I met Sammy Wetstein at Maine Fiddle Camp a couple years ago. He came to study cello and all of a sudden was helping to teach classes as well as playing fiddle, guitar, piano and accordion in various situations. At age 20, he has since become a senior staff member at MFC. I thought it would be informative to do a little interview with Sammy. So many of us are “grey-haired” and I thought a little insight into what is bringing younger folks into the trad-music fold might be interesting. The following is an “email interview”. I just asked questions and Sammy answered. I really hadn’t expected what came back, but I was glad to read it. Folk and traditional music has made such a difference in the lives of so many of us. I’m glad to see that is still happening! Anyway, here is the interview.

Hi Sammy, OK here we go. I’m just going to ask some questions. You answer them in your reply.

Bill: Sammy, you just “showed up” at Maine Fiddle Camp a few years ago (was it the year we were at Pilgrim Lodge?), and almost immediately you were helping out with the cello class! It quickly became apparent that you played other instruments as well. And it wasn’t just traditional music. You were pretty fluent in other genres. Jazz comes to mind. So let our readers know what brought you to this point. Did you grow up in a musical family? What instrument did you start on? What were some of your early musical influences? What brought you around to “our kind of music”?

Sammy: My first year of Maine Fiddle Camp was in 2018, right after my freshman year of high school- two years before Covid, actually! I came to Maine Fiddle Camp as someone who pretty much only played classical cello, but had always been curious about playing other genres and styles. I wasn’t even that motivated to play classical cello- When I first started to learn music it was with piano when I was 7- and I burned out of piano lessons after a few years due to my desire to make up my own Melodies and songs rather than play what was on the page- who knows what would’ve happened if I’d gotten exposed to jazz then- but I had almost completely stopped playing by the time I was given the opportunity to pick a string instrument to play and join fourth grade orchestra. Having a healthy relationship with practice was still a battle and likely the only thing that kept me sticking with it was the little leg up on the other orchestra kids that I had from learning some music theory and note reading in piano lessons. I had always struggled socially in elementary school so I was able to apply and make it into a state funded middle school for the arts. I went there intending to focus on visual arts and theatre- at this point I had already acted in a few productions and spent every summer at as many visual arts camps as I could convince my mom to let me go to.

However, a new string teacher intent on building up the strings program from pretty much nothing quickly saw that I had experience on cello and worked hard to convince me to take strings classes- as well as gave me what felt like my first ever group of friends- some of the other more serious strings players. By the time I graduated middle school I had begun to see cello as part of my identity in ways that I never had before- and also felt supported socially in ways that I had been yearning for my whole life. The strings teacher had somehow grown the program from little more than 20 people to somewhere over 80- which in a school with around 200 students was quite a feat. I remember my last years there she started an after school club around the fiddlers philharmonic method book which I took part in along with a few of my friends- the teacher didn’t know anything about fiddle music but I remember how great a time we had arranging fiddle tunes and learning them- the first time many of us had gotten to play in a band with others like that.

However, in the Arts Magnet high school, all of my string playing friends had either gone back to their home town schools or gone on to pursue creative writing or theatre or visual arts etc.- Those who were in the orchestra section of the music department were barely motivated to play and I found myself very lost socially again. While I had been taking classical cello lessons since middle school and was getting more serious about the repertoire and competitions, the community of jazz musicians at my high school seemed like a place where people were actually motivated to work hard and play music with each other. And so I attempted to learn jazz cello. It never quite clicked- and I found without finding any jazz string players to learn from it was very tricky to comprehend exactly what I was getting myself into.

In this way, when my mom first found Maine Fiddle Camp while looking for relatively affordable yet high level summer music camps for me to attend it seemed too good to be true. And learning a few of the tunes off the website could never have prepared me for what I would find there. I definitely saw sparks flying the first time I heard McKinley (James) and Elsie (Gawler) perform- it’s a little crazy to think that I’m teaching alongside them these days- as they were really the first cellists I heard truly own playing a style other than classical. However, I do remember calling my mom crying the first full day of camp- so overwhelmed by the fact that everyone seemed to know everyone, and that I couldn’t remember the tunes (though that may have been my fault for insisting on being in the fastest cello class on my first day), and that I had no idea how to start feeling like I was in some way a part of a community that I had instantly fallen in love with.

However, I stuck it out and ended up staying for the week after as well. Through the whole next year I couldn’t stop dreaming about returning to fiddle camp, as I attempted to learn classical and jazz cello. Being around all the crazy multi instrumentalists at fiddle camp motivated me to try and play piano once more and made me more driven to learn guitar, and even get an entry level violin to start learning. It wasn’t until after another year at fiddle camp- my junior year of high school- that it really felt like I was more invested in music. I remember attempting to play cello at Irish sessions in Connecticut I found (though the closest person to my age was likely mid 40s), attending Fiddle Hell for the first time, and taking college music classes at the Hartt school as well as participating in orchestras and chamber groups there. I had decided that despite the amount of catching up I would have to do, the motivation I had gained from all the incredible musicians around me made decide that I was going to study at a conservatory after high school.

One day in mid February I won my first concerto competition, and later that afternoon happened upon two young fiddler sisters (the only people I had seen at Irish sessions who were even close to my age) who said that they had been looking for a cellist to join their fiddle band- and who somehow lived just a few minutes away from my home in Simsbury CT. It was little more than a month after when the world unexpectedly shut down due to a global pandemic. It was a hard time for everyone, and so many of the musical adventures I had been looking forward to the next summer ceased to exist. However, quarantine made me see truly how much I could learn about folk music online and in zoom workshops. Without people around me keeping me going I almost completely burned out of classical cello, as it seemed like none of the teachers I studied with could help me understand answers to my questions about motivation and finding joy- and escaping self-judgment in practice.

I was still interested in music, but I began to feel more and more that music school would worsen my relationship with it, and that I didn’t have what it took to make it into a conservatory. Through quarantine I learned how to play folk cello back up, gigging with the two sisters I met (Who readers might know as the fiddling Carroll sisters) as we played driveway concerts to raise donations for food pantries, and practicing fiddle music on cello finally replaced the classical music used to practice. I found a community that supported me in ways I hadn’t felt since fiddle camp at a new rock gym that I joined- though I had climbed since 6th grade in a smaller gym, and within months was coaching and working there, and was able to compete in the youth national climbing championship in 2021.

This community helped me find the hope to take a leap of faith and accept the offer to go to Berklee on partial scholarship- my heart telling me that maybe at Berklee, despite all of my doubts about how music would be taught there and how my motivation would take another hit, I might find an even more beautiful community that would help me find myself. And though in my first year of Berklee all my fears were realized and I didn’t quite find my people, I think that the pain and loneliness that I felt- and the voice telling me that I wasn’t doing enough- maybe helped me in other ways that I am still understanding to this day.

I would say that it was nothing short of my life goal to teach at Maine Fiddle Camp- so much of what I have done in learning different styles of folk music and different instruments was mainly to feel like I could belong and have something to offer to this community which seems like the reason I play music. I didn’t expect that my opportunity would come so soon- the year after my first year at Berklee- just 4 years after I first found MFC. I saw how understaffed the cello nest was and asked Elsie to let me step in and help out in some way. And I am only grateful that the whole camp community felt I had something to offer and let me continue in the progression of becoming a full-time wild card staff member. .

Wow ok… I didn’t mean to write a whole novel about this I promise- this turned out to be a lot longer than I intended. In short- while my mom had played some classical piano back in grade school I did not grow up in a musical family in any way, and it has been a constant struggle for me to find a musical environment where I feel like I belong. I am so grateful to feel as welcomed and appreciated for myself as I have at Maine Fiddle Camp, and hope as a teacher there I can forever be a presence of kindness and joy that anyone can turn to if they are feeling a bit lost or overwhelmed.

Bill: We know that you attended (are still attending?) Berklee School of Music in Boston. What’s your major there?

Sammy: I’m cello performance- or rather string performance, as these days it feels like I practice way more violin and mandolin than cello. I am in my last year, and I am so surprised I made it to this point without dropping out. I kinda applied on a whim during quarantine even though I really had hoped to not pursue a college education due to the negative effects I had observed it having on students motivation to learn and ability to have a healthy relationship with learning not governed by numerous assignments and deadlines. I eventually declared performance as it seemed like the path of least resistance- I followed a pretty non-traditional path through the school, taking almost entirely ensembles and elective labs my second year (when I thought I might not continue) and having to catch up on many of my liberal arts afterwards.

Bill: A lot of Fiddle Camp people have come through Berklee. Did any of those folks influence your coming to MFC? Maybe I should broaden that question a little. How did you hear about Camp and when did you first attend? I’m guessing you have been to other music camps before. Tell us about your first impressions of MFC.

Sammy: It might have been the other way around- I can say for certain if I hadn’t found the incredible community of fiddle camp I definitely wouldn’t have ended up at Berklee and do not know if I would’ve found the motivation to keep playing music at all through quarantine- which were my junior and senior years of high school- if hadn’t been for a mid quarantine zoom call with Helen Newell I don’t know if I would’ve been convinced to go to to Berklee-.

Bill: OK, so,… I’m not sure how to word this, so I’m going to throw out a bunch of stuff that I’ve read or seen (You Tube videos become a great asset here!) Answer any way you want or not at all.. Here we go…  Clifftop!, Newport Folk Festival, Darol Anger, Nic Gareiss (one of my favorite people!), Shalin Liu, Bluegrass in general, Estes Park Highland Games, whew…

Sammy: Woah I can’t believe you found all of that- I really appreciate that- and I still can’t believe that all these opportunities came my way. I will say I love getting to play music and connect with people in any way shape or form, and I will truly learn any instrument or style if it means I can find a community where I am seen for who I am and feel I can contribute. Each summer since Covid I have traveled around to as many weeks of music camp as I can, as I truly love almost everything about these communities and what they stand for, and the loneliness of quarantine made me never want to take that for granted again- it feels like nothing quite makes me confront my insecurities and truly pushes me in the right direction towards my goals like a week of fiddle camp. While I played pretty much exclusively Celtic and New England music when I arrived in Boston I feel like the vibrant bluegrass jam community of the city has made me really want to learn how to play American roots music- it is truly an institution, and teaching at the IBMA kids on bluegrass program makes me feel so inspired to see how incredible an environment bluegrass makes which helps young musicians find others to jam with and learn how to approach their instruments in a creative way.

Bill: That last one could have taken up more space than we have hah hah. Tell us about projects you are working on now and what the future holds..

Sammy: Though I’m in my last year of music school it feels like so much is simultaneously certain, and uncertain. I will likely stay in boston for at least another year, continuing to play at festivals with my bands and teach at as many fiddle camps as I can, gigging and keeping my student employment positions as an accompanist for dance classes, session violinist/ violist/ cellist, and sound/ lighting operator for student productions. The different folk communities and jams in Boston are an institution unto themselves- one could likely learn more than they do from four years of college after going to all the jams and contra dances the city have to offer. However, I am going to try and apply for the global jazz masters program at berklee which teaches music as a means to help the world and bring together many different communities of music. While I am in a variety of different bands and projects, my fusion quartet Catfish in the Sky- and the Celtic trio Carroll Sisters will likely continue and possibly continue to gain momentum (I hope). But I really hope to one day teach at a music school (maybe Berklee though that seems too much to hope for) and help string players find their own voice and confidence in themselves through exploring different worlds and communities of music. My true goal for the future is to continue to exist sustainably in multigenerational folk communities like Maine Fiddle Camp, and spend as much time teaching, jamming, and learning from these communities as possible. I am truly beyond inspired by all the different worlds I have found and the kindness so many have shown me there, and hope more than anything to be able to help bridge the gaps between those worlds, bring people together, help people practice music as a means to understand themselves and others, and return that kindness tenfold however I can.

Bill: Like you have time for anything else, BUT what are your other “non-music” interests? Thanks Sammy!

Sammy: I do love rock climbing, and also enjoy writing (maybe a little too much as I think I have written wayyy too much for a “short” interview at this point…) but maybe after I graduate I will find a new relationship with art and sculpture (which music kinda pushed out of my life back in high school) as I continue to explore meditation and what I can learn from various contemplative communities as I seek to better understand myself and my motivation, and hopefully support others in music, teaching, and multigenerational folk communities.