2025 Instructors

  • Lee Penn Sky

    Lee Penn Sky | Camp Director

    Lee Penn Sky's songwriting is unadorned, the nature of his writing makes the songs all the more powerful - his metaphorical, vulnerable and often ironic lyrics have a way of getting to the heart of a matter and his presentation is often compared to Colin Hay's solo work. As a solo artist he has a rootsy, direct, powerful and often melancholic style of conveying his lyrics which lends to a very dynamic and intimate feel.

    His fourth studio album Prophets and Pretenders is expected out late spring 2025.

    No Depression named a pre-release copy of Lee Penn Sky's Lean into the Letter as one of their favorite albums of 2019! Left Down, a 13 song album, was released in March of 2015 to much anticipation and immediate critical acclaim. Several of Lee’s songs from his debut album Prelude to Hindsight released in 2006, have been played on folk and alt-country radio shows throughout the United States and in Europe. His song "The Trees” was included on In Our Town: Songs for BOISE 150 in 2013.

    Lee is a board member of the Idaho Songwriters Association.

  • Dustin Morris | Mandolin Instructor.

    Singer, Songwriter, & Multi-Instrumentalist, Dustin Morris combines his classic vocal training with street-wise creativity and talent for many instruments to create a rugged, ethereal sound. He has 30 years of experience in Music, on stage, and in the studio. After 3 years touring full-time and living on the road, in 2017, Dustin performed at the legendary Red Rocks, in Colorado, in front of 10,000 fans. The Mandolin holds a giant part of Dustin's heart and he can't wait to play with you!

  • Alyssa Joy Claffey | Fiddle Instructor.

    Alyssa Joy Claffey | Fiddle Instructor.

    Alyssa Joy Claffey is an Idaho-grown “grassical” violinist, equally as comfortable in symphony halls or dive bars. Grassical - that’s classically trained with twang - she chose the fiddle at 5, then studied classically and made the Boise Philharmonic at 19 years old. After working as a Music Educator in Sun Valley, Idaho for over a decade she spread her wings to pursue her true heart’s desire as a performer full time. As an Artist-at-Large Alyssa Joy and her violin Geoffrey Beauregard have traveled the world from the coast of California to the Virgin Islands. After complications from breast cancer treatments rendered her left arm paralyzed, a dramatic move home to Robie Creek where she was raised healed her arm, body, and soul. After being declared a clinical miracle in March 2022, she is back to performing and teaching in Boise, infusing every note with the gratitude that flows through her very cells that she gets to make music again. 

  • Jonah Shue | Banjo Instructor

    Jonah Shue has been involved in music and performing since he was just getting started in this world. Music was happening and all around with his parents playing and calling dances for friends in, what he likes to call, the undifferentiated beginning. Early lessons on the fiddle led to studying guitar in middle school. He studied with many of the area’s finest players and teachers before studying classical guitar at the University of Oregon. Returning to Boise in 1991, Jonah played in local bands and taught private lessons at Old Boise Guitar Co. before moving to Boston in 1995 to study jazz guitar and violin at the Berklee College of Music. After traveling around and playing all over he came back to Boise in 2002 and with fellow teachers co-founded Old Boise Music Studios where he has been teaching since 2005. A life long devotee of swinging dance music, he performs regularly with two swinging bands The Country Club, The Frim Fram Four and as a duo with the magical Emily Tipton.

  • Bryan Brasher

    Bryan Brasher | Guitar Instructor.

    Bryan Brasher is an educator and musician from Donnelly, Idaho. Originally hailing from Boise, Idaho, Bryan has long held a passion for music and helping kids find, and develop their own passions. Bryan earned his BA from Boise State University in Elementary Education, and has been a Middle School and Elementary School teacher for the last 7 years at Cascade Schools. When he isn’t in the classroom, you may find him hiking a trail with his family, or rocking a stage with his band The Dusty Huckleberries.

  • Emily Tipton

    Emily Tipton | Guitar Instructor.

    Emily Tipton is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer based in Boise,

    Idaho. Her musical projects include: Emily and the Tiptones, Emily & Jonah, The Pearl Tones, Brook Faulk and the Family Corvidae, and Chick Singer Night. She has been involved in music from an early age and loves to champion and inspire others to play and enjoy. Currently she is working on her Master’s degree in Psychology in Applied Behavior Analysis, with an emphasis in music mediated intervention, to help further research of the power of music. She hopes to continue on to her doctrine in music therapy.