Allie Jean Burbrink
Allie Jean Burbrink
* Old time, folk, & bluegrass musician
* community music educator
The folk process has always been my preferred way of learning music. Listening, memorizing, and replicating is natural for me - but that's not what is taught by typical music teachers.
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I've been singing and performing as long as I can remember. I love sharing music in person! On sidewalks, back porches, churches, festivals, house concerts, elementary schools - from Hawaii to the Upper Peninsula to Fort Meyers to France.
But I'm not just a performer. I'm also a teacher at heart. I believe that everyone is musical - but as we get older, all kinds of barriers come up between us and our inner musical child.
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I have a gift of helping folks feel music flow through them within seconds. I love seeing their faces light up with delight! The instant success is essential for their confidence - both personal and musical.
Allie Jean's Bio
Allie Jean Burbrink is a multi-instrumentalist whose first love is singing. She plays guitar, clawhammer banjo, harmonica, piano, ukulele, old time fiddle, mandolin, piano, upright bass, feet, and whatever other random instruments she finds interesting. Allie is best known for her work with The Whipstitch Sallies (folk/songwriter/bluegrass - Indiana), Frank & Allie Lee, and The Freight Hoppers (old time - North Carolina). Her children’s folk album, SING & PLAY ALL DAY, was released in 2022. Her new record, BLOOM AGAIN, is a collection of 20 songs and tunes highlighting the contributions of women in folk and early bluegrass music.
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In addition to performing, Allie is a community music educator with a passion for personalized and collaborative music instruction. She has taught individuals and groups of all ages at Blue Ridge Old Time Music Week, IBMA, Indiana Fiddlers' Gathering, Hindman Settlement School, local libraries, music stores, festivals, camps, and the Indiana Fiddle Frolic where she serves as program director.
Projects
Allie Jean & The Bluegrass Machine
When you want a big sound for a party scene, go for Allie Jean and the Bluegrass Machine! The area's best bluegrass pickers plus Allie's powerhouse vocals, it's giving Linda Ronstadt vibes. They perform your bluegrass favorites, country hits of the 90s, 70s songwriter classics. Sing and clap along, we love it!
The Whipstitch Sallies
"Bluegrass rockers with panache" - NUVO
The band Allie started in 2010, this project evolved over 6 years from playing with friends in coffeehouses to touring Appalachia and Colorado. The Sallies reimagined bluegrass classics, grass-ified popular Americana songs, and wrote their own material. They thought they'd sewed their last stitch in 2016...but they've got a reunion planned for 2026. Stay tuned!
Lazy Susan String Band
Lazy Susan String Band is an upbeat trio of women playing a variety of thoughtfully chosen old time songs and tunes from the late 1800s to early 1900s. Their music aims to uplift important themes, share less-told stories, and keep the tradition of musical storytelling alive. This group of accomplished musicians, music educators, and songwriters enjoys sharing music for you to tap your feet, laugh, and clap along.
Upper Low Gap
Playing old time fiddle tunes for square and contra dances! This supergroup of Allie Jean on bass, Charmaine Slaven on guitar, fiddle, & feet, Jude Odell on banjo, and Jill Vass on fiddle & guitar also has a song repertoire, and three of the Gappers sing. So don't plan to nap when you see Upper Low Gap!
Sing & Play Allie Jean
Since Allie has been singing since she was a kid, it only made sense that she'd want to sing with kids as she got older. Especially once she became a mom! So she made a children's album and started offering classes for moms and their littles to "Sing and Play with Allie Jean". Her son is bigger now so she has outgrown these classes as a business model, but just holler if you've got a group of moms or littles who could benefit from playing with song. Allie loves to create playful music enrichment opportunities for kids of all ages!​
Indiana Fiddle Frolic
Old time music is a great way for people to participate in group music-making. Allie created the Indiana Fiddle Frolic in partnership with Indiana Fiddlers' Gathering so that more people in her home state of Indiana could learn how to jam! She had to go to North Carolina to learn - and years later, after she was fiddling, she learned that my OWN GREAT GREAT GRANDPA was a fiddler for square dances IN INDIANA!! There's fiddle music history here in Indiana too, so come get in on this fun community and hobby.​
