2012 Instructors

PENNY NICHOLS
In her long and colorful career, Penny Nichols has shared stages with such legendary \artists as Jackson Browne, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Ponies, Jennifer Warnes, Big Brother and the Holding Co with Janis Joplin, Steve Miller and many others, culminating with the earning of a platinum record for her vocal work on Jimmy Buffett & the Coral Reefers' "Son of a Son of a Sailor," and a Grammy for her work on Arlo Guthrie's album "The Power of Love." She holds degrees in Music & Psychology from Antioch University, and a PhD in Education from Harvard. Penny is the founding director of SummerSongs, Inc. a series of music camps for songwriters. Her most recent ventures include working on a CD of the songs of Jackson Browne, developing her series of Harmony and Background Vocal arranging lessons on CD; and a new book and CD, "The 8 Voyages of Nep."

KRISTINA OLSEN
Kristina Olsden is one of the most entertaining and compelling performers on the international folk circuit. A superb multi-instrumentalist, (acoustic guitar, steel-body resonator guitar, saxophone, concertina and piano) as well as an award-winning songwriter, her mix of powerful songs ranging from sassy bottleneck blues to lilting ballads to swing jazz to what she calls raunch-and-roll - plus her hilarious storytelling - makes for a diverse and satisfying musical experience. Kristina has taught songwriting, slide guitar and dance for musicians at adult music camps from Alaska to NYC to the UK to Australia for over a dozen years. Olsen is a frequent contributor to Acoustic Guitar magazine, writing articles on guitar and performance techniques.

COSY SHERIDAN
Cosy Sheridan has been called "one of the era's finest and most thoughtful singer/songwriters." A storyteller as well as a songwriter, she weaves children's fables into tales of modern adulthood. Her modern renditions of mythology (meet Hades The Biker) have won her fans and praise from the press. The Cornell Folksong Society wrote, "Sheridan is frank, feisty, sublimely and devilishly funny. She fuses myth with modern culture, Persephone with Botox." She first appeared on the national folk scene in 1992 when she won the songwriting contests at The Kerrville Folk Festival and The Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Since then she's released 8 CDs, written a one-woman show entitled The Pomegranate Seed - An Exploration of Appetite, Body-Image and Myth in Modern Culture. She has taught songwriting, guitar, and performance at music camps across the country for the past 15 years, including The Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, The Swannanoa Gathering, Summersongs Music Camp, and Fishtrap.

TR RITCHIE
TR Ritchie is a storyteller and musician in the classic bard tradition, plus a multi-award winner and veteran of songwriting competitions at such festivals as Kerrville, Sisters, Napa Valley, Walnut Valley, Silverton Jubilee and Mountain Stage. Known for his spontaneous, engaging and spirited performances, Ritchie serves up his music with technical grace and unwinds the narrative of his life and times in words and song, by turns witty, insightful and philosophical. Doug Bright, writing in Heritage Music Review, says, "Ritchie dishes up a hearty, diversely spiced and nourishing bowl of 'chicken soup for the soul.'"

DAVID ROTH
Chicago native David Roth is a singer, songwriter, recording artist, and masterfully inclusive instructor who joins us from his home on Cape Cod. David has earned top honors at premier songwriter competitions (Kerrville, TX and Falcon Ridge, NY), and taken his music, experience, and expertise to a wide variety of venues in this and other countries full-time over the last two and a half decades. His songs have found their way to Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, several Chicken Soup for the Soul books, the Kennedy Center, Peter, Paul, & Mary concerts, the Kingston Trio’s newest CD, NASA’s Space Shuttle “Atlantis”, and twelve recordings on the Wind River and Stockfisch (Germany) labels. Featured on many of Christine Lavin’s seminal Rounder Records compilations, the former artist-in-residence at New York’s Omega Institute has a resume´ that includes teaching at many of the finest music camps in North America. David is honored to be in Moab with his unique songs, offbeat observations, moving stories, and powerful singing and subject matter.

ANKE SUMMERHILL

Anke has been with the Moab Folk Camp since its beginnings and is an invaluable member of our staff. In recent years, she has worked with people of all ages in her community and beyond and is continually inspired by the healing power of music. She especially enjoys exploring songwriting & the creativity of playing the guitar with others as a way to weave community.


Originally from Munich, Germany, Vancouver, British Columbia; and now surrounded by Utah's desert beauty, Anke’s diverse background and powerful gift of observation has seasoned her songwriting and performances with qualities which show genuine compassion. In addition to recording her own well received full-length CD projects, The Roots Run Deep & Shine On Through her songs have found their way onto many CD compilations and samplers used in a wide variety of community fund raising projects, including Miner’s Lullaby, for the 2010 tribute project, “The Long Memory ~ Utah remembers Bruce “Utah” Phillips”.

DOUG WINTCH
Salt Lake City based songwriter Doug Wintch has been playing guitar since grade school, beginning the way a lot of aspiring musicians do, on an inexpensive little guitar that had a finger torturing high action and was almost impossible to get in tune. In spite of that he has persevered to release two albums of original songs, and most recently received the 2011 Members' Choice Award for Best Male Singer-Songwriter from Utah's Intermountain Acoustic Music Association. In the course of his diverse career - he is also a working carpenter and one-time brine shrimp fisherman on the Great Salt Lake - he has played everywhere from dive bars to trendy bistros to concert halls and festivals, with a few river trips and ski resorts thrown in, as a solo musician and with The Doug Wintch Band, the Blues Buckaroos, and with fellow songwriter Anke Summerhill, with whom he has traveled as part of the Utah Phillips Tribute, a showcase of Utah's music fronted by Phillips' son, Duncan.

BILL McGINNIS
Several years ago, in a small ukulele shop on a quiet side street in Hilo, Hawaii Bill purchased his first ukulele. Over the ensuing years his collection of ukes has grown as well as a love of all things Hawaiian. As a singer songwriter in Park City, Utan. Bill teaches ukulele to students in local elementary schools as well as adult groups. He is a co-founder of The Music Circle, a social networking site for active musicians in the Salt Lake City area.

ERIC JONES
Eric Jones plays mandolin (and guitar)(and is a vocalist) for the popular western slope Bluegrass and Swing band Big Timbre, and has been a cornerstone of the regional music scene for many years. He was a founding member of the Irish-American band Keltika, and his music reflects a fondness for an eclectic mix of traditional Americana styles. A former student at the Steve Kaufman Mandolin Kamp in Tennessee, Eric continues to explore the many nuances of mandolin expressions.

DAVE STEWARD
David has been singing and playing guitar for many years. He has been a member of the Bar-M Wranglers at the Bar-M Chuckwagon for the past ten years where he entertains audiences from around the world without leaving his desert home of Moab, Utah. He also appears around town playing everything from jazz standards to rock’n’roll to Bach, either solo or with a variety of other musicians. He also writes songs which he records and performs. His latest CD is “The Moab Tongue”.

David grew up in New Jersey where he studied jazz with local guitar legend Eddie Berg. He also attended the Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, CA for guitar.

David is also known to break out into a yodel if the occasion demands it.


CHAD NIEHAUS
Chad is an award-winning artist based in Moab, Utah. He creates acrylic paintings, pastel drawings,and linocut prints inspired by the open spaces of the Colorado Plateau. His work has been featured in A Century of Sanctuary: The Art of Zion National Park,Painters of Utah's Canyons and Deserts, and on NPR's Radio West. Niehaus is currently serving as the official Community Artist in the Parks at Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

DONI KIFFMEYER
A long-time mainstay of the Moab theatre community, Doni is also a musician, builder, and facilitator of semi-regular improv sessions at various local establishments. He and partner Kaki Hunter wrote and produced Vipassana, The Musical, staged in its debut by the Moab Community Theatre in February 2011.