COLUMBUS ARTS COUNCIL
POSSUM TOWN TALES
STORYTELLING FESTIVAL
Ever been to a storytelling festival?
Here is your chance!
Stories and storytelling are at the heart of our human experience. They keep us tied together as families and communities. Listening to stories promotes learning and self discovery.
Come explore the power of stories and the places they can transport you.
Join us next year at Storytelling Festival in September 2020!
MEET OUR 2018 TELLERS
SHEILA KAY ADAMS
A seventh-generation ballad singer, storyteller, and claw-hammer banjo player, Sheila Kay Adams was born and raised in the Sodom Laurel community of Madison County, North Carolina, an area renowned for its unbroken tradition of unaccompanied singing of traditional southern Appalachian ballads that dates back to the early Scots/Irish and English Settlers in the mid-17th century.
Adams learned to sing from her great-aunt Dellie Chandler Norton and other notable singers in the community such as Dillard Chandler and the Wallin Family (including NEA National Heritage Fellow Doug Wallin). She began performing in public in her teens and, throughout her career she has performed at festivals, events, music camps, and workshops around this country and the United Kingdom.
In 1975, Adams graduated from Mars Hill College. In 2003 she was named Alumna of the Year and later received a LifeWorks recognition in appreciation for her shared commitment to service and responsibility, presented at the college’s LifeWorks 150 Alumni Celebration in April 2007.
After teaching in the North Carolina public schools for seventeen years, Adams turned to full-time music and storytelling.
"...whether it's the stories, the songs, banjo tunes. It all seems like it's just a really good way of connecting with people even of different backgrounds, different religions, different ethnic backgrounds. It doesn't matter because we all want the same thing." -- Sheila Kay Adams
SHEILA KAY ADAMS
A seventh-generation ballad singer, storyteller, and claw-hammer banjo player, Sheila Kay Adams was born and raised in the Sodom Laurel community of Madison County, North Carolina, an area renowned for its unbroken tradition of unaccompanied singing of traditional southern Appalachian ballads that dates back to the early Scots/Irish and English Settlers in the mid-17th century.
Adams learned to sing from her great-aunt Dellie Chandler Norton and other notable singers in the community such as Dillard Chandler and the Wallin Family (including NEA National Heritage Fellow Doug Wallin). She began performing in public in her teens and, throughout her career she has performed at festivals, events, music camps, and workshops around this country and the United Kingdom.
In 1975, Adams graduated from Mars Hill College. In 2003 she was named Alumna of the Year and later received a LifeWorks recognition in appreciation for her shared commitment to service and responsibility, presented at the college’s LifeWorks 150 Alumni Celebration in April 2007.
After teaching in the North Carolina public schools for seventeen years, Adams turned to full-time music and storytelling.
"...whether it's the stories, the songs, banjo tunes. It all seems like it's just a really good way of connecting with people even of different backgrounds, different religions, different ethnic backgrounds. It doesn't matter because we all want the same thing." -- Sheila Kay Adams
THANKS TO OUR WONDERFUL SPONSORS!
PAST FESTIVALS
