Phil Jamison is nationally-known as a dance caller, old-time musician, and flatfoot dancer. He has called dances, performed, and taught at music festivals and dance events throughout the U.S. and overseas since the early 1970s, including over forty years as a member of the Green Grass Cloggers. His flatfoot dancing was featured in the film, Songcatcher, for which he also served as Traditional Dance consultant. From 1982 through 2004, he toured and played guitar with Ralph Blizard and the New Southern Ramblers. He also plays old-time fiddle and banjo. Over the last thirty years, Phil has done extensive research in the area of Appalachian dance, and his book Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics: Roots and Branches of Southern Appalachian Dance (University of Illinois Press, 2015) tells the story behind the square dances, step dances, reels, and other forms of dance practiced in southern Appalachia. A 2017 inductee to the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame and a 2022 inductee to America's Clogging Hall of Fame, Phil taught traditional music and dance at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina for close to thirty years, where he also served as coordinator of the Old-Time Music and Dance Week at the Swannanoa Gathering.
SELECTED PERFORMANCES (1975 - present)
Includes performances with the Green Grass Cloggers, Ralph Blizard and the New Southern Ramblers, and Jenny & the Hog Drovers
1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York – “Official Square Dance Caller”
1982 World’s Fair, Knoxville, Tennessee
Alaska State Folk Festival, Juneau, Alaska
Austin Stingband Festival, Austin Texas
Baltimore Old-Time Music Festival, Baltimore, Maryland
Berea College Celebration of Traditional Music, Kentucky
Berkeley Old-Time Music Convention, Berkeley, California
Birmingham City Stages, Birmingham, Alabama
Blue Ridge Music Center, Galax, Virginia
Carter Family Fold, Hiltons, Virginia
Champaign-Urbana Folk and Roots Festival, Urbana, Illinois
Champlain Valley Festival, Burlington, Vermont
Chicago Folk Festival, Chicago, Illinois
Croton Clearwater Festival, Croton, New York
Florida Folk Festival, White Springs, Florida
Floyd Country Store, Floyd, Virginia
Hamilton College Folk Festival, Clinton, New York
Herbe Bleue Old-Time, Bluegrass & Cajun Festival, Baugé en Anjou, France
Kennedy Center, Washington, DC
Kent State Folk Festival, Kent, Ohio
KFC Bluegrass Festival, Louisville, Kentucky
Lake Eden Arts Festival, Black Mountain, North Carolina
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Live Oak Festival, Santa Barbara, California
Merlefest, Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Association
Mountain Dance & Folk Festival, Asheville, North Carolina
Mountain Heritage Day, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina
Museum of Appalachia, Norris, Tennessee
National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing, China
New York City Barn Dance, New York
North Carolina Folk Festival, Greensboro, North Carolina
North Carolina History Museum, Raleigh, North Carolina
North Carolina Folklife Festival, Durham, North Carolina
NPR’s “Folk Masters” at Wolftrap, Vienna, Virginia
Old Songs Festival, Albany, New York
Our Common Nature: An Appalachian Celebration – with Yo-Yo Ma, Knoxville, Tennessee
Ozark Folk Center, Mountain View, Arkansas
Philadelphia Folk Festival, Schwenksville, Pennsylvania
Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, England
Seedtime Festival, Whitesburg, Kentucky
Shanghai Concert Hall, Shanghai, China
Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Washington, DC
Smoky Mountain Folk Festival, Lake Junaluska, North Carolina
Swannanoa Solstice, Asheville, North Carolina
Walnut Valley Festival, Winfield, Kansas
Westport Folk & Bluegrass Festival, Westport, Ireland
West Virginia Folk Festival, Glenville, West Virginia
Wheatland Festival, Remus, Michigan
Winnipeg Folk Festival, Winnipeg, Canada
INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCES: Bolivia, Canada, China, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, England, France, Holland, Iceland, Ireland, Nicaragua, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and Uruguay
TEACHING RESIDENCIES AND WORKSHOPS
Alabama Folk School, Nauvoo, Alabama
American Dance Week at Pinewoods, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Appalachian Stringband Festival, Clifftop, West Virginia
Ashokan Fiddle and Dance, Ashokan, New York
Augusta Heritage Center, Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, West Virginia
Berea Christmas Country Dance School, Berea, Kentucky
Bluff Country Gathering, Lanesboro, Minnesota
Bowling Green University, Bowling Green, Ohio
Chesapeake Dance Weekend, Edgewater, Maryland
Dare to be Square – Dance Callers Workshops: Asheville, North Carolina; Portland, Oregon; Brasstown, North Carolina; Riner, Virginia; Elkins, West Virginia; Knoxville, Tennessee; Helvetia, West Virginia; Oakland, California; Triangle, Virginia; Boise, Idaho
English Folk Dance and Song Society, Cecil Sharp House, London, England
Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Port Townsend, Washington
folkwaysAlive! University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Georgy-Alabam Square Dance Weekend, Delta, Alabama
Handmade Music School, Floyd, Virginia
Hindman Settlement School, Hindman, Kentucky
John C. Campbell Folkschool, Brasstown, North Carolina
Lexington Old-Time Gathering, Lexington, Kentucky
Merlefest, Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Moosejaw Music and Dance Weekend, Callaway, Minnesota
Mountain Folk Festival, Berea College, Berea, Kentucky
National Folk Organization
Ozark Folk Center, Mt. View, Arkansas
Sierra Fiddle Camp, Nevada City, California
Þjóðlagahátíðin á Siglufirði, Siglufjordur, Iceland
Swannanoa Gathering, Warren Wilson College, Asheville, North Carolina
University of Colorado, Boulder
Walker Creek Music Camp, Petaluma, California
RADIO, TELEVISION, AND PODCASTS
Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, (Hulu, 2023)
Black Roots with Rhiannon Giddens (BBC Radio 4, 2022)
Birdie in the Cage (WNYC Radiolab podcast, 2019)
Mountain Music Archives (American History TV C-SPAN 3, 2018)
Wayfaring Stranger (BBC Two, 2017)
"Folk Connections: Cecil Sharp's Appalachian Trail" (BBC Radio 3, 2016)
"Paul and Nick’s Big (American) Food Trip" (Waddell Media, Northern Ireland, 2015)
"The State of Things" (North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC, 2015)
"Dance! – Folkways with David Holt" (UNC-TV, 2010)
“Good Morning America” (ABC TV, 1992)
RECORDINGS
Killers of the Flower Moon soundtrack album, with Rayna Gellert (Apple Studios, 2023)
“March Celebration: Chinese-Appalachian Collaborations” with Jenny & the Hog Drovers and Manhu (self-produced, 2017)
“Old Time Mountain Music” with the New Southern Ramblers (Yodel-Ay-Hee Records, 2010)
“Banjo Gathering” (celticguitar.com, 2007)
“Fox Chase” with Ralph Blizard & the New Southern Ramblers (Yodel-Ay-Hee Records, 2000)
“Southern Ramble” with Ralph Blizard & the New Southern Ramblers (Rounder Records, 1995)
“Blizard Train” with Ralph Blizard & the New Southern Ramblers (June Appal Records, 1989)
“Through the Ears” with the Green Grass Cloggers (Rounder Records, 1986)
“Ralph Blizard Fiddles” with Ralph Blizard & the New Southern Ramblers (self-produced, 1983)
“Backroad Breakdown” with the St. Regis String Band (Adirondack Records, 1980)
FI LMS AND VIDEOS
Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple Studios, 2023)
Old-Time Conversations, vol. 6 (Smithsonian Folkways, 2017)
A Great American Tapestry (Center for Cultural Preservation, 2017)
Year of the Possum: The Green Grass Cloggers 40th (Kazoo Films, 2015)
Reel ‘Em, Boys, Reel ‘Em (Augusta Heritage Productions, 2014)
Square Dance History Project (Dare to be Square, John C. Campbell Folk School, 2011)
Dance! – Folkways with David Holt (UNC-TV, 2010)
Why Old Time? (Horse Archer Productions, 2009)
Routes (Alex Reuben, 2005)
Songcatcher (Trimark Pictures, 2000)
Ralph Blizard & the New Southern Ramblers (Fiddler Magazine, 1997)
Carrying on the Tradition: Appalachian Fiddling Today with Ralph Blizard (Fiddler Magazine, 1995, 2013)