The 2006 Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award Winners

Mac Arnold, Blues musician, Pelzer, SC
Mac Arnold and his 12 siblings were raised on a sharecropper's farm in Pelzer. With blues music not favorably seen by his devoutly religious parents, Arnold had to sneak off to listen to it on a friend's radio. With a particular liking for Chicago's blues music, it wasn't surprising that, in 1966, Arnold joined the Muddy Waters band in Chicago, forging an electric blues style that influenced the growing popularity of rock 'n roll. He went on to play with the house band for the TV show "Soul Train," and then worked as an editor for NBC for many years. Arnold returned to his family farm in the late 1980s, and, with much encouragement from harmonica player and blues musician Max Hightower, returned to playing the blues, combining his Chicago and Piedmont styles to form Mac Arnold and A Plate Full O'Blues. The group produced its first recording in January 2005 and has topped charts internationally since.

Lena Allen Davis, shape-note musician, Anderson
Known as Sister Lena to many, Lena Allen Davis has worked tirelessly to maintain the rich, shape-note tradition in South Carolina. In 1997, she organized the Community Workshop Choir, a 30-member choir representing 19 African-American churches across Anderson County. The choir's CD, "I'll Sing His Praise," has expanded the folk art of shape-note singing from the religious community to the larger arts community in the state. Shape-note music, which dates back to the late 1700s, refers to music notes in different shapes (ie. square, triangle, diamond) for each degree of the scale printed in hymnals. The method of reading music was adopted by both European-American and African-American congregations.

T.C. Foster, old-time-music fiddler, Laurens
T.C. Foster was destined to play the fiddle. He listened to his father's fiddle-playing on the front porch for hours at a time. By age 17, Foster was a natural fiddler, with "How Pa would play it" as his favorite tune. Working in the cotton mills during the 1930s left him little time to play the fiddle. Worse yet, his fiddle was stolen, which, in time, he did replace. Foster is known for his bow style of playing, mirroring the techniques of many Piedmont and Appalachian fiddlers of the early 20th century, and for his simple low-bow playing of sacred music. Although he never played on a professional stage, Foster has performed with a number of well-known musicians throughout the Piedmont. One of the last surviving "old- time" fiddlers, Foster continues to share the fiddling style with young and old audiences.

Guy and Tina Faulk, advocate for blues music, Bethera
Guy and Tina Faulk's Bluegrass Pickin' Parlor in rural Berkeley County has attracted countless local musicians and bands on Saturday nights for more than 25 years. Bluegrass musicians of all ages and skill levels are welcomed to share and polish their music skills. The jam sessions and bluegrass performances are as much about building community relationships as they are the singers and their instruments, say the Faulks. Their passion and dedication to bluegrass music have helped foster interest in the folk-art music tradition.