An Elkhorn Ranch vacation is a relaxing adventurous retreat where you park your car, lose your keys in the bottom of your bag, and let friendly capable horses, grand and intimately beautiful country and the simple joy of time with good friends fill your day. Your biggest decision is what to have for breakfast. You’ll enjoy half and all-day horseback rides, tailored to your experience and interests, comfortable living in Elkhorn’s cabins amidst curious Sonoran desert vegetation, hearty healthy food and camaraderie. A workshop week features all the joy of Elkhorn life, combined with creative flair.

Elkhorn’s Old-Time music jam workshop is decidedly not an intense play dawn to dusk workshop experience, though you can play as much as you want. Rather this week harkens back to the origins of Old-Time music, where friends simply gathered with their fiddles, guitars, banjos, mandolins and the like around the fire, on the porch and into the wee hours to make music together. This workshop is for enthusiasts of all levels of experience, who simply want to enjoy a great vacation and music together. Old-time musicians Sandol and Rory will provide individual and small group lessons during the afternoon and lead a jam session for everyone after supper in the ranch Long House.

Workshop leaders Bill Burke and Sandol Astrausky and Rory MacLeod met at Elkhorn Ranch in 2014 and want to play together again in 2015, plus attact other Old-Time music lovers to join them at Elkhorn Ranch!  Sandol and Rory have been playing professionally and unprofessionally since the late 1970’s. They teach string-band class at Brown University and have taught instrumental classes at the Mars Hill College Old-time Week. Sandol plays and teaches fiddle. Rory plays and teaches guitar, banjo, bass and uke. They are both active in an old-time music community in Rhode Island. Banjo player and regular Elkhorn visitor, Bob Smith, coordinated a first ranch music week with SandoL and Rory in 2013. They fell in love with horseback riding at Elkhorn Ranch, and look forward to returning year after year to play music with fellow fans of Old-Time music.  Bill Burke is a well-loved, highly respected resident of Flagstaff, Arizona.  He has been crafting exquisite custom stringed instruments and world-class furniture for more than 40 years.  He plays music and teaches, and you can learn more about his work at oldtimeymusic.com .