Multi-instrumentalist and clinician Butch Ross will host Chattanooga Ukulele Weekend, a gathering of learning, jamming, and fun, Feb. 27-28.
The weekend kicks off with a workshop dinner and jam in a private home at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 27, hosted by the Signal Mountain ukulele group Days of Wine and Ukuleles. Saturday classes will be held from 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. at the Mountain Arts Community Center, 809 Kentucky Ave. on Signal Mountain. Participants will receive instruction in strumming, chord basics, navigating keys on the ukulele, and more. The weekend concludes with a nearby house concert featuring Butch Ross, with an opening set by local singer/songwriter Ken Hicks.
Review for Butch Ross:
Mr. Ross had been a touring singer/songwriter when he was given a mountain dulcimer as a birthday present. Mr. Ross has taken a simple folk instrument and energized it with technical wizardry, inventive arrangements and a healthy dose of rock-n-roll attitude. It is this groundbreaking and iconoclastic approach that caused ukulele-virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro to comment, "Now I know what a dulcimer is supposed to sound like."
Ross is a highly regarded instructor in ukulele, dulcimer, and guitar, and co-teaches a regular six-week course, The Art of the Singer/Songwriter. He is a guest clinician for workshops all over the U.S. and abroad, such as the Midwest Ukulele Festival and most recently finished a ukulele and dulcimer teaching tour across Florida.
“Ukulele is making a huge comeback,” says weekend coordinator, Trish Wileman. “It’s not just our community that wants to learn more – we have registrants from as far away as Maryland and Florida coming to take advantage of the opportunity to gather with other players and learn more.”
New ukulele player Heidi Holmes says, “Butch’s workshop this past summer has inspired a whole group of players on Signal Mountain. I found a picture of myself as a little girl playing the ukulele. It’s fun to play it now, as an adult, and be a part of a really great group of people who are learning together.”
Ages 10–99 and all learning levels are welcome to register for the workshop, and should bring their own instrument. The cost for the weekend is $60, with $5 for lunch on Saturday. The House Concert on Saturday is open to the public with prior RSVP, and a $15 suggested donation (the concert is included for workshop participants). To register, or for more information and weekend schedule, please call Trish Wileman at 941.330-5547 or email tfwileman@gmail.com.