The Expert Guides

• Jason Ricci moves from strength to strength in his varied and wide ranging performing career. He is an award winning musician (Grammy Award in 2015, for playing on the final Johnny Winter album Step Back, Blues Music Award in 2010 for Best Harmonica Player, and SPAH's Bernie Bray Harmonica Player of the Year Award in 2017). He has turned the harmonica world upside down, bringing new depths of expression to the instrument through his virtuosic chops, innovative approach, and deeply studied use of effects and amplification. His songwriting subjects go beyond traditional blues subjects, with fearlessly honest, soul-searing – yet humorous – songs that often chronicle his out-in-the-open battles with bipolar disorder and addiction. As a teacher, Jason’s generosity and enthusiasm in sharing his knowledge and love of music is contagious, and he conveys it with humor, clarity, and passion. Learn directly from this brilliant teacher at the Harmonica Collective. Don't miss your opportunity to experience Jason at the Harmonica Collective 2020 Spring Gathering.
  top of page Jason Ricci's website 
  
• Winslow Yerxa is the author of the books Harmonica For Dummies (now translated into French, German, Russian, and Portuguese) and Blues Harmonica For Dummies. In 2016 he received SPAH's Pete Pedersen Lifetime Achievement Award. He’s widely known as both a fine and original harmonica player in several styles and an expert on all aspects of harmonica playing. He has the uncanny knack of seeing something inside-out and then explaining it in a way that makes sense – and using it to make head-turning music. Connected to all things harmonica worldwide, Winslow can address nearly any question and at the Harmonica Collective 2020 Spring Gathering will teach eye-opening approaches to music and the harmonica that will have you exploring fascinating universes you didn’t know existed.
  top of page Winslow Yerxa's website
• Jerry Portnoy is the real deal for old-school, authentic blues harp. He cut his blues teeth on Chicago’s legendary Maxwell Street, ground zero for Chicago blues, and played in the bands of blues legends Muddy Waters, Johnny Young, and Johnny Littlejohn before working with Duke Robillard and Eric Clapton. His blues pedigree is matched only by his teaching skills.
  We’re honored to have this blues legend and master harmonica teacher at the Harmonica Collective this year. In addition to teaching at the Harmonica Collective 2020 Spring Gathering, Jerry will do an in-depth interview with Jason Ricci and participate in a panel discussion with the other Expert Guides.
  top of page Jerry Portnoy's website
• James Conway grew up deeply imbued in both Irish traditional music and the blues, playing harmonica, tin whistle, bodhran (hand drum) and guitar. From his home base in Chicago, James performs (including a weekly train ride jam), records, and teaches. His phenomenal command of fast Irish tunes combines with a unique understanding of blues harmonica to produce a fascinating approach to music, which he communicates with clarity. At the Harmonica Collective 2020 Spring Gathering, hearing him will inspire and excite you, while learning from him will open up a whole new world of ways to approach the harmonica.
  top of page James Conway's website 
  
• Catriona Sturton, a former student of Jason Ricci, is a road-toughened independent performer who has toured the US, Japan, Canada, Italy, and Germany from her home base in Ottawa, Canada. As a player, she she seamlessly integrates guitar, harmonica, and violin, and infuses her original music partly with blues and folk and partly with her background as an indie rock bass player in the band Plumtree, whose song Scott Pilgrim inspired a series of graphic novels and the major motion picture Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
  Catriona is also a patient and insightful teacher who teaches hundreds of beginning harmonica players every year and also some high-level pros in her native Canada. At the Harmonica Collective 2020 Spring Gathering she will present a class on Melody, Songwriting, and the Harmonica from the perspective of a songwriter. She will also co-present with Lauren Williams on a topic to be determined, and will coach individual players in conjunction with event producer Tom Watson and associate instructor Lauren Williams. (By the way, her name is pronounced ka-TREE-na – like the hurricane.)
  top of page Catriona Sturton's website

Additional Staff and Presenters

• Tom Watson is a Florida-based harmonica player and medical doctor, and a harmonica event producer, having produced a Magic Dick-Jason Ricci teaching event before coming onboard as producer at the Harmonica Collective in 2018. Tom will give a presentation on vibrato at the Harmonica Collective 2020 Spring Gathering, while also staffing the Well of Knowing individual coaching team with Lauren Williams and various Expert Guides.
  top of page Harmonica Collective Spring 2020 Tickets
• Lauren Williams wowed SPAH attendees last year with her big Chicago amplified tone, performing with her regular duo partner, husband Trent Souder, as LC Williams and the Driver. She’s used the harmonica working with special needs children in Maine before relocating to Florida. At the Harmonica Collective 2020 Spring Gathering, Lauren will be using her experience teaching beginners as part of the Well of Knowing individual coaching team.
  top of page LC Williams and the Driver website website
• Tom Halchak is the man behind Blue Moon Harmonicas. He launched his business in 2009 making custom combs and has since evolved into one of the premier builders of custom harmonicas in the world. Tom has been a sponsor since the beginning of the Harmonica Collective in 2013. At the Harmonica Collective 2020 Spring Gathering, Tom will give a presentation on harmonica customization, maintenance and repair. In addition, he will also have plenty of goodies available including custom harps, fully restored vintage pre-wars, custom combs and other components.
  top of page Tom Halchak’s Blue Moon Harmonicas website