Fiddle | Tessa McCoy | Advanced | Period 3 | Week 3 (July 20-25, 2025)
Some of my favorite tunes from West Virginia that you don’t hear all of the time, but you should. Neat versions of more common tunes, deep cuts from Central West Virginia, happy little melodies that get stuck in your head, melodies that really make you feel something. A repertoire focused class, but technique and thoughts on bowing covered for each tune.
About the Instructor
Born and raised in Saint Albans, WV, Tessa McCoy spent much of her youth in the Kanawha Valley, ripening into the next link in an unbroken chain of traditional music and culture in the region. Her driving and specific old-time fiddling style pays homage to her early mentors, Jake Krack and Bobby Taylor, while showcasing her own take on standards, arrangements and festival favorites. She was featured in Fiddler Magazine in Winter 2021, WV Public Broadcasting’s ½ hour Clifftop Documentary at the age of 12, and more recently, a documentary on old-time fiddling from Clay County, WV. Tessa made her debut at The Grand Ole Opry in late summer 2024, where she payed homage to her home town, playing the tune “Durang’s Hornpipe”.
She released her first old-time fiddle album in 2018, titled “It’s Hard to Love”, flanked by fellow West Virginia musicians Jesse Milnes and Kim Johnson. That same year, Tessa won 1st place in the traditional band contest at the Appalachian Stringband Festival (Clifftop) with her band, Big Possum Stringband. They went on to release a self-titled album in 2019, were featured on NPR’s Mountain Stage, and toured across both the US and Australia that summer. In addition to her solo endeavors, Tessa has a new local old-time project – The State Birds – which is comprised of some of West Virginia’s finest old-time musicians (Chance McCoy, Cody Jordan, Jesse Milnes, Joanna Burt-Kinderman). The State Birds released their debut single, West Virginia Hornpipe, in 2024. She also fiddles in The Jesse Milnes Band (electric classic country).