The Creek Rocks

Banjoist Cindy Woolf and guitarist Mark Bilyeu bring The Creek Rocks to the People’s Stage with a Saturday afternoon set built from the deep song traditions of the Ozarks. Cindy is from Batesville, Arkansas; Mark from Springfield, Missouri. Together they perform Ozark-inspired originals alongside unique arrangements of traditional folksongs collected by folklorists John Quincy Wolf and Max Hunter, from the frivolous anthems of the hills to the harrowing ballads of the dark holler.

Named the first-ever Artists in Resonance Fellows at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in 2024, the duo is currently researching Sidney Robertson Cowell’s 1936-37 field recordings of Missouri and Arkansas, with a new musical project due in 2026. Expect a set that feels less like a show than a conversation: warm, generous, and rooted in place.