Hey! We have finally updated the website!

​Do you have any suggestions? Song requests? Questions about swamplife? Suggestions for online workshops or collaborations? Questions about our two amazing cats? Constructive criticism about our website? A request for FV stickers or other merch? Type it in the comment box BELOW!

We'd love to hear from you!

Recording in that balmy Swamp Summer is so...

...and wearin' a mask cuz IT'S WHAT YOU DO! 

No mask can hold down a Folk Villain when a Villain just needs to TAKE A HIKE! But there's no hills in the swamp. Thank goodness Western Maryland is a short drive and a tent pitch away.

The Folk Villains have been working hard on their villainous and musical craft online M-F for 4wks with the Berklee College of Music. (And all Hercules can do is eat food in the background!) Learned how to create music with apps and layer different tracks. MWAH-AH-AH! (A villainous laugh...what did you expect?)

We have been 4Hers ever since Elijah was 8.🍀 Never did we think we'd be playing a LIVE concert broadcast across the entire state of Maryland for the Maryland State 4H Virtual Camp Concert! You could've knocked us over with a feather when Mrs. Barbara Barga asked us!

Then The Manager got the idea to try Instagram TV, broadcasting LIVE on 2 platforms. Then The Manager says we should also record it on video to use as our Front Porch Series recording for this week. So...we were basically talking to and playing for 3 different cameras. That's a lot for a folk trio from the swamp!

BIG HUGE thank yous to Maryland State 4H, Ms. Amanda Wahle, Mrs. Barbara Barga, and Mrs Amy Rhodes. (And The Manager...of course!) And to all of the campers who were such a great audience, praising us and asking awesome questions and and thanking us at the end.  Best part!!!

Every Monday in June, The Folk Villains have been tuning in to GreyFox Bluegrass Academy, led by Mr. Mark Panfil, and enjoying the opportunity to sing and play some great songs with great people. Elijah also got to meet and work with banjo master Ira Gitlin! The GF BGA created a split-screen video of us all playing "Keep on the Sunny Side." 

Watch it and play "Where's that Villain?" like "Where's Waldo?"

Hopefully we can attend GF BGA in person and maskless in 2021!

...well...maybe that's a bit of an overstatement. Hey...we can remember it any way we want to, okay? 😂🤣

So, The Steel Wheels, founders of Red Wing Academy, invited past RWA attendees and their families to record a video of themselves singing to The Steel Wheels' famous song, "Red Wing." You could play along...you could strum a tennis racket...you could include your pets...The Steel Wheels invited participation of any kind. 

That's where Hercules the WonderCat comes in with his 5 minutes of fame. Click the button below for a link to the Red Wing 2020 Finale Video Compilation and, if you're interested in seeing Hercules the WonderCat in full effect including a gigantic yawn & dramatic stretch, click the YouTube link below.

​Crazy cat.🐱

Thank you, RWA, Ms Megan Tiller, and The Steel Wheels for this opportunity!!!

At Virtual Maine Fiddle Camp, Elijah attended a special group for teens called the Teen Tones. Next year, Isabel will be a teen and participate, too. So will Guin now that she is 100% sure that it's okay to participate if you're not technically a teen! 😂 The Teen Tones' creator Helen Newell compiled all the videos into a split-screen performance. And it sounds amazing!

Funny how there's Elijah and then another guy that looks exactly like him. Weird!

...tushes.

But it was awesome! Thank you, Jon & CC! Thank you, Ms. Helen Myers. And thank you, Ms. Mary Avara, for letting us use Dancenter studio for the week so we had enough room to dance BIG, as Jon says.

Below is a screenshot of us on the last day of class. We've covered the names and faces of the other participants, not knowing if they'd be cool with being on our website. If you want to be included, just email us at thefolkvillains@yahoo.com or DM us on Instagram @thefolkvillains  You can even leave a comment below! We'll create another version of this screenshot to get your mug on there! We knew Jon & CC wouldn't mind; they're FVans now! (And we can't actually believe that's true...THE Jon Lehrer and THE Cristiana Cavallo are FVans...pinch us...)

BIG SHOCKER to the little Folk Villains who were barely a band one year ago: Virtual Maine Fiddle Camp selected ANOTHER one of our videos for another concert. We couldn't be more honored because these MFCers are both talented and kind! Not to mention hilarious! 

We don't remember exactly how long the VMFC Camper Concert is but, much like the VMFC Virtual Variety Show, we'd just sit down to dinner and let these good people from Maine entertain you! Jokes and stories and recipes and, above all, MUSIC!

If you need to find The FV right away, click on #15 in the playlist (which is actually listed as "7"). Then click on #16 in the playlist, and you'll find your favorite swampband playing "Mrs. Galvin's Jig," which we ALSO learned from MFC at a separate workshop with Mr. Alden Robinson.

Thank you for including us TWICE! You really make us feel like we are a part of MFC, like those who have been coming for years. Again, thanks for that warm welcome!

Last night and all day today, we have been villainizing Virtual Maine Fiddle Camp. What a WONDERFUL group of people! So welcoming. So talented. So silly. We feel right at home!

This evening, they put on a Virtual Variety Show on YouTube. To participate, you had to submit a video. Luckily, they selected us! The Folk Villains' video begins at about 12:30...as in 12min & 30sec into the video. But if we were you, we'd sit down to dinner, prop up a laptop, and listen to the Virtual Maine Fiddle Camp Virtual Variety Show while you eat. There's over an hour's worth of fantastic folk music and silly jokes. 

Just look at the kind comments that other Maine Fiddle Campers made about us during the live chat.  Thank you, Mr. Doug Protsik, Mr. Neil Pearlman, and MFC! Thank you, Mr. Alden Robinson, Mrs. Ellen Gawler, Ms. Helen Newell, Mr. Glen Loper, & Ms Jennifer Armstrong!

Hopefully, in 2021, we will be out of quarantine and maskless and attending MFC in person!

Covid can't stop Alice Wigfield and the Salisbury University Children's Choir. Our rehearsals barely skipped a beat. Ms. Alice had us up on Zoom singing with her in 3 separate sectionals EVERY SINGLE DAY! Dr. A compiled our home recordings into a real masterpiece of a Covid Quarantine Concert. The Folk Villains are so glad to 

Wow! Look who's got an Instagram page now! That's right! You FVans can follow us @thefolkvillains on Instagram!

Click below on the screenshot of our Instagram account, and you'll be directed right to @thefolkvillains !

A very BIG day for us swampfolk! We were featured on WBOC's DelmarvaLife with Ms. Lisa Bryant! We also got to talk to and work with Ms. Katie Zarrilli. They're both just awesome! (Next time, Mr. Hoppa...next time!) Ms. Lisa interviewed us via Zoom, and DelmarvaLife even featured a song from our Front Porch Series! Thank you, WBOC's DelmarvaLife! What an honor. We would love to entertain you again...in person!

Check out the YouTube link to the interview below!

So we've been quarantined because of the pandemic for a couple of weeks now. The Manager has stockpiled plenty of toilet paper and freezer fruit; I don't think we're going anywhere. 

The Manager has also been getting ideas, like that we begin a "Front Porch Series" of videos to cheer our FVans during the quarantine. The goal is to learn a new folk/bluegrass/cajun tune each week, record it on our front porch, and post it on our YouTube channel. This is our first Front Porch Series video: "Bonnie Tammie" and "O the Britches." It's a 2-for-1 deal.

Hope you like it! If you do, please tell your friends. (And if you don't, please don't!😂) Then SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel. Or be FVillainized.

Everything is closing because of the pandemic. Grocery stores are crowded. Private schools are taking extended spring breaks. As we pull up to Salisbury University for our St. Paddy's gig with our heroes, The Folk Heroes, SU students and luggage and cars are everywhere as students leave the campus in a mass exodus.

But nobody would shut down a Folk Heroes vs Folk Villains gig...the showdown must go on.

Pandemic? Not lucky. But we feel lucky to still get to play our gig, eat some fun Irish food, and make music with the Heroes and our friends, like Lilly in the pic below.
Update: We also feel lucky to have played the last official arts event at SU before it closed for the spring.  Thank you, SU, for that opportunity. And thanks, as always, Heroes.

What an honor! Wicomico County 4H asked The Folk Villains to sing the Star Spangled Banner at the 4H Awards Program and Ice Cream Social today! Thank you, 4H, for always supporting us!🍀

Tonight, we had the pleasure of playing for a very supportive crowd at the ABBA Worship Center in Salisbury, MD.  Our friend Mr. Buck Burton attends ABBA and "got us the gig." Pastor Jimmy Cullen welcomed us warmly and also played the piano!  Thank you, ABBA Worship Center, for inviting us to share some music---holiday, folk, and classical!---and supporting local musicians!

UPDATE: YouTube videos below!

UPDATE: On February 9th, Mr. Buck Burton's Southern Gospel group, The Dove, sang and played at ABBA, and we came out to hear them. Amazing! Their harmonies are so great! We left with one of The Dove's Christmas CDs which, even though Christmas is over, we just keep listening to!

Below are links to both ABBA Worship Center and to The Dove.

New Year's Eve = Hogmanay
Hogmanay = Mr. John Turner, 10-time National Scottish Fiddling Champion

Today, New Year's Eve, we had the unbelievable privilege of a lesson in Scottish Fiddling with THE Mr. John Turner.  In our hotel room.  

We are eternally grateful to Mr. John Turner for his time and knowledge and hope we can cross paths again soon!  

(Click Mr. John Turner's pic below to check out his Jink & Diddle School of Scottish Fiddling. Hint, hint to The Manager & The Roadie...)

Some people grow up going to theme parks with roller coasters or rodents and, for them, being part of the entertainment at that theme park even for a day would be a dream come true. That's how it is for The Folk Villains and Colonial Williamsburg. It's our favorite place. Ever since we were little---even before we were Villains!---The Manager & The Roadie would take us there all throughout the year. Lots of music, singing, acting, dancing. Lots of entertainment. This year, thanks to the recommendation of our friend Ms. Rebecca Suerdieck, we got booked to play at Colonial Williamsburg's Merchants Square...twice! Dream come true.

(Click the bottom pic, taken by Ms. Rebecca's husband Mike, to find out about their AMAZING Victorian Shadowlight Theater! Just one of the zillions of projects Ms. Rebecca & Mr. Mike have going on.)

(Click the top pic if you wanna know more about Colonial Williamsburg's Merchants Square!)

Or, perhaps, it would be better to say "Salisbury University Children's Choir, Round 2." We have learned so much about our voices and what they can do from Ms. Alice Wigfield. Thank you!

The Folk Villains sing in every song and play in Gloria, which we linked below. Sometimes...Villains don't play bluegrass...

​Just sometimes, though.

...is what The Manager calls her. To us, she's Mrs. Mary Avara. What other kids are lucky enough to have a dance teacher who comes to their choir concert and community theater and gives you flowers and CAKE the next day? There's only one.

We just have to say...Matilda doesn't have to do with our band. But it involved all the band members and introduced us to some REALLY amazing people. We are having serious post-Matilda depression today. SUCH a good show. SUCH an unforgettable experience! Thank you, Community Players!

Click the pic below to find out more about The Community Players' productions!

This doesn't have to do with folk/bluegrass music but all 3 Folk Villains have been cast in The Community Players' Matilda on Nov 1, 2, & 3rd at Wicomico High School. Elijah is Bruce Bogtrotter, Guinevere is Amanda Thripp, and Isabel is...MATILDA! Yesterday, Isabel got to sing a song she'd JUST learned and Director Ken Johnson JUST choreographed for DelmarvaLife. Great job, guys! Looks like you've been working on that number for months, not days!

Everyone, come out to see Matilda! It's going to be awesome!