Beth Chrisman

02/07/2026

Registration is open for Classic Country week at Augusta Heritage Center! I'll be teaching Honkytonk Fiddle and Rhythm Guitar this year, and joined by a great staff including Arty Hill, Thomas Bryan Eaton, Ginny Hawker, Emily Miller, Leon Kasdorf and Blake Whitmire. Country week runs the same time as Cajun and Creole week so you can dip into those classes too!

Its a wonderful week full of dancing, workshops, new friends and late night jams all in beautiful Elkins, WV.

Come join us! Scholarships are available - hit me up if you have questions.

https://augustaartsandculture.org/cajun-creole-classic-country-week-2026/

04/10/2025

Come join me at Augusta Heritage Center this summer!

ANNOUNCING: Beth Chrisman! Beth will be joining us at Classic Country Week 2025, teaching two classes called "Honky-Tonk Fiddle" & "Melba Montgomery, the Singer and the Songwriter,"

Read more at augustaartsandculture.org/classic-country-week-2025

Though she started out her musical life studying classical violin, Beth Chrisman fell in love with roots music early on. She began playing fiddle music and learning to improvise and sing through the bluegrass & Old-Time scene in her home state of Alaska. After moving to Austin, Texas in 2006, Chrisman quickly absorbed western swing and honkytonk styles into her musical identity. Both at home and on the road, she has joined a variety artists on the stage and the studio including Bobby Bare, JP Harris, Alice Gerrard, Willi Carlisle, Zoe Muth, and John C. Reilly. Best known for her frequent fiddle and harmony work with James Hand, Brennen Leigh, and the Carper Family, Chrisman is now fronting her own honkytonk band – Missy Beth & the Morning Afters, and is one half of roots duo Lost Patterns.

03/05/2025

Ola Belle Reed (1916–2002) was a trailblazing bluegrass singer, songwriter, and banjo player.

The descendant of settlers to the New River Valley area of western North Carolina who arrived in the 1760s, Reed grew up in a family steeped in the musical heritage of Appalachia. One of thirteen children, she learned her style of clawhammer banjo from an uncle.

After her family resettled in northeastern Maryland during the Great Depression, Reed popularized her distinctive style by performing in music parks and picnic grounds for Appalachian migrants to the region. She founded the New River Boys with her brother Alex, recorded music for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, and performed at the 1969 Smithsonian Folklife Festival (pictured).

Throughout her life, Reed was a passionate performer and promoter of the mountain music she loved.

Learn more about Reed and other National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellows in our Masters of Tradition story map: s.si.edu/storymap

Photo by Diana J. Davies, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

03/01/2025

12/29/2024

I read someone’s review of the new Dwight Yoakam record and described it as “old school”. It was, up to a point. This, though, goes the whole way. James Hand was lauded by everyone from Willie Nelson to Kris Kristofferson before he died in 2020. “At The Corner, At The Table, By The Jukebox.....

10/01/2024

Happy Rocktober yall! This is gonna be a wild and crazy ride.

I'm still playing my weekly residency at the White Horse every Tuesday at 8pm, along with hosting the Redbud Icehouse Pickers Circle Mondays from 6-8:30pm.

10/1 White Horse 8pm Missy Beth & the Morning Afters

10/2 Harris/Waltz Fundraiser @ the Long Time with Yo La Tengo, Little Mazarn Lost Patterns 7pm

10/4 Radio East 8pm Lost Patterns, Trey Hensley & Rob Ickes

10/5 Leander Bluegrass Festival Leander, TX Lost Patterns

10/5 White Horse midnight Missy Beth & the Morning Afters

10/6 Uhland Fall Festival 1pm Missy Beth & the Morning Afters

10/7 Paramount Theater Private Event

10/8 White Horse 8pm Missy Beth & the Morning Afters

10/10 Sagebrush 7pm John Prine Tribute

10/12 Uhland Fall Fest 3pm Missy Beth & the Morning Afters

10/12 White Horse 8pm Missy Beth & the Morning Afters

10/14 Redbud Icehouse 6-830pm Pickers Circle

10/15 White Horse 8pmMissy Beth & the Morning Afters

10/17 Cloudtree Art Gallery 8pm
Lost Patterns with Up Around the Sun

10/18 Austin String Band Festival
Driftwood, TX
Funyon Creek String Band

10/21 Redbud Icehouse 6-830pm Pickers Circle
10/22 White Horse 8pm Missy Beth & the Morning Afters

10/26 Blackpot Festival & Cook-off Lafayette, LA
4pm - Schoolhouse Stage
w/ Creekbed Carter Hogan

10/28 Redbud Icehouse 6-830pm Pickers Circle

10/29 White Horse 8pm Missy Beth & the Morning Afters

Beth Chrisman Music

09/24/2024