Reeltime Travelers

Recently disbanded Tennessee group which played old-time stringband music. The band formed when four folks crossed paths in historical country music town, Johnson City, Tennessee, the site of the Ralph Stanley's first recording with the Stanley Brothers, and today's Bluegrass and Country Music Program at East Tennessee State University. Singer/songwriter guitarist Martha Scanlan and mandolinist Thomas Sneed moved to the heart of Appalachia from West of the Mississippi after hearing about the region's music while playing bluegrass in Europe. Fiddler and dancer Heidi Andrade came to the region from California with her husband, banjoist Roy Andrade, a native of Asheville, North Carolina. In the winter of 2002 Bristol, Tennessee native and bassist Brandon Story joined the band. Even before the Reeltime Travelers played together, each had a love for mountain music and a passion to learn the stories behind it. They continue to do fieldwork, interviewing old musicians, uncovering forgotten tunes, and in their shows and children's workshops, passing along the traditions they've collected. The Reeltime Travelers bring five individual voices together to mine a common well of American roots music. Traveling the country, keeping old tunes alive and expanding the canon of Old-time songs, the Reeltime Travelers show a reverence for tradition while creating their own Old-Time Reeltime Americana music.