Great Lakes Folk Festival -2013

Paul Kovac, founder of the Clear Fork Bluegrass Quartet, learned guitar from his sister, played in a family band, and learned banjo from the many West Virginia and Kentucky transplant musicians living in Northeast Ohio. He has recorded and toured extensively, and has performed with... Read More →

Jen Maurer grew up in a household surrounded by live music, fortified by her guitar-playing mother.  By eleven years old, Jennifer was playing guitar, blues & Ragtime piano. A multi-instrumentalist on guitar, banjo, accordion, piano, flute and others, Jen will play string bass with... Read More →

Jim Metz is a multi-instrumentalist (banjo and resonator guitar) and sings tenor in Clear Fork's harmony mix.  As a child growing up in West Virginia, he sang with his mother, an old-time music radio entertainer. Upon moving to Ohio, Jim learned the Bluegrass ropes at the foot of... Read More →

Founded in 1984, the Clear Fork Bluegrass Quartet has backed up legendary musicians Chubby Wise and Mac Wiseman. Paul Kovac, the band’s founder, learned guitar from his sister, played in a family band, and learned banjo from the many West Virginia and Kentucky transplant musicians... Read More →

Ray Sponaugle was born in West Virginia, and began fiddling at 14. Like many young men of his day, Ray moved to Northeast Ohio for work.  For more than twenty-five years he was the fiddler for the West Virginia Travelers, a band fronted by John Douglas, the father of National Heritage... Read More →