Instructors for the 2019 Lee County Gathering

Jim Miller has been playing and performing traditional music for the past 35 years. An accomplished instrument builder and teacher, he has taught workshops at numerous festivals as well as won many awards for his musicianship. For twenty years, Jim was the owner of the Hampton Music Shop, in Hampton, Tennessee, where he handcrafted over 750 hammered dulcimers. He has played with Celtic, Bluegrass, Swing, Blues and Old Time bands, and has done session work on many recordings. In addition to being an accomplished performer and workshop leader, Jim also is an enthusiastic jam facilitator who likes to get everyone involved. He plays guitar, banjo, octave mandolin, bass, steel drum, percussion, autoharp, mandocello, hammered and mountain dulcimers as well as his own off-the-wall musical inventions, which are always entertaining. Jim holds a Master’s degree in Elementary Education and has completed the course work for certification in music education. He recently retired from teaching 4th grade at Cloudland Elementary School in Roan Mountain, Tennessee, where he still leads an after school traditional string band program. He teaches dulcimer, mandolin, ukulele, and autoharp in the Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music program at East Tennessee State University and plays mandocello in the ETSU mandolin orchestra.

Joe Collins fell in love with the mountain dulcimer back in 1978. At the time he was doing occasional coffeehouses as a college student in eastern North Carolina, and a good friend thought that he might be interested in tackling another instrument besides the guitar. He took her little instrument home, and she did not get it back for three years! Today, he plays a lot less guitar and lot more dulcimer than in those early days.  

Sharrie George has emerged in the last few years as a talented performer and instructor. She lives in the Daytona, FL area and performs mostly with her husband, Guy George. Sharrie has taught at numerous festivals across the United States (Kentucky Music Week, NGFDA, Mt. Dora, and many others) as well as teaching at the John C. Campbell Folk School. Her solid timing and clean rhythms have made her an important part of Guy's groove in more ways than one, plus she's fun and helps you work on what you need the most. Her ukulele classes are well attended and enjoyed. She along with husband Guy, Bing Futch and Richard Ash host their own festival each February in Homosassa, FL. 

Cindy Mask is originally from the Chautauqua region of New York State. She grew up surrounded with classical and popular music, both at home and at Chautauqua Institution. She studied piano for 10 years. She became acquainted with the autoharp when she borrowed an autoharp from the music teacher at her children’s middle school for a weekend in the mid 90’s. After discovering that a melody could be played on the instrument and that it could be played in the upright Appalachian style, she received an autoharp in 2009 and has been playing since then. She has attended workshops at Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering in Newport, PA for the last 7 years. She performs with the Whistle Stop Pickers at Pioneer Park. She has instructed 2 beginning classes at the museum and instructed the band students at the Lee County Gathering in 2017. She has taught weekly art classes for the last 35 years and continues to teach watercolor. She and her husband live in Beauregard, AL.

Bob grew up in rural Alabama, part of a large extended family that knew and loved the music of the day. Exposed to all-day singings, gospel quartets, the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night radio, black field hands singing while they toiled in the fields, music was always present in his life.