More Bios

Patt & Possum

After thirty plus years of playing together Patt Plunkett and Charlie Walden (a.k.a. Patt & Possum) have learned a thing or two about getting along musically. While some couples might bicker about the bills or where to go out to eat, these two do battle over chord progression and set lists.

Charlie and Patt both grew up listening to and playing traditional mid-western fiddle music. Charlie learned as a teenager at the feet of some of Missouri’s finest old time fiddlers, including Pete McMahan, Taylor McBaine, Bob Holt and Cyril Stinnett and was encouraged by countless others. Along the way he also developed an interested in Canadian fiddle tunes as the fiddling in the Ottawa Valley is similar in style and shares some common repertoire with Missouri. As such, other important influences through recordings were Graham Townsend, Don Messer and Ned Landry. He’s a big fan of Kenny Baker, Chubby Wise and Joe Meadows where Bluegrass is concerned.

Patt started out by playing piano for her grandfather, Carl Voorhees, who was a seasoned Illinois square dance fiddler. She went on to play Irish-style piano accompaniment and formed a ceili band in Chicago, which won the local Fleah Ceol twice. She is also a professional music educator and trained singer. Patt’s love of music and natural ability as a dancer led her to take an interest in square and contra dance calling and instruction.

Charlie and Patt are active contra and square dance musicians, performing for numerous such events each year. They serve as instructors at several music camps, teaching fiddle, piano styles, traditional dance and vocal music. They co-hosted “The Big Fiddle Show” during the pandemic, a weekly fiddling and variety program on YouTube.

You can find Charlie teaching and livestreaming at www.patreon.com/charliewalden.

Visit Charlie’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/charliewalden.

Jennifer Jeffries

encountered old-time fiddling in graduate school and jumped right in. Today, she plays Anglo- and French-Canadian and Irish tunes and is a fixture at Midwestern contradances and festivals throughout the country..

Kathy Hirsh

has played backup guitar for dances since the ’70’s in Bloomington Indiana, the Bay Area and Chicago. After living in Kathmandu and Beijing for many years, she’s happy to be back in Chicago, playing mandolin and making her living painting and teaching art.

Alexandra Deis-Lauby

A NYC-based  folk dancer, caller, teacher and organizer, Alexandra has hit the contra weekend and festival circuit with nearly a dozen weekends and a tour scheduled for 2024. Her clear teaching, smooth voice and fun dance selection delight dancers from coast to coast. More about Alex here.