Featured Performers

Bill Harley
Bill Harley is a two-time Grammy award-winning artist and recipient of the Magic Penny Award from the Children's Music Network. Bill uses song and story to paint a vibrant and hilarious picture of growing up, schooling and family life. His work spans the generation gap, reminds us of our common humanity and challenges us to be our very best selves. A prolific author and recording artist, Bill is also a regular commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered" and featured on PBS. He joined the National Storytelling Network's Circle of Excellence in 2001 and tours nationwide as an author, performing artist and keynote speaker.

Bill began singing and storytelling in 1975 while still in college. His work has influenced a generation of children, parents, performing artists and educators. Bill's songs are joyous, direct and honest, his stories are filled with the details of daily life - all told and sung from his slightly off-center point of view.

 

Kevin Kling
Kevin Kling is a well-known playwright and storyteller, and his commentaries can be heard on NPR's "All Things Considered." His plays and adaptations have been performed around the world. He lives in Minneapolis.

His storytelling started when a friend from the now defunct Brass Tacks Theatre asked him to perform his stories. Since then, he has been awarded numerous arts grants and fellowships. Kling was born with a congenital birth defect - his left arm is about three-quarters the size of his right arm, and his left hand has no wrist or thumb. More than five years ago, Kling was in a motorcycle accident. The brachial plexus nerves in his right arm were pulled completely out of their sockets. Currently, he has partial use of his left arm and cannot use his right arm at all.

Kevin Kling continues to write plays and stories in a rigorous fashion, and travels around the globe to numerous storytelling festivals, residencies, and has been invited to perform the acclaimed National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN for his fourth consecutive year. Kevin has released a number of compact disc collections of his stories and most recently his first book titled "The Dog Says How" hit the shelves this October.

Beth Horner
Beth Horner is noted as a vivacious talent dedicated to providing an entertaining and empowering experience for her listeners, young and old. Her performances captivate audiences with a wide variety of folk, literary, traditional, contemporary and original tales from around the world. Horner's lively, traditional storytelling style often incorporates music, creating a unique performance which critics have called "dynamite!" A nationally acclaimed storyteller who has performed for adults, teens and children for over 18 years, Beth Horner takes her listeners on journeys of adventure, warmth, wonder, haunting eeriness and raucous laughter.

Acoustic Endeavors

Acoustic Endeavors was initially formed in 1992 by Warren Amberson and Kelly Green. The band has been based in Jonesborough and then Nashville, TN but is now headquartered in Roanoke, VA. The year 2002 marked the 10th Anniversary of the band and, to celebrate, they reissued the debut release (Coming Of Age) and included two bonus tracks featuring the current band. It was retitled, Coming Of Age... Again, and is available online.

Greg Honeycutt left the group in 2003, Warren switched back to bass, and they brought noted SW VA fiddler Billy Hurt on board. This is the band that recorded the current CD, On A Farm, with both Greg and Warren featured on bass on different tracks.

Linda Goodman
Linda Goodman was born in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, where she learned the art of storytelling from her father, a former coal miner who was himself a master yarnspinner. She began writing her own stories while she was in elementary school and continues to be a prolific writer to this day.

Tim Livengood

Tim Livengood is a storyteller and a planetary astronomer to boot. He began both careers as a child when he ran into a wall while racing to watch television coverage of Apollo 11's lift-off from the Moon, leaving him with an interest in space science, a scar, and a story to tell about it.different tracks.

Alan Hoal
Alan along, with his wife Carol, are the founders of the Sounds of the Mountains festival and two other music and storytelling festivals held in North Carolina. Alan is the winner of the 2010 North Carolina Bold Faced Liars Showdown People's Choice award and performs his personal stories, Tall Tales and literary stories at schools, festivals and corporate events throughout the Carolinas and Virginia.