Fiddler Gretchen Koehler & guitarist Barb Heller.
Best known for her role as on-air host for North Country Public Radio in Canton, Barb Heller has been on the radio since 1989 in northern New York. She’s also a guitarist/songwriter with five albums to her credit, and has taught hundreds of teens and adults how to play fingerstyle guitar. Workshops, family sing-alongs, and campfire entertaining are all part of her repertoire. Heller's songs are often about people and life in the north country, with universal appeal to audiences of all ages.
Growing up in the heart of New England, Gretchen Koehler is a fiddler with an atlas of musical styles at her fingertips including Irish, French Canadian and Old Time. As a teen, she was a standout in the US/Canadian contest circuit for which Time Magazine labeled Koehler "astonishingly good." In 2012, she was inducted into the Fiddlers' Hall of Fame and honored with a Heritage Award from Traditional Arts in Upstate New York [TAUNY]. When not performing, she passes on the tradition in her studio in Potsdam, NY where her "Madstop Fiddlers" fiddlers range from pre-schoolers to great-grandparents. www.gretchenkoehlermusic.com
Together Barb Heller & Gretchen Koehler are an engaging duo. Their traditional and original waltzes, jigs, reels and songs tell charming stories, with and without words.
