Featherbed is a collection of recordings made in various settings. Some are from concerts in Charlottesville, VA, Lexington, KY, and the Cowan Community Center in Letcher County, KY; the others were recorded in Leo’s home in Whitesburg, KY. On two tracks, Leo and Sarah Kate are joined on bouzouki and harmony vocals by their friend David McKindley-Ward, who sometimes stops by Whitesburg on his way south from Baltimore. 

Mountain dulcimer player Sarah Kate Morgan & fiddler Leo Shannon are traditional musicians living and teaching in Eastern Kentucky.  Leo learned to play fiddle as a boy from older musicians around him and friends his own age growing up in Seattle. Leo plays now with The Onlies, John Haywood, Rhys Jones, and others. Sarah Kate’s first dulcimer was built by her grandfather has been playing dulcimer since she was 7 years old and her songwriting honors life in southern Appalachia and reflects her experience growing up on a farm in East Tennessee. Back home in eastern Kentucky, Leo and Sarah Kate collaborate to organize the Pick & Bow program, a free music program that provides free lessons in traditional Appalachian music to over 80 students in the community.