Charlie Weiss Sharman

Dancin'

I like to dance! Here's some stuff I've been to in North Seattle. All have live music.

Website for all kinds of Seattle dances (balkan, contra, cajun, scottish, you name it!): https://seattledance.org/
Thursday contradances in Lake City (Can be difficult for new dancers! I recommend the lesson beforehand.): https://seattledance.org/contra/lakecity/

What the heck is contradancing?

Friday contradances at Phinney Ridge Community Center (A little bit easier than the Thursday dance. I still recommend the lesson beforehand.): https://seattledance.org/contra/emeraldcity/
2nd Saturday Community Dances at Haller Lake (much easier for new dancers): https://seattledance.org/hallerlake/

Musicians: It's an open drop-in band in 2025! Super fun.

4th Monday Tractor Tavern square dances (usually more than half beginners I'm told): https://tractortavern.com/
Honky Tonk Tuesdays at Conor Byrne! Every Tuesday. 8 pm free lessons, dance 9pm-midnight.

Fiddlin'

I've been jumping into all kinds of styles, it's a bit ridiculous.

Tip for newcomers: There's a mailing list for everything. Ask around when you go to a jam to get on it :) Play at a respectful volume; you should be able to hear the leader (unless everyone is jamming out on a serious bop). If you're not sure about etiquette, ask! It's helpful to learn a few tunes beforehand, so I listed some below.

Old time

Resources

Slippery Hill - the big online repository of old time tunes. Hope you like scratchy old recordings!
Old-Time Fiddling Tips (Working the Bow) by Bruce Molksy (YouTube)
Bands/people/albums:

The Old Time 100 by George Jackson and Tristan Scroggins is a great intro.
Art Stamper. According to a dance band coordinator, the album "Goodbye Girls, I'm Going to Boston" has some serious bops.
Bob Carlin. Check out the album "Banging & Sawing."
Rayna Gellert. The album "Ways of The World" is great, and someone recently had a house jam of just those tunes.
Carolina Chocolate Drops (band)

A few tunes Seattlites will recognize

Blue Eyed Susie (YouTube)
Dry and Dusty (YouTube)
Tater Roll (YouTube)
Big Tennessee (YouTube)
Ida Red (Slippery Hill)

Jams

There's a Seattle Old Time Facebook group which announces stuff
To hear about 2nd and 4th Tuesday jams, join the Seattle OT music listserve: https://groups.io/g/oldtimeseattle

First you join Groups.io, then select oldtimeseattle. Goes from 6:30-9pm usually. Make sure to RSVP to Martha’s emails, and bring a water bottle if you want :)
Here's a list of past tunes

Not a jam, but 2nd and 4th Wednesdays are live Old Time music at Bizarre Brewing!

Quebecois

Resources

The Session is a repository of sheet music for traditional Irish tunes, but there's a lot of overlap with Quebecois.
Bowing and Shuffle by Andre Brunet (YouTube)
Quebecois Footwork by Andre Brunet (YouTube)
Bands/people/albums: