DRANK THE GOLD

Carolyn is an old-time banjo player and songwriter from upstate New York whose music nourishes the spirit like a hearty, home-cooked meal. Blending sultry nuance with deep-rooted traditional style, her songwriting pushes the boundaries of the banjo, creating a catalog of songs that feel both timeless and entirely her own. With a rich tapestry of folk influences and lyrics that balance wit with emotional depth, Carolyn invites listeners into an intimate journey through the complexities of being human. Her commanding voice and resonant banjo tone bring a joyous vulnerability to the stage—leaving audiences not just entertained, but genuinely restored and inspired.

Ida Mae Specker is an old-time fiddler, folk singer and songwriter. Her music fuses original, contemporary, and traditional material, bringing heartfelt new life and relevance to the chain of American folk music. A third-generation fiddler, Ida Mae was raised in a one-room cabin at the foot of Terrible Mountain in Andover, Vermont. Along with her older sister Lila, she learned to play the fiddle at a very early age from her father John Specker. Vermont Public Radio's Robert Resnik calls the Specker family "Vermont Folk Heroes."

That’s Jes Raymond and Jakob Breitbach. We’re an acoustic duo. We live in Wilder Vermont. We have distilled 10 years of international touring into a sound that is part festival and part mountain top. We are both multi-instrumentalists. We put together skillful flatpicking, clawhammer banjo, virtuosic fiddle, upright bass, time polished harmonies and award winning songwriting with elements of bluegrass, old-time, jazz and pop.

Armed with her father’s first guitar, a wry sense of humor and a startlingly cohesive and masterful tone, Elise Leavy writes and sings folk songs that sound like they came straight from Laurel Canyon in the 70’s. Often likened to Joni Mitchell and Judee Sill, Elise says it must be the California seawater getting inside her head and heart from an early age. “I’ve always loved folk songs, and I think I should have been alive in the 70’s, but since I wasn’t, I will bring that world that I love so much to my world today.”

Claire Dacey is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, nature/landscape educator, and visual artist devoted to fostering deeper connections and healing among people and the environment. As an award-winning folk singer-songwriter and song-collector, she crafts moving, original songs that resonate with the spirit of the legendary female folk singers of the 60s and 70s. She draws influence from traditional Irish and Scandinavian music and balladry, and from artists such as Dolores Keane, Gordon Bok, Dougie Maclean, Bob Dylan, Kate Wolf, Iva Bittová, and Emmy Lou Harris.

Upstate NY based duo, soaring vocal harmonies, fiddle, guitar/banjo, Irish and American old-time tunes and songs, contemporary traditionalists.  2023 Folk/Traditional Artist of the Year at the NY Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Awards, Drank the Gold play and sing North Atlantic dance tunes and folk songs.  Both steeped in music from an early age, they have been performing together since 2015.  Their latest (double A side) single, The Song of Wandering Aengus/The Widow Halpyne, simultaneously features the group's tight vocal harmonies; Oona Grady's deep Irish fiddle roots; James Gascoyne's compositional talents; and their shared passion for digging deep into traditional music and finding something new to say. 

Elizabeth Burke is a Boston-based singer, songwriter, violinist, and guitarist who believes every song carries a voice, a story, and a message. Music has always been her calling—sparked as a child by hearing her grandmother’s violin. When the pandemic brought stillness, Elizabeth found a new creative voice in songwriting, discovering that the violin represents her heart while songwriting represents her soul. Her music weaves themes of love, loss, self-discovery, motherhood, and renewal. Holding a Master of Music Degree in Violin Performance from the Longy School of Music, she performs across genres including jazz, blues, old-time, and improvisational music.

Benny Bleu Haravitch plays old-time banjo in the Finger Lakes of upstate New York – a land defined by deep lake valleys and steep highlands. The topography is reflected in the local fiddle tradition, and Benny’s banjo rolls along having studied and played with regional old-time visionaries Mac Benford, Richie Stearns, Judy Hyman, and Bruce Molsky. As a former geologist, his songwriting is earth-focused and inspired by the natural world. 2024 is a prolific year as Benny released twin albums Banjo Meditations (featured in Bandcamp Daily's Best Country Music of June 2024) and Banjo Jubilations (#2 artist and #5 album on FAI Folk Radio Chart June 2024), and embarked on an all-too-uncommon Amtrak tour spreading the efforts of sustainability in the traveling arts.