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

  • 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

  • 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)