will be working with Carol Mohrlock's sixth grade language arts students at Slauson Middle School assisting students in collecting family and neighborhood stories and songs and then creating original songs, stories and skits of their own.