Challenging  times require creative solutions. Confined to our homes in far-flung  places during the two years of the COVID pandemic, the musicians of Strange Times came  together through the miraculous technology of JamKazam to play and  perform online. The band will be performing in person for the first time  ever at the 2022 Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering where we’ll share  eclectic repertoire, driving rhythms, and ear-catching arrangements that  could only come from musicians who bring their individual musical  interests together to create a unique whole.

 

Cindy Harris (2019 MLAG Champion) has  been making music with piano, fiddle, autoharp, bass and since she was  knee high to a grasshopper. She took up autoharp at age 40, and 20 years  later became the 2017 International Autoharp Champion. Well known as a  teacher and workshop leader, she is also a long-time contradancer, a  skilled caller of contras and squares, and plays old time West Virginia  fiddle tunes. Her passion for dance led to a long-term interest in dance  music, and the rest is history. (Note: you can  use the photo you already have for this).

 

Jody Kruskal (concertina) is  a multi-instrumentalist with a focus on the unruly Anglo concertina,  playing across the land for contra and square dances, morris, sword and  rapper dance teams as well as theater, modern dance and opera  productions. Jody wears many hats, composer, performer, educator,  vocalist, recording artist and producer, musical instrument inventor and  dance caller.  He was the 2018 recipient of the MLAG Cohen/Grappel  recording endowment grant for his album “Train On the Island”, where he  first met Cindy at a jam. He and Cindy started playing together for fun  at festivals, and Jody joined Cindy’s ensemble to play in the “concert  of champions” at the 2018 Walnut Valley Festival. During the pandemic,  Cindy and Jody played together almost every night on JamKazam, keeping  each other sane and improving their musical skills.

 

David Johnson (fiddle)  lives in Nashville, TN with his wife and two violins.  One violin toured with Country singer Randy Travis for 27 years.  The other violin has played concerts with various orchestras and chamber groups throughout the Mid-South since circa 1995.  He  spends most of his time keeping up with his peripatetic instruments and  the balance cooking and cleaning. During the pandemic Cindy stumbled  into a jam with him on the one Monday afternoon she happened to have  free, recognized that he had a secret desire to play traditional fiddle  tunes, and invited him to join her and Jody. Fortunately they didn’t  scare him away, and he’s been a frequent visitor to their evening  sessions ever since.

 

Niels Jonker (bass) is  a strange visitor from another country. Mild mannered Berklee School of  Music student and Mountain Laurel Board Secretary by day, by night he  can change the course of a mighty jig, bend bass notes with a single  finger, and use his bass to drive the beat on Irish, Dance, and American  tunes. These magical skills and his willingness to bend technology to  his bidding was the inspiration for his addition to Strange Times.