Van Orman & Helwin

A veteran of the folk music scene since 1973, John C. Van Orman supplies vocals, and plays an array of instruments, including six and seven string guitars, hurdy-gurdy, harmonium, Anglo concertina, jaw harps, and others. John has shared stages with folk luminaries such as Mike Seeger, Lou Killen, and Peter Bellamy.  He has performed solo, and in other ensembles including the long lived band Finnegans Wake; and is former Music Director of the Ozark Folk Center in Arkansas. His songs have been recorded by Boiled in Lead, The Flash Girls, Sherry Minnick, and Bill Hinkley and Judy Larson. John’s instrument building skills are on display during a Van Orman & Helwin performance – as both members play instruments John has created including guitar, gourd banjo, and hurdy gurdy.

Adam Helwin, who cut his teeth on the Milwaukee punk music scene, provides both lead and back-up vocals, and plays guitar, acoustic bass, gourd banjo, harmonium, jaw harps, and harmonica.  He is a remarkable singer-songwriter with a powerful and often haunting delivery of his own material, as well as his original interpretations of compositions by others.

Besides being performers of traditional material, John and Adam are modern bards whose lyrics reflect both the humor and the pathos of human experience.