For more than six years Stu  Shenk and Brien Fain have been the core of the Fisher Peak Timber Rattlers, an old-time band, which plays Sundays in the breezeway. The pair play fiddle and banjo, demonstrating what has been the basis of old-time music for a century and a half. Visitors can sense what it was like on the porches and in the living rooms of this area when horses, mules and shoe leather were still the primary means of locomotion. Both are knowledgeable about the tunes, so listeners get the story behind the song as well.

Stu started playing the banjo in 1971 and began the fiddle the next year, learning his first tunes from Blanton Owen of the Fuzzy Mountain String Band, Oscar Wright of Lerona, W.Va., and neighbors in Summers County, W.Va. He moved to Carroll County, Va., in 1978, and has been an active musician in the area’s old-time community ever since. He lives in the shadow of Fisher Peak, within 2 miles of the music center and in addition to his resident artist duties, Stu coordinates concert volunteers.

Brien learned banjo and guitar from his parents, family, and neighbors in and around his native Stuart, Va. Two of his ancestors rode in J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry and learned banjo from Sam Sweeney. Brien is renowned for his banjo playing, and is a frequent winner at many of the area fiddlers’ conventions. He remains true to the old-time style of Patrick County.

The outstanding Sunday fiddle/banjo duet and their band, the Fisher Peak Timber Rattlers welcome their friends so that their playing often morphs into an old-time jam as  many musician friends, young and old, drop by to join in.