Ms. Billie Feather

Guitar, Bass Teacher

Billie Feather

Contact

Pullman, WA
[javascript protected email address]
www.billiefeather.com

Billie Marie Feather is a singer/songwriter/guitarist/banjoist/double bassist who originally hails from Johnstown, PA with a passion for sharing her love of music through teaching others.  Being brought up in the beautiful Pennsylvania mountains and surrounded by a family of avid music lovers, Billie’s love of performing and teaching music in all genres was fostered.

Saying goodbye to her childhood home in the mountains, Billie’s family relocated during her elementary school years to North Carolina, where she found herself surrounded by the rich musical landscape that flourishes in the Tarheel State—from the old traditional mountain music of the Appalachians to the Piedmont’s rich blues and jazz traditions.  It was in her sixth grade year that Billie began saving for her first guitar by doing odd jobs and begging her parents for music lessons.  Her parents finally gave into their daughter’s pestering for lessons and it happily grew into a lifelong passion of music performance and songwriting.  

For her senior year in high school, Billie was accepted into the prestigious music conservatory at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Classical Guitar Performance, and remained there for her college studies.  Billie has been a guest classical guitarist in The Carolina Wind Symphony, and has been able to perform all over North Carolina as both a solo artist and in classical guitar ensembles.  After graduating in 2006, Billie expanded her musical studies by learning the double bass, electric bass, banjo, and mandolin.  

Upon graduation, Billie founded a private teaching studio in Winston-Salem, NC and began performing upright bass in several local bands.  Most notably, the bo-stevens (a North Carolina honky-tonk band) and The Darnell Woodies (an old-time Appalachian punk string band).  During her tenure in these bands, Billie was able to tour the United States and Europe.  While in Winston-Salem, she began studying stringed instrument repair at Separk Music.  Eventually was asked to take a position in Chapel Hill, NC as instrument repair technician at Wes Lamble Guitars.

Upon relocating to Chapel Hill, Billie joined local honky-tonk country legend John Howie Jr. (of Two Dollar Pistols fame) in his newly formed band John Howie Jr. and the Rosewood Bluff on both electric and upright bass.  Though this band, she was able to share the stage with country legend George Jones, The Steep Canyon Rangers, Dexter Romweber, The Backsliders, and several other notable acts.  Billie can also be found fronting The P-90’s, a punk rock act whose members consist of her former students.  Billie continues to teach and share her love of music with her students through her private studio and through guest lectures around the southeast and remains an accomplished songwriter playing her own unique mix of country, folk, and bossa nova. 

Most recently, Billie graduated from the Univeristy of North Carolina School of the Arts with her Master’s Degree in Guitar and a post-graduate certificate in Recording Engineering in 2022. Before that, she graduated from North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC in 2017 with a second undergraduate degree in Jazz Guitar.

Billie formerly resided in North Carolina and taught at Meredith College in Raleigh, High Strung School of Music in Durham, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Currently, Billie teaches at Washington State University in Pullman, WA where she teaches Group Guitar, History of Film Music, History of Women in Music, and a Survey of Music Literature course.