Les Cheneaux Maritime Museum in Cedarville will kick off the summer season with a rousing, foot-stomping performance of traditional music Monday, June 19, at 7 p.m. The Millers, a performance group from the lower peninsula, will fill the museum with old time music that the band describes as "hopelessly outdated, deeply authentic, or both."

The band will perform a collection of tunes and "rough sawn" ballads from the days of wayfaring sailors, barnyard whoops, and cabin buck-dances.

"This music originated from the old country, and later became deeply rooted in pre-radio rural America," said member Mark Palms.

The Millers began playing at weekly jam sessions in a small cafe, The Coffee Mill, in rural Manchester. Mr. Palms plays fiddle and banjo. Michael Zivsak plays fiddle. Carl Johnson plays guitar, and Chuck Anderson plays bass.

The band members reside in southern Michigan as far west as Eaton Rapids and as far east as Ann Arbor, but every other Saturday they gather at the Coffee Mill Caf for old-time jam sessions.

While the locals sip coffee and wander in and out of the shop, the Millers "whoop" up a series of fiddle tunes or old time ballads in the back room and carry on for hours, Mr. Palms said. This will mark the first trip to the Upper Peninsula for the Millers, and they are looking forward to visiting the area, he added. Mr. Palms is familiar with the Les Cheneaux Islands area, as his grandfather O'Leary once owned a cottage in the 1950s, and he has made visits ever since to Hessel and Cedarville areas.

The concert is free to the public, and information can be obtained by calling the Maritime Museum at (906) 484-3354.