Fire In The Kitchen

Playing together for nearly 5 years, the quartet of Fire In The Kitchen specializes in presenting lively Appalachian and Celtic music to its audiences. Instrumentation of the ensemble includes: Teddy Helton on guitar and bass, Tammy Martin on hammered dulcimer, Irish bodhran and vocals, Debbie Shrewsbury on classical and Irish flutes, Irish low whistles and pennywhistle, and Linda Waltner on fiddle and viola. Representing both Virginia and Tennessee members hail from Bristol, Abingdon, and Emory, VA and Kingsport, TN.

Fire In The Kitchen has performed at venues such as: The Virginia Highlands’ Festival, The Bristol Paramount Theatre, The Barter Theatre, The Carter Family Fold, The Capital Theater, Sycamore Shoals Celtic Festival, Blue Ridge Celtic Festival, Wake Forest Celtic festival among many others. The group has been featured on Public radio programming “Live in Studio 1A" and performed at the BCMA’s (Birthplace of Country Music Alliance) 75th Anniversary Celebration of the Bristol Sessions. Most recently the group performed on the Blue Ridge Public Television series “Song of the Mountains” which is being broadcast by local and national PBS stations across the United States.

This fine group of musicians has released two CDs of their renditions of traditional Celtic and Appalachian music. Their first CD, “An Appalachian Celtic Journey” was released in 2002 and was archived at the Smithsonian Institute’s Folklife Museum in Washington, D.C. in celebration of the Year of Appalachia. The second compact disc, "The Journey Continues" was recently released in December 2006. This CD features a refreshing variety of styles. Tunes were gathered from diverse sources: Ireland, Scotland, France, West Virginia, Texas, and Southwest Virginia. They range from the haunting strains of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing", to the driving acceleration of the polkas, "Riding on a Load of Hay" and "Cobbler's Polka", to the loving affirmation of the Carter family vocal "Storms Are on the Ocean."

Fire in the Kitchen is coming into its own. They display a clean, virtuosic flair with a sound that is uniquely their own. The word is spreading! You can look for them on your local PBS station and find their music on Amazon.com