If you spot the Strolling Fiddler at your next folk festival, you'll know you've come across Pennsylvania's Conrad. An accomplished player whose swooping renditions of old-timey standards fairly reek of rosewood and resin, Conrad is also a renowned educator and historian of her instrument.
Beverley Conrad is a folk fiddler in the truest sense having first taken it up when she was knee-high to a grasshopper. Armed and eared with hundreds of old time tunes from the United States and Canada, she often winds her way through crowds as The Strolling Fiddler, as well as entertaining folks with legends and stories from Pennsylvania at museums, schools, and local organizations throughout central Pennsylvania. Beverley writes the Teacher's Tips column for the National Old Time Fiddlers newspaper and has contributed to Fiddler Magazine. She was a featured artist in the Winter 2000/01 issue. She has recorded several albums with her husband, Greg Burgess, as well as "Learn to Fiddle" which is her fool-proof method of, well, learning to fiddle! Her music is included in several nationally released soundtracks, films and educational programs. Beverley's website contains a collection of legends and lore about the fiddle and helpful tips on playing the fiddle. It can be accessed at www.fiddlerwoman.com. She is originally from upstate New York and moved to Pennsylvania in 1987.