Although Ginny Hawker and Tracy Schwarz have been performing together for only twelve years, they bring with them a wealth of musical experience. Time spent with Ginny and Tracy is both musically exciting and a moving reminder of their commitment to the southern rural culture that is their daily lives. Their distinctive southern mountain singing has a spellbinding effect as they wrap their songs in stories that make places and people very real and precious.

Ginny grew up singing with her father in southern Virginia where the powerful unaccompanied singing of the Primitive Baptist Church was the first music she remembers. Learning to sing the harmonies of Bluegrass added to, but never replaced, that first love of the soulful sound of a human voice moving through a song much older than the singer. The Smithsonian Institution has described Ginny's singing as "seeming to distill the experiences of the southern Appalachians." Ginny is president of the West Virgina State Folk Festival and recently recorded her first solo CD on Rounder.

Tracy has been teaching, recording and performing traditional music for more than 36 years both as a member of The New Lost City Ramblers, the seminal band responsible for introducing urban audiences to rural southern music in the 60s and 70s, and as a member of several Cajun bands. Tracy's talent in playing fiddle, guitar, and Cajun accordion and his soulful singing has influenced many people worldwide to be drawn to traditional southern music. The Washington Post said you could smell the wood smoke in Tracy's singing. Tracy has been 3 times nominated for a Grammy.

For the past 10 years, Ginny and Tracy have appeard in concerts and festivals throughout the United States, Canada and England. Each summer they teach southern traditional singing in several adult music camps introducing people to the music they love and represent so well. Together, Ginny and Tracy do strong, soul-stirring singing that is both authentic to their culture and straight from the heart.

Ginny and Tracy's official site: ginnyandtracy.com/

Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz
Good Songs for Hard Times
Copper Creek
CCCD-0183 (2000)