Common Ground Downtown

Join Walt Michael and Company  and special guests in their annual holiday concert, featuring seasonal string band music from Scotland, Ireland, New England and Southern Appalachia. Fiddles, guitars, mandolins, banjos, hammered dulcimer and four-part harmonies to ring in your holidays!

This festive performance represents the Southern Appalachian tradition of “Breaking Up Christmas.”  A century ago, people in the Southern Appalachian mountains celebrated Christmas over two weeks, with informal house parties filled with old-time fiddle music, song, dance, and story. The traditional folk music of Scotland, Ireland, England, and Africa made their way into remote mountain hollers, later emerging as an integrated American musical genre that continues to evolve. In this great oral tradition, songs and tunes are evaluated and winnowed by time. Memorable melodies and lyrics withstanding this test of time take their place among the venerable repertoire. Come along and break up Christmas with Walt Michael and friends!