Founded in the spring of 2008, the UNCG Old-Time Ensemble focuses the learning of American vernacular music traditions, including American old-time string band music, American folk songs, jug band music, work songs, blues, gospel, shape-note singing, ballads, and student compositions which reflect these styles. The Old-Time Ensemble has a long tradition of including both music and non-music majors, and is open to all UNCG students regardless of major and without an audition. The emphasis is on learning and teaching traditional music through traditional means: including “lined-out” singing, learning by ear, learning through jamming, and learning from the wider old-time and traditional music community in North Carolina. The Old-Time Ensemble has worked with local and national tradition bearers, including Alan Jabbour and Ken Perlmann, Peter Rowan, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Rhiannon Giddens, Riley Baugus, and Richard Hartness and Tolley Tollefson. The group has performed at the North Carolina Folk Festival, the Charlie Poole Music Festival, and other local and regional events. Members and Alumi of the UNCG Old-Time Ensemble have gone on to be leaders in the folk and roots music scene, and in music classrooms across the Southeast.