Junior Jam Camp Faculty
Gregg Daigle
Gregg has been an integral part of the Jr. Jam camps as an instructor for the past several years. This year, he will be moving into the leadership role as our Jr. Jam Camp Director.
Gregg earned a Classical Guitar Performance Degree from UMASS in 1992. From 1993-1995 Gregg lived and worked in Cambridge, MA, where he enjoyed full exposure to the East Coast Bluegrass picking scene. In ’95 he moved to Albuquerque, NM, to establish himself as a solo performer and music educator. Currently, he maintains a private studio of over 40 students, and has built a large community of local pickers with his unique jamming programs. You can learn more at www.GreggDaigleMusic.com
Eric Richard Stone
​
Singer-songwriter Eric Richard Stone joined the staff of FolkWest in 2013, initially as a kid's camp instructor and later as a "Jack-of-all-Trades" during both spring and fall festivals. For the 2020 season, Eric will be leading the new Southwest Songwriters Workshop.
​
Stone has been performing diverse styles of bluegrass, blues, and folk since 1978. Formerly the guitar player and lead vocalist for the Boulder, CO based bluegrass band, Switchgrass, and (along with multi-instrumental son, Peter Stone) the duo Stone soup, Stone’s previous release, Junk Yard Dog garnered praise from national reviews. His latest release Circle Round The Sun renders a blend of original soul-grabbing ballads and traditional folk songs in a fashion reminiscent of Tim O’Brien, Darrell Scott, or David Mallett.
​
​
Kate Lee O'Connor's passion and dedication has afforded her great respect in the music community as a vocalist, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Whether performing her original material as a soloist or in a band or backing up a major entertainer, Kate brings a wealth of stylistic understanding and a unique, discerning sense of phrasing to both the stage and studio. She is an energetic young woman with extensive musical scholarship and experience.
She is a founding member and lead singer of the O'Connor Band along with renowned violinist Mark O'Connor, Maggie O'Connor, and Forrest O'Connor. She and Forrest O'Connor also perform as the Americana group Kate Lee & Forrest O’Connor.
​
Her music career started at age nine, when she received her first violin. Within several months of starting violin, she was studying both classical music as well as more traditional fiddling styles, including Irish, bluegrass, and French-Canadian. But it wasn’t until her father encouraged her to sing that her music started taking off. After she began singing, the frequency and quality of her performances increased, and she began writing her own songs. At age 12, she formed a band called Kate Lee with No Strings Attached. During high school, Kate studied classical violin with Oleg Lupines and classical voice with Dr. Min Jin and Kayleen Follman, and she was a member of both the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and the Hochstein Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Nashville-born singer-songwriter, mandolinist, and guitarist Forrest O’Connor has performed and recorded with a wide range of artists, including Paul Simon, Kenny Loggins, Clint Black, Del McCoury, and the Nashville Symphony.
A former Tennessee state mandolin champion, O’Connor won a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2017 as part of the Mark O’Connor Band. He appeared in season 4 of the ABC hit series Nashville, and he co-wrote the Mark O’Connor Band’s song, “In My Blood,” which was produced by Zac Brown and reached #1 on the iTunes Bluegrass chart in June 2018.
​
O’Connor graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sociomusicology from Harvard University. He is also a co-founder of the music webcasting company Concert Window, Inc., which has developed into one of the leading webcasting platforms for musicians and has been featured on TED as well as in The Examiner, TechCrunch, and The Boston Herald.