Originally formed as a contest band at the Mt. Airy Fiddlers' Convention in 2004, the Forge Mountain Diggers quickly realized that they were onto something bigger. The Diggers released their first CD in June 2006, and have since shared stages with the Grascals, Uncle Earl, Donna the Buffalo, and many other giants of the new Americana scene.
The Forge Mountain Diggers hold nothing back, whipping audiences into a frenzy with insistent fiddling, powerful vocal harmonies, and a feral energy long missing in the traditional music world. With a background in the DIY punk scene, the Diggers put their personal firebrand on old-time music.
The Forge Mountain Diggers: Bio
David Bass - fiddle
One group is particularly keen to see the Diggers on the scene: fans of the Freight Hoppers, fiddler David Bass' former group. In the 1990s, the Freight Hoppers pushed the boundaries between oldtime & bluegrass, drawing a new generation to traditional music and paving the way for bands like Old Crow Medicine Show and the Foghorn Stringband. David's heart transplant operation, five years ago, effectively ended the Freight Hoppers, and the Forge Mountain Diggers is his first project since.
Allison Williams - banjo, vocals
Born in the Arkansas Ozarks, Allison Williams grew up all over the South. A singer since early childhood, she learned her first three guitar chords at age 15, and wrote her first song that day.
Allison toured with punk bands, including the jazzcore duo Devilbean, while keeping up a solo career, releasing two albums on her own independent label, romeg records. In Portland, Oregon, she discovered oldtime music, and began studying clawhammer banjo. Soon after, she formed the Milkcrate Rustlers, an oldtime band with a punk sensibility.
When not playing with the Diggers, Allison can be found calling traditional squaredances throughout Appalachia and beyond.
Thomas Bailey - guitar, vocals
Traditional music is a centuries old dangling conversation. It ties together the young and old, secular and holy; and in the case of the American idiom, bridges the gap between the various cultures that make up the great melting pot.
Thomas Bailey has been a part of this conversation from childhood, which first began with an interest in 17th & 18th century music of Colonial America. His influences range from the old time fiddle tunes of his hometown region of Southwest Virginia, to the urban sounds of his school years and back again.
As a recognizable face in the current Old Time Music scene and festival circuit, he's garnered awards for his singing and fiddle and guitar playing. His self-produced solo CD, "Brilliancy," highlighted this multi-instrumental talent.