Jamie Ferguson, Ph.D., (Fall 2024 Sugar Creek instructor) grew up in the Shoals area and started violin lessons at 4 years old, beginning in the Suzuki method and later taking lessons with longtime north Alabama violinist and conductor Viljar Weimann (Huntsville Symphony, Orchestra Sul Ponticello Decatur) as well as the Limestone County fiddle champion Daniel Carwile. Jamie first learned about fiddle music by going to Appalachian mountain dulcimer festivals and workshops as a kid, where her mother and grandmother taught. Jamie played in community orchestras up through her graduation from Davidson College in 2006 and has since played mostly fiddle music as she pursued an academic career in Chemistry, living in Belfast, Northern Ireland for graduate school, Ottawa, Canada for postdoctoral work, and Emory, Virginia as a chemistry professor. In 2023, she moved back to north Alabama to be closer to family. In addition to this program, Jamie also teaches Chemistry part-time at the University of North Alabama. Jamie lives in Athens with her husband Jim Holland and their toddling baby boy Bobby.