Hilarie Burhans
clawhammer banjo
Welcome!
Glad you stopped by. If you're looking for the contradance band I used to play in (and very occasionallys still do), you'll want to visit the Hotpoint Stringband site. I currently play with Jane Rothfield and Bernie Nau as Great Big Taters. And if you're looking for the restaurant that my husband and I own (and where I am the executive chef) you'll find info at the Restaurant Salaam site. But if you're more interested in old-time music, stick around -- you've come to the right place!
My musical roots include a father who was a jazz pianist, a childhood spent in Asia and Africa, an adolescence which included many hours spent with local fiddlers in my Appalachian Ohio hometown of Athens, and countless tunes played with my fiddler husband Mark.
With Mark, I also co-founded and play in a nationally touring contemporary American contradance band called the Hotpoint Stringband, with whom I have recorded five albums. I also have a "solo" CD (really with various friends, including the Cantrells and Matthew McElroy), a track from which was featured on an episode of the acclaimed HBO series Deadwood. Recently I've collaborated on projects with fiddler Jane Rothfield and Bernie Nau in a band called Great Big Taters and with klezmer musicians Sruli & Lisa, and play with fiddler Peggy Conant and banjo-uke player (and fellow Hotpoint-er) Mark "Pokey" Hellenberg in a band called Peg & All. I quit competing in the State of Ohio Banjo Championships after I won it 9 times. I took third in the banjo contest at Clifftop, too, which was a lot more competitive!
Also at Clifftop (more formally, the Appalachian Stringband Festival) in 2011, I was thrilled to be a member of the winning band in the highly competitive Old Time Band competition, along with Rachel Eddy, Kristian Herner, Mark Hellenberg and Stuart Kenney. What a rush!
teaching
A lot of wonderful people have shared their skills with me over the years, and I've been happily passing on what I know about playing the banjo ever since. I've taught Intermediate Banjo at Augusta Heritage Arts Workshop (and will be teaching there again this summer) and Advanced Banjo at Blue Ridge Old-Time Music Week in Mars Hill, NC. I also accept private students at my home in southeastern Ohio. (And if you live some distance away and want to spend a few days with us in one of our comfortable guest rooms, improving your banjo skills and enjoying our hospitality, let me know and we can work out an arrangement. (I'd be happy to supply contact info for banjo players who have come here to study with me in the past, if you'd like to talk to them about their experience.)
Have a non-comercial use request for any of my original tunes? Don't be shy; email me to inquire. And click the Konomark logo to learn more about this new way to be friendly with your intellectual property!
photos this page by Anne M. Trimble
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