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Musician and historian Stephen Wade talks with his friend Matt Brown about Stephen's musical beginnings, studying banjo with his mentor Fleming Brown in the 1970s, and his reflections on the Old Town School then and now. Since learning to play...

World-class Irish fiddler Liz Carroll talks with friend and bodhran player Mike Austin about the Irish music community in Chicago, Liz's ideas about learning music, and her time teaching at the Old Town School of Folk Music in the 1980s....

Friends and Chicago Tribune columnists Mary Schmich and Eric Zorn talk about their memories at the school, from taking lessons to co-founding the long-running holiday showcase and singalong, Songs of Good Cheer. This interview was recorded at the Old Town...

Musician and musicologist Bau Graves was Executive Director of the Old Town School of Folk Music from 2007 to 2018, during which he was known for his humor, and as the director of the Mandolin Ensemble. IT director and instructor...

Jimmy T., as he is affectionately known by all, is one of the most familiar faces at the Old Town School. Now the head of the Guitar, Bass and Songwriting program, Jimmy's worked here since starting in the music store...

Raymond Ariaz (70) and Sandy Bykowski (56) reflect on their experiences being a part of the Old Town School of Folk Music. They describe how they learn to play musical instruments and the bonds they made with other musicians.

Judy Hauff and Louise Dimiceli-Mitran worked at the Old Town School in the 1970s, at a time when everyone seemed to wear a lot of hats. They reunited to talk about some of the adventures they had together back then,...

When a young Reggio "The Hoofer" McLaughlin first started tap dancing in Chicago, venues turned him away at the door, saying "we haven't booked a tap dancer since 1945!" In this conversation with his coworker Mareva Lindo, he talks about...

Sometime in the late 1970s, Skip Landt walked into the Old Town School on Armitage to sing in the community chorus. Today he's been teaching harmonica at the school for over 30 years. Here he talks to student-turned-teacher Rick Sherry,...

In 1978 Mark Dvorak took a guitar class with Mike Dunbar at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Today, Mike is a bandleader and multi-instrumentalist living in Nashville, Tenn., and Mark has just celebrated 30 years teaching at the...