About
Dori Freeman's music is steeped in the old songs and rich tradition of her hometown of Galax, Virginia. She is a powerful and emotional interpreter of the traditional mountain songs, and her original songs draw on the deep well of Appalachian culture near and dear to her heart. She sings with striking clarity, delivering each song carefully and earnestly.
Her family is rooted in art and tradition: her father, Scott Freeman, is a well-known fiddle and mandolin player; her paternal grandfather was an award winning flat-foot dancer; and her maternal grandfather, Willard Gayheart, is a guitar player and renowned pencil artist. The family shop-Front Porch Gallery and Frame Shop-is part of the Crooked Road, a musical heritage trail in southwestern Virginia celebrated for its influence on old-time, mountain gospel, bluegrass, and country music.
Dori began playing guitar in her teens, and from traveling to shows and festivals with her father all her life, she always knew she wanted to be a musician. Hailing from Galax, she says, "has had such an impact on what I'm doing today and the kind of music I play. It's a real grounding thing being from here, being part of the Appalachian Mountains and living in a place rich in tradition."
The old-time and bluegrass traditions Dori grew up in are marked by musicians praised for their knowledge of the traditional tunes that have been around for centuries. Ballads and gospel songs handed down from generation to generation dominate traditional singing, and songwriting is not as common. While Dori's songwriting may be a newer innovation, her Appalachian upbringing lies at the core of her music, shining through every song with her straight-to-the-heart delivery and lulling mountain drawl.
The 25-year-old singer has recently burst onto the national stage, receiving widespread acclaim for her self-titled album released in 2016 on Free Dirt Records. At the Lowell Folk Festival, she will be accompanied by her father, Scott, on fiddle and mandolin and her husband, Nicholas Falk, on percussion and clawhammer banjo.