top of page

Our Team

Piece of Silver.png

Producer, Poet, Singer, Host

Keith Flynn

Award-winning author of seven books, including six collections of poetry: most recently Colony Collapse Disorder (Wings Press, 2013) and The Skin of Meaning (Red Hen Press, 2020), and a collection of essays, entitled The Rhythm Method, Razzmatazz and Memory: How To Make Your Poetry Swing (Writer's Digest Books, 2007). From 1984-1999, he was lyricist and lead singer for the nationally acclaimed rock band, The Crystal Zoo, which produced three albums: Swimming Through Lake Eerie (1992), Pouch (1996), and the spoken-word and music compilation, Nervous Splendor (2003). He is currently touring with a supporting combo, The Holy Men, whose album, LIVE at Diana Wortham Theatre, was released in 2011. He is the Executive Director and producer of the TV show, “LIVE at White Rock Hall,” and Animal Sounds Productions, both which create collaborations between writers and musicians in video and audio formats. His award-winning poetry and essays have appeared in many journals and anthologies around the world, including The American Literary Review, The Colorado Review, Poetry Wales, Five Points, Poetry East, The Southern Poetry Anthology, The Poetics of American Song Lyrics, Writer’s Chronicle. The Cimarron Review, Rattle, Shenandoah, Word and Witness: 100 Years of NC Poetry, Crazyhorse, and many others. He has been awarded the Sandburg Prize for poetry, a 2013 NC Literary Fellowship, the ASCAP Emerging Songwriter Prize, the Paumanok Poetry Award and was twice named the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet for NC. Flynn is founder and managing editor of The Asheville Poetry Review, which began publishing in 1994. www.keithflynn.net

Pix 111111 (178).jpg

Fiddler, Singer, Author, Chef

Susi Gott Seguret

Susi Gott Séguret is a fiddler, singer, songwriter, tunesmith, Appalachian-style dancer, author and chef, who hails from western North Carolina, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Having grown up pioneer-style, in a log cabin without electricity or running water or any other conveniences, she is one of the few modern-day artists who has lived the texts of the songs she sings. With over 50 years of performance already in her pocket, Susi has played with such legends as Eddie Adcock, Mac Wiseman, Mike Seeger, Hazel Dickens, and Bill Monroe, among others. In the 1980’s, as an ambassador of American music and dance, she collaborated on tours of West Africa and South and Central America for the U.S. State Department. In 1997-98 she served as Assistant Director of East Tennessee State University’s Bluegrass & Country Music Program. Throughout a 20-year stint of collaboration with European artists, Séguret toured extensively for the Jeunesses Musicales de France, appeared in numerous theaters and festivals across Europe, and accompanied folk star Hugues Aufray at the Olympia in Paris. She also co-wrote the music for two televised films by Aline Isserman and won the 1996 bluegrass division of the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest for her lyrics at MerleFest. 

 

A Certified Culinary Professional and Certified Specialist of Wine, with a diploma in Gastronomy and Taste from the Cordon Bleu and the Université de Reims, Séguret is the founder and Director of the Seasonal School of Culinary Arts, which convenes four times a year in Asheville, Ithaca, Sonoma, and Paris, and also orchestrates a series of ultra-elegant wine dinners known as the Asheville Wine Experience; the gustatory extravaganza, the Asheville Truffle Experience; and a series of foraging-cooking-dining events aptly called the Appalachian Culinary Experience. Passionate about elements of taste and style, and how they extend from our palate into our daily lives, she strives to blend food, music, words and images into a tapestry for the senses, which she shares generously with all who cross her path.

 

Séguret is the author of Appalachian Appetite: Recipes from the Heart of America (Hatherleigh Press, 2016) Child of the Woods: An Appalachian Odyssey (Hatherleigh Press, 2019), and Cooking with Truffles: A Chef’s Guide (Hatherleigh Press, 2020). www.susigott.com

Pix 111111 (184).jpg

Bassist

Eliot Wadopain

Two-time Grammy Award winning bassist, Eliot Wadopian marked 2019 as his 47th year as a performer on the bass. During his career Eliot has enjoyed close collaborations with many artists in the US and abroad. He has over one hundred album recordings to his credit in several musical styles. His extensive performances throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia holding the bass chair for such artists as: Paul Winter and the Paul Winter Consort, World Fusion trio Free Planet Radio, cellist/composer Eugene Friesen, choral composer and pianist Paul Halley, jazz saxophonist Donald Harrison, trumpet virtuoso Jon Faddis, jazz pianist/composer Hal Galper, world percussionist Glen Velez, west coast jazz pianist/pedagogue Mark Lavine, pianist/humorist Steve Allen, legendary jazz guitarist Gene Burtoncini, Russian vocal group the Dimitri Pokrovski Ensemble, Pianist/composer Paul Sullivan, Brazilian guitarist/producer Oscar Castro-Neves, Brazilian singer/songwriter Ivan Lins, Brazilian guitarist/songwriter Renato Braz, vocalists Judy Collins, Clay Aiken, Theresa Thomason, Danny Rivera, Fabiana Cozza, Liz Wright, virtuoso flutist Rhonda Larson and her group Ventus, the Cab Calloway Big Band, Zimbabwean Shona mbira master Chris Berry, and uilleann piper Davey Spillane, to name a few. As an educator for over thirty-five years, Wadopian teaches privately, and formerly on the adjunct faculties of Western Carolina University and Mars Hill University. He performs regularly in the bass sections of the Asheville (NC) Symphony and Greenville (SC) Symphony Orchestras and is a substitute bassist for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. Visit him at: www.eliotwadopian.com or www.freeplanetradio.com.

Bill%20Med_edited.jpg

Guitarist

Bill Altman

 A well-known and well-traveled guitarist, playing and composing for bands in many idioms, including The Crystal Zoo, Big Block Dodge and The Rattlesnakes. A busy session player and Musical Director for dozens of theatrical productions, Altman has worked alongside the best of Broadway, Memphis, Asheville, Nashville and Atlanta musicians and producers over the course of his 35-year career.

dan%20profile_edited_edited.jpg

Audio Engineer, Executive Producer

Dann Wojnar

Dann Wojnar has spent the last 30 years in audio engineering, including studio recording, live sound and Broadway Theater. Wojnar is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and currently resides in Queens, New York. He is the co-producer and head engineer for the show, Live at White Rock Hall and co-owner of Animal Sounds Productions, which also produces albums with a focus on literary and musical collaborations.

Renalto TC edit.jpg

Photographer

Renato Rotolo

Born and raised in Italy, award-winning photographer, Renato Rotolo uses a variety of methods to create memorable and poignant images of many different cultures and landscapes. His work has appeared in MATCH magazine (Paris), National Geographic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, among many others. Rotolo lives with his family in Weaverville

Pix111011%20%20LR%20(212)_edited.jpg

Camera Operator, Executive Producer

Faye Flynn

Faye Flynn is a wife, mother, grandmother, and educator. She has a BA Degree in history from Mars Hill University and a Master’s Degree in Educational Media from Western Carolina University. She worked in the Madison County School System for 36 years and retired as a Library/Media Specialist. She has certification from LearnNC to teach online classes and the certification of Primary Source Specialist from Mars Hill University. As part of that training, she spent a week in Washington DC studying in the Library of Congress. She is currently working as an Adjunct Instructor with AB Tech Community College teaching computer skills and Photoshop. She served on the Madison County Democrat Executive Board as 3rd Chair for two years, and on the CIS (Communities in Schools) Board of Directors for eight years. As part of her church work, she researched and wrote the history of Enon Baptist Church for their hundred years anniversary. She is an avid reader, and enjoys photography, creating videos, church work, and spending time with her family.

Pix111011  LR (209).jpg

Lighting Director

Erik McDaniel

Born and raised in Asheville, NC. W Erik McDaniel attended Asheville High School where Earl M. Willis and the Asheville High School Theatre Family introduced him to a life-long love of theatre. After graduating from North Carolina School of the Arts he spent time in production lighting all over New England eventually settling in New York City as Production Electrician of the New York Shakespeare Festival. Over the two and a half decades since, Erik has worked in live event production for theatre, opera, dance, special events, fashion, and television from New York to San Francisco, from Puerto Rico to Singapore. Since coming back to Asheville he has worked with The Diana Wortham Theatre, Asheville Lyric Opera, Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance, North Carolina Stage Company and many others. Erik is currently Business Agent for IATSE Local 278 working on live events all over Western NC. Since meeting Keith Flynn in 1990 they have collaborated on numerous literary and music projects from studio recordings to live multimedia productions and become the best of friends. Erik is proud to be the Lighting Director for Live at White Rock Hall.

bottom of page