Appalachian Songwriters Retreat

RETREAT FACULTY

Our faculty brings the Appalachian Songwriters Retreat to life through engaging workshops, sessions, and activities. Learn more about each member of our team below

Dale Ann’s story begins in rural Appalachia and ends on some of the biggest stages in music. Her music reflects that love as she often sings of the state’s multiple charms including sparkling streams, rolling hills and mountains, lush hillsides filled with native plants and beautiful landscapes. Born in Bell County, Kentucky, Dale Ann grew up in a tar and paper shack, under the guidance of her mother and father, a Primitive Baptist minister as well as a miner. When she was 14, she was given her first guitar. “It was a little plywood, small body guitar, but it had six strings, and I made a pick from a milk jug. I drove everybody crazy learning to play it.” From those humble beginnings, Bradley has gone on to grac the Grand Ole Opry stage many times over, a dream of hers since she listened to the famous radio show on that old radio back home in Kentucky. Bradley is a six-time winner of IBMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year 2021, 2012, 2011, 2009, 2008, 2007), and took home the Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year in 2021 for “After While.” In 2018, Dale Ann was inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame. “It was such an honor for me to be welcomed into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame with so many of my heroes,” says Dale Ann. “Being a member of the Hall of Fame reiterated how important Kentucky stories and Kentucky artists are in the world of music,” says Dale Ann. “Receiving the award was such an honor.

In the last ten years or so Nicholas Jamerson has put together a catalogue that reaches across broad spectrums in both substance and style. The eastern Kentucky native has endeared himself to fans in the region and beyond as a founding member of the duo, Sundy Best. In recent years Nicholas performed extensively solo and with his band The Morning Jays. Both with band and on his own Nicholas has made his mark on the most hallowed stages and events in the region, from the Grand Ole Opry and Ryman Auditorium to Americana and Master Musician Festivals. He is among an esteemed group of todays artists who have shaped, redefined, and expanded the notions of Appalachian and Southern music, and reminds people why they love it and enjoy its many splendors. Jamerson’s songs are known for their attention to the natural world, warm hearted characters, and the plight and triumphs of the modern day hillbilly.

Matthew S. Parsons is a songwriter, poet and educator from Olive Hill, Kentucky. He composed the title track on Bronwyn Keith-Hynes’ 2025 Grammy-nominated album” I Built a World.” Parsons grew up in a bluegrass family and has performed widely, both as a solo artist and with his band Whistle & Fish. For more than a decade, he has taught songwriting and traditional music through Morehead State University, Berea College, Hindman Settlement School’s Appalachian Writers Workshop, and community programs across Appalachia, helping writers and musicians discover their voices and hone their craft. He is the author of the poetry books “Mountain Roosters” and “Holy Land.”

You may have seen Parsons perform at Kentucky Arts & Letters Day, Appalachian Songwriters Weekend, The Bluegrass Jamboree, Bernie Sanders’ Fighting Oligarchy Tour, WDVX Blue Plate Special, Country Music Highway 23, The Down Home, The Appalachian Food Summit, or the Ford Foundation Annual Dinner.

He has toured both domestically and internationally with acts like Sarah Kate Morgan, The Local Honeys, The Price Sisters, The Woodsheep, and The Berea College Bluegrass Band, and has performed alongside industry legends like Peter Rowan, Tim Stafford, Al White, Raymond McClain, Dale Ann Bradley, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, and many more.

A.p. Harbor is the vehicle for the music of Andrew Preston, singer-songwriter and producer from Van Lear, Kentucky. Preston has been a featured songwriter by the International Bluegrass Music Association, lecture faculty for the Appalachian Writer’s Workshop, and nominee for the 2018 Audioverse Awards. With works spanning hundreds of performances through four countries and eight LPs, Preston and his collective of bandmates have become recognizable mainstays of Appalachia’s burgeoning indie scene. Among their hallmarks: eclectic vocals, offbeat instrumentation, and literary lyricism steeped in storytelling, all balanced by a healthy penchant for the surreal and absurd. Andrew is also the events coordinator and bookseller at CoffeeTree Books in Morehead, KY.

Anna Kline is a songwriter, musician, and poet based in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. Her songwriting is rooted in the redemptive strains of gospel, the drawling tremolo of rhythm and blues, and the soul of American roots music. Her lyrics mirror the landscapes of her Mississippi upbringing and explore her kinship to the Appalachian Mountains, where she makes her home.

For over 15 years, Anna and her husband/songwriting partner, John Looney, have explored the musical legacies of the South with their bands, Grits & Soul and Swift Silver. They have released a recorded album with each band project. They have criss-crossed the Southeast performing at major festivals like MerleFest, Bristol Rhythm & Roots, Suwannee Springfest, and international festivals in Belgium and Ireland. Their music has been featured on ESPN’s True South and Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.

Anna has contributed to numerous projects, including singing harmony on The Gospel by The Local Honeys, and sharing a co-writing credit on “Last Mule in the Holler” with Montana Hobbs. She has led songwriting workshops at Gateway Regional Arts Center in Mt. Sterling and led a youth version of “Finding Your Voice” at WMMT Girls Rock camp in Whitesburg. Her recent work as Business Development Director for the International Bluegrass Music Association included supporting artists and songwriters, and industry members in various stages of their careers.

Carla Gover is an eighth-generation Kentuckian who hails from the small coal town of Whitesburg in Eastern Kentucky, and her rural sensibilities permeate the work that she does and the music that she plays. A veteran of the folk scene, she has performed and recorded with such artists as Jean Ritchie, Mark Schatz, Dudley Connell, Stuart Duncan, Dirk Powell, Jesse Wells, Bruce Molsky, and many more.

Her three most recent albums (“Kentucky Queen,” “Wings” & “Fresh Picked Kentucky Music”) have all reached #1 on the Folk Music DJ Charts. The Old-Time Herald says, “Carla’s music contains the best elements of traditional Appalachian Music, including purity, intensity, integrity, and vivid imagery.”

An award-winning singer-songwriter, she has won numerous national awards including the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerleFest and the Kerrville New Folk Award. Her original songs have been covered by major artists and featured in film and documentary soundtracks. She was selected as a Master Artist in both Traditional Flatfoot Dancing as well as Appalachian Music by the Kentucky Arts Council.

Jeri Katherine Howell — award-winning singer-songwriter, cultural producer, and educator based in Frankfort, Kentucky — cultivates creative experiences that inspire care for ourselves, one another, and the planet. Her compelling performances connect and rejuvenate audiences, centering vulnerable lyrics, dynamic vocals and guitar, and a grounding Folk/Americana sound. Jeri Katherine works with organizations, small businesses and artists at the intersection of the arts, nature connection, and wellbeing to transform lives and build community.

Jeri Katherine has been writing and performing songs for nearly two decades. The title track of her first Bluegrass album, Branch to Branch (2007), won 2nd place in the Flat Rock Music Festival Songwriters Contest (NC). With a Kentucky Arts Council Folk Arts Apprenticeship Grant (2011), Jeri Katherine apprenticed under Carla Gover, who nurtured her songwriting, dance, and performance skills in connection with regional old-time/Appalachian traditions and activism, which she passes on as a teaching artist in community and education settings like Cowan Creek Mountain Music School. Jeri Katherine began collaborating across genres with local hip-hop artists, Basement Upstairs (“Change,” 2011), and world music band, Stirfry Musette (No String Unturned, 2013). She fronted the band Better Together with Don Rogers, Jordon Ellis, Daphne Fields, and Jeff Ellis, and formed The Metafours with Nat Colten, Anna Hess and Nick Holmes. She opened shows for the likes of Sam Bush, Robinella, Sarah Watkins, Ben Sollee, and Darryl Scott. Her sophomore album, Collage (2013), features 14 original songs from acoustic heart strummers to full band foot stompers, most easily categorized in the misfit catch-all genre of Americana.