Strung Together: A Maine String Band Weekend
Three days of shared music, meals, and time by the sea.
Where the Ocean Meets the Strings
Three days of shared music, meals, and time by the sea.
There’s a moment, usually sometime after dinner, when the music settles in. Chairs pull a little closer. Someone starts a tune. Another joins. Before long, you’re not watching anymore—you’re part of it.
That’s Strung Together.
Strung Together is a Maine folk music weekend and string band gathering focused on traditional tunes, jam sessions, and time together on the coast.
The music comes out of old traditions—old-time, Irish, bluegrass, Québécois—but what matters is how it’s passed along. If you’re a player, you’ll recognize the feel of it. If you’re not, you won’t be on the outside of it. Listening counts.
Find Your Way In
If You Play
You’ll feel at home here. Circles form and reform throughout the day. Some take their time, others pick up a bit of speed.
You don’t need to be the strongest player—just someone willing to listen and join in.
If You’re New to This
You don’t need to play to belong here. Sit nearby. Join when it feels right. Or simply take it in.
Most people arrive not quite sure how they’ll fit in.
By the end of the first day, it tends to sort itself out.
In What Happens
Days move between workshops, informal sessions, and time to sit in and learn.
Evenings gather around shared meals, dancing, and music that tends to carry on.
Evenings & Dancing
By evening, things gather again. Meals are shared. People linger. Stories get told.
Then the music picks back up. There’s dancing—contra, square, and a few others—simple enough to step into, lively enough to keep you there. No partner needed.
When the band settles into a groove, the whole place starts to move.
And later, it finds its way back to the circles. It tends to carry on.
The Setting
We gather at Searsport Shores Oceanfront Campground, where the woods meet Penobscot Bay.
You wake up to the water. Spend the day under the trees. By nightfall, you might hear a tune still going somewhere down the path.
It’s a good place for this kind of weekend.
Strung Together Community Coffeehouse
You! All Strung Together players are warmly invited to share their musical talents during an evening coffee house performance. Take over the stage and get the camp rockin'!
Need a boost of confidence or some tips from pro performers? Join a special workshop to prepare for the coffee house. You won't find a friendly and more supportive audience than at Strung Together! Always a great event!
“I wasn’t sure where I’d fit in. By Saturday night, I wasn’t thinking about that anymore—I was just part of it.” Colleen
Workshops & Learning
During the day, things settle into a quieter rhythm.
Workshops are led by experienced players who know the tradition and are generous with it. It’s less about formal instruction and more about sitting in, picking something up, and trying it out.
You’ll find sessions in:
Fiddle (old-time and cross-tuned)
Banjo (clawhammer and two-finger)
Mandolin and guitar
Waltzes, songs, and tune sessions
Slow jams for newer players
Whether you’re just getting started or have been at it for years, you can ease in, listen, and take part at your own pace.
Workshops vary year to year, but the spirit stays the same.
View Full Schedule coming
Jam Sessions
This is the center of it. Musicians have long gathered this way—to share tunes, learn by ear, and play together.
Jams run throughout the weekend, from morning into the evening. Some are slow and easygoing. Others pick up a bit of speed.
Whether you’re just getting started or have been playing for years, you’ll find your place.
Sit nearby, listen a while, then join when it feels right. Just people making music together.
2026 Featured Musicians
A group of players rooted in tradition and generous with it.
- Owen Marshall -a prominent New England-based multi-instrumentalist specializing in traditional Celtic, Irish, and Old Time music.
- Alden Robinson – Irish and New England dance tunes, longtime performer and collaborator
- The Newell Family - Three generations of awesome fiddlers under one tent!
- Elsie Gawler – multi-instrumentalist carrying forward Maine’s musical traditions
- Skip Gorman – over fifty years immersed in traditional American and Celtic music
And others from across Maine and New England.
Dancing
Music provides the context for dancing, and so we will dance! No dance experience needed. No dance partner? No problem! Bring your two left feet!
Dancers learn a set of simple steps before the music starts and receive support from a "caller" during the dance, allowing all those involved to concentrate on just having fun. When the band sets a groove, the feet get
tapping, and the dancers start to whirl, the smiles become contagious. It's no wonder why the community dance tradition has maintained its popularity in communities throughout Maine and New England.
*Supported by the locally renowned Belfast Flying Shoes!
Join the band or join the dancers. Both options are guaranteed fun!
Banjo Engineer
Tom Gocze of Stockton Strings, will be at Strung Together to offer instruments for sale at a range of prices, some parts, as well as bluegrass and Old Time open back style banjos. He will be showing open back top tension Corian tone ring banjos, which are completely different from anything made before.
Artist in Residence
Playing with cloth, garden dyes, stitching and more
Play and Discover...go home with a muslin bag dyed with rudbeckia and printed with more flowers.
Learn the basics of sashiko stitching and make patches to customize cloths, bags and hats.
It’s all part of the same idea—making things together, and sharing them.
Why It Matters
Proceeds support musician scholarships and help fund the instrument lending program at the Searsport Carver Memorial Library, Sponsored by the Maker's Guild of Maine.
A Final Word
There’s a reason people come back to this event every year.
Not just for the music—but for the feeling of being part of something shared.
Some come to play.
Some come to listen.
Most end up doing a bit of both.
If you’ve been thinking about coming, this is a good year to begin.
Thank you to the Strung Together Community
The success of Strung Together has been due to the generous contributions of so many wonderful humans (and some animals) who have donated their time, talents, jokes, stories, tunes, stage-pizza-making skills, and energies.
Thank you to our wonderful sponsors:
