About Us
The Musicians
Hurdy Gurdy -
Ryan Kurczak is the hurdy gurdy player. He spent many years in Asheville, NC playing mandolin and learning Irish music at Jack of the Wood, and has an earlier history playing guitar in a Led Zeppelin tribute band. While in Asheville, Ryan also spent time in the band Noonday Feast, with Marilia Trevisani and Linda Go. Ryan fell in love with the drones of the gurdy and the magic it makes about a year before leaving in Asheville in 2017. Professionally, Ryan is an author, the host of The Kriya Yoga Podcast, Vedic Astrologer and a meditation teacher. He is also host of the Hurdy Gurd Cafe Podcast, where he interviews the world's top Hurdy Gurdy players and luthiers.
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-hurdy-gurdy-cafe/id1524517142
Nyckelharpa -
Claire Sweeney Hails from Morgantown, WV. She has been playing the fiddle since the age of 6, and more recently has begun playing the nyckelharpa. She enjoys playing and listening to Scottish and Irish Traditional Music. She is a shepherdess (of real live sheep) and an amateur metal detectorist.
What is a Nyckelharpa? http://www.nyckelharpa.org/about/what-is-a-nyckelharpa/
Irish Flute/Whistle/Voice-
Cal Stroud resides in Morgantown, WV. He is a local man of mystery and music.
Violin/Voice/Director of Harmonies-
Val Mindel is a longtime musician, teacher and workshop leader, and a veteran staff member at the Augusta Heritage Center’s various weeks and in addition has taught at numerous music camps across the U.S. and abroad, including: the Ashokan Center (Southern Week and the Old-Time Rollick), Centrum (Voice Works and Fiddle Tunes), Allegheny Echoes and, in the U.K., Sore Fingers. She is a founding member of the California-based Any Old Time string band (check out the band’s compilation album, I Bid You Goodnight on Smithsonian Folkways), and has two CDs with daughter and old-time country musician Emily Miller (In the Valley and Close to Home). Val is also the author of So You Want to Sing Folk Music, part of the “So You Want to Sing” series for Rowman & Littlefield and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Most importantly, she is a lover of Irish Music and a gift to the scene. She lives in Elkins, West Virginia.
Our history
Claire and Ryan met through Craigslist. We were both looking for a cellist to play Irish music, and then we settled for each other. We spent about 2 years playing as the band Autumn Equinox with bass player Dave Riggs. We recorded a lovely CD as Autumn Equinox and introduced West Virigina to the Hurdy Gurdy and Nyckelharpa.
The Mud Larks formed during a party before a house concert in Asheville, North Carolina in the Autumn of 2022. After playing some fantastic sets of tunes with guitarist Sean Sutherland, we decided to become a long distance trio. Now you'll find us at various music houses, amphitheaters and festivals through the Appalachian Mountains on the East Coast of the United States.
Our sound
Our sound features the soul stirring, intertwining drones and sympathetic strings of the hurdy gurdy and nyckelharpa. We provide a powerful wall of sound that can hammer you with its density or swallow you whole with its depth and space. Our music offers a combination of mixed time signatures, traditional Celtic tunes, original Hurdy Gurdy and Nyckelharpa compositions, and howling arrangements to incite despair, joy, and celebration.
A New Incarnation
Cal, Val, Claire and Ryan met at the Augusta Heritage Irish Weekend at Blackwater Falls in 2022. Sitting together for the first session, we just kept playing together, and eventually began hosting Irish Sessions in Clarksburg, WV and Morgantown, WV. After a playing a wonderful show together, followed by a dance, at Big Timber in Elkins, WV, we decided to become a more formal performing unit. Now we include violin, songs, harmonies, flute and bouzouki in our musical offerings.