Ginny Hawker

Ginny Hawker was born to do Country music growing up in southern Virginia in a large musical family. Starting with the soul-stirring unaccompanied singing of her father’s church that came to this country from Scotland, lyrics are important and you hear that when Ginny sings. Ginny learned harmony through Bluegrass and southern Gospel, where the blend of voices singing together pulled her ear and made her a gifted teacher at music camps in US, Canada, and the British Isles for over 25 years. Any class Ginny teaches will be informative and challenging without being overwhelming. Emmylou Harris is quoted in “O” magazine describing Ginny as “real as dirt” when reviewing her first solo recording, Letters From My Father.

Val Mindel

Val Mindel is a longtime musician, teacher and workshop leader, known for helping singers achieve that close, buzzy harmony that is a pillar of American old-time and early-country harmony. She also addresses such indefinables as tone (that high lonesome sound), ornamentation, blend and more. She is a veteran staff member at the Augusta Heritage Center’s various weeks and in addition has taught at numerous music camps across the U.S. and abroad, including: the Ashokan Center (Southern Week and the Old-Time Rollick), Centrum (Voice Works and Fiddle Tunes), Allegheny Echoes and, in the U.K., Sore Fingers. She is a founding member of the California-based Any Old Time string band (check out the band’s compilation album, I Bid You Goodnight on Smithsonian Folkways), and has two CDs with daughter and old-time country musician Emily Miller (In the Valley and Close to Home). Val is also the author of So You Want to Sing Folk Music, part of the “So You Want to Sing” series for Rowman & Littlefield and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She lives in Elkins, West Virginia.

Emily Miller

Emily, Augusta’s Artistic Director, was born in Kansas and raised in Hong Kong, where her family band performed American old-time and country music on television shows and in shopping malls throughout the city. After performing with many groups in her teenage years, including Village and Northern Harmony, Emily formed the honky-tonk country band The Sweetback Sisters in 2006 with fellow singer Zara Bode. They have recorded four full-length records and have performed their renegade retro style of country music in barrooms and concert halls around the world. Emily has been featured several times on national radio programs, including A Prairie Home Companion and WV’s own Mountain Stage. When she’s home in West Virginia, she performs old-time music as a duo with her husband, Jesse Milnes, and makes awesome stuff happen at Augusta year round.

Kari Sickenberger

Kari has been leading singing classes and workshops since 2004. She is a founding member of the Original Roots Country band, Polecat Creek, and has been singing in the Asheville Honky Tonk band, The Western Wildcats, for over a decade. She has toured, recorded, and taught with Ginny Hawker and Tracy Schwarz, and leads singing workshops around the country and in Mexico. She draws on her vast experience as a Spanish and English teacher and her lifelong love for and experience with music to create a safe, encouraging, and FUN environment for new and experienced singers alike.

Linda Jean Stokley

Linda Jean Stokley is a Kentucky-based multi-instrumentalist, educator, and songwriter best known for her work with The Local Honeys. A native of Woodford County, she began playing drums at age eight before moving to guitar, bass, fiddle, and banjo. While earning a jazz degree at Morehead State University, Stokley studied traditional music under mentor Jesse Wells, developing a genre-blending style rooted in Appalachian, folk, and jazz traditions.

Stokley performs primarily with Montana Hobbs as The Local Honeys; together they became the first two women to earn Bachelor of Arts degrees in Traditional Music from Morehead State. Their debut album, Little Girls Actin’ Like Men, reflects their shared roots, collaborations, and evolving sound. In addition to performing, Stokley teaches private lessons and is an instructor at the Central Music Academy, balancing life on stage and in the classroom with a deep commitment to community, mentorship, and her lifelong love of music.

Flawn Williams

Flawn Williams is an award-winning audio engineer, producer, and educator with over three decades at NPR, where he worked on acclaimed projects including All Things Considered, Performance Today, and Radio Expeditions. Now an independent producer based in Hyattsville, Maryland, he collaborates with leading podcasters and public radio producers on music and documentary projects, including work for Slate’s Panoply network, BirdNote, and the Augusta Heritage Center. A longtime and much loved coordinator of Augusta’s Vocal Week and former Associate Professor of the Practice at Georgetown University, Williams brings deep expertise in both music recording and audio storytelling, blending technical mastery with a lifelong passion for sound and culture.