Dakota Karper

Dakota Karper was born and raised in rural West Virginia where she grew up surrounded by Appalachian Old-time music. From a young age she took to this music with great abandon. Absorbing as much as possible, she apprenticed under master fiddler Joe Herrmann, spent weeks at Augusta Heritage Center, participated in various music festivals in and around West Virginia and studied classical violin at the Shenandoah Arts Academy in Winchester, VA. After spending 7 years in Baltimore, MD, Dakota moved back to establish her home base in Capon Bridge, WV where she now teaches Appalachian fiddle and performs regularly in the surrounding region. Influenced heavily by a culture that values its roots and heritage, Dakota has created a voice of her own that combines clear haunting melodies, driving bow strokes, and settled rhythmic grooves. Dakota was a founding member of the 'Short Mountain String Band', and "Hay Fever" and has most recently been performing as 'Hemlock and Hickory'. In 2019 Dakota opened her own traditional roots music school called 'The Cat and The Fiddle'.