Walt Michael - As a student during the 1960's at Western Maryland College, Walt went to Appalachia with the Student Opportunities Service to do community action work and to parts of the Deep South to take part in voter registration campaigns. Whilst working with America's poor and disenfranchised, he encountered the power and beauty of traditional music.

For the past thirty years Walt has led a variety of musical ensembles, performing throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. While teaching a course in roots music during the January Term at WMC in 1993, Walt conceived the idea for Common Ground on the Hill. As its Executive and Artistic Director, he leads Common Ground on the Hill towards its stated goal of seeking racial and cultural harmony through the arts.

Walt Michael has been a regular visitor to Scotland. Considered to be a virtuoso of tremendous influence in the revival of the hammered dulcimer, as well as being a great singer. His various musical incarnations, including Bottle Hill, Michael, McCreesh & Campbell and Walt Michael & Co. have taken him from the coal camps of Appalachia to the Closing Ceremonies of the 13th Olympic Winter Games. As a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist he has recorded ten albums, appeared at the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and toured extensively throughout the US, Canada, Europe and the U.K. His music has been heard on ABC-TV, NBC's Tonight Show, Broadway, BBC, TNN, CBC and PBS.

As an ensemble, Walt Michael & Co. play a range of music that could be put into several categories - Folk, Celtic, Gospel, Bluegrass, Old Time - emphasizing at the same time the virtuosity of its individual members. As well as Walt, the group consists of Evan Stover on fiddle, mandolin and guitar, Frank Orsini on fiddle and viola, and Tom Wetmore on the double bass.