~SNAPPIN’ BUG STRINGBAND~

Mark Tamsula Richard Withers
Barbara Rosner

Pittsburgher old time music icons Mark Tamsula, Richard Withers and Barbara Rosner are giving new life to a regional music tradition. They present traditional Appalachian music historically rooted in Southwestern Pennsylvania performing tunes collected by the renowned music historian and Penn State professor, Samuel Preston Bayard. Bayard visited fiddlers and fifers in this region between 1928 and 1963, and published over 1000 of their tunes in two books, Hill Country Tunes, and Dance to the Fiddle, March to the Fife. Many of the tunes are performed on fiddle and banjo, the traditional “old time” instrumentation, as well as the fife in keeping with the rich heritage of fife music Bayard drew on. Together with Barbara Rosner on upright bass, the group performs for festivals, dances, workshops and divers occasions.

They are joined by guitarist Art Lindsay, who shares this strong interest in the revival of traditional music with Pennsylvania roots.

Samuel Bayard and his source musicians are gone, but Tamsula, Withers, Rosner and Lindsay are bringing their music back to life on fiddle, banjo, bass and guitar.

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“Mark and Richard have once again drunk deep from the great Southwest Pennsylvania fiddle-tune collection of Sam Bayard. No reproduction or imitation here – pure oldtime Pennsylvania, freshly brought to life again by Mark and Richard.”– Alan Jabbour, folklorist and musician

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~THE MUSICIANS~

Mark Tamsula has been performing and teaching fiddle, banjo, guitar and mandolin in the Southwestern Pennsylvania region for over 40 years.  He plays and teaches fiddle, banjo and guitar, drawing from an ever expanding repertoire of tunes and songs. He has co-produced seven albums of fiddle, banjo and fife tunes from the Samuel Bayard collection of Southwestern Pennsylvanian music. Mark also performs with the bands Lackawanna Longnecks (old time) and Mon Krewe (Cajun).
www.snappinbug.com

Richard Withers has performed and recorded Old-time music on the banjo and Irish music on the flute, whistle and other instruments over the past three decades. In addition to producing seven albums of fiddle, banjo and fife tunes from the Samuel Bayard collection of Southwestern Pennsylvanian music, he can also be heard playing clawhammer banjo on recordings with the old-time string band The Lackawanna Longnecks, and Irish-style flute with Hooley, a Pittsburgh-based traditional Irish group. www.hooley.info

Barb Rosner has been performing upright bass and guitar with musicians in the Eastern region and California for over ten years, including Kentucky Wild Horse, Snappin’ Bug String Band and Long Point String Band.  She teaches upright bass and guitar in old time music camps and workshops.  She was a Kentucky Arts Council apprentice studying Kentucky old time fiddling with master John Harrod in 2019-2020.

Arthur “Art” Lindsay was born and raised in Harrison City Pa. and grew up learning to play guitar and performing in the local Punk Rock music scene. He was introduced to Old Time music in 2010 and has been playing fiddle for over ten years.
      From 2016 to 2020 he was the organizer for Steel City Squares, a monthly Square Dance in Pittsburgh, played in the Lone Pine String Band from 2012 to 2020 and is currently a member of Howling Mob, a folk/country band based in Pittsburgh that plays original songs and has been featured on WYEP as artist of the week.
      In 2024 Art was selected as part of the Folk Lab cohort and worked for a year with artists across different mediums and media to present, “These Hollow Hills,” an interdisciplinary interpretation of Pittsburgh’s place in Appalachia.
      In 2025 Mark Tamsula and Art were awarded the Pennsylvania Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant from Pennsylvania Creative Industries, powered by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
      Art has been able to perform with the legendary Snappin’ Bug String Band, filling in on guitar, where he gets to perform and immerse himself in the community of folks who take stewardship of Old Time Appalachian culture in this region.