The MC campus comes alive with the sound of music, thanks to Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamp
June 2, 2022
For two weeks every June, the Maryville College campus transforms into a musical oasis, thanks to guitarist Steve Kaufman, and his wife, Donna Dixon ’89.
Together, the couple organize Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamp, which returns to the MC campus for its 26th year starting June 12. Not only does it draw students from across the country who come to East Tennessee to learn at the foot of instrumental masters in Old Time, traditional and bluegrass music, it taps instructors who are internationally recognized experts on their particular instruments.
And while those instructors perform nightly concerts that are open to the public, impromptu jam sessions and picking parties are apt to pop up spontaneously around campus at any point during the day, Dixon said.
“You can walk out and see a camper working on a riff, or two or three people getting together and picking between Fayerweather (Hall) and Pearsons (Hall),” she said. “Last year, we had several 11- to 14-year-olds who were here on scholarship, and every afternoon they would set up and play over in front of Fayerweather until we eventually had to tell them, ‘You know, the president’s office is right up above you, so do you think you could move one building down?’”
She’s joking, of course — mostly, anyway — because as an MC alumna, she’s well aware that the administration welcomes the rental and use of its facilities during the summer months by a broad array of organizations. Few, however, have the longevity of Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamp.
After moving from New Jersey to Maryville to teach guitar in the late 1970s, Kaufman began competing in the National Flat Pick Guitar Championships in Winfield, Kansas, winning the title in 1978 and again in 1984 and 1986, making him one of only two three-time title winners. Dixon arrived in Maryville in 1987 to pursue a nursing degree at Maryville College, and after the two met, fell in love and married, she helped with his growing business as an internationally recognized guitar instructor who traveled the country teaching eager novice musicians.
The pair organized the first Acoustic Kamp in 1996, featuring six instructors and 180 students from around the world who came to the MC campus. Over the years, the event grew to encompass two weeks and lessons across a variety of genres and instruments: flatpicking, fingerpicking, traditional rhythm, swing rhythm and bluegrass rhythm guitar; Old Time banjo, fiddle and mandolin; mountain and hammered dulcimer; dobro; bass; bluegrass fiddle and banjo; songwriting; and bluegrass vocals.
In addition to Kaufman, the instructors include a veritable who’s who of world-class musicians, from Italian flatpick master Beppe Gambetta to East Tennessee session ace Vince Ilagan on bass to bluegrass guitarist Chris Jones to banjo picker extraordinaire Ned Luberecki, among others. And every night, those instructors will come together to perform public concerts that are open to everyone. Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Concert Series has been almost as important a part of the camps as the lessons themselves, because the amount of talent gathered on a single stage is unrivaled anywhere else in the world, at least for 10 nights in June.
“It’s something we open up to the general public to see, because we don’t want to seem so selfish that we keep it all for ourselves!” Kaufman said.
The nightly concerts will take place at 7 p.m. in the Maryville College Alumni Gym, and seating is limited. Tickets are $15, and a full schedule can be found on Kaufman’s website at www.flatpik.com. But for campus neighbors and visitors, Dixon said, every day is a concert, even if the names of the performers are virtually unknown.
“You might have a federal judge playing alongside a bricklayer alongside someone who’s unemployed at the moment,” she said. “No one knows who they are, but it’s just a common language of music they share. It’s that commonality, and for the people who live in and around Maryville College and use this campus as their respite or to walk their dogs in the evenings, it’s a beautiful sound in a beautiful environment.”