Past Artists
Emmylou Harris
“Most of my career,” says Emmylou Harris, “I’ve been a finder of songs, a gatherer of songs, so this showcases, in part, that side of what I do.” All I Intended To Be, its simple but evocative title borrowed from the lyric of a Billy Joe Shaver song, does far more than that. Her first solo album since 2003’s Stumble Into Grace, it is indeed a catalogue of Harris’s many gifts—as an interpreter, as an eloquent composer herself, as an inveterate musical explorer who’s been able to discover, rescue, and/or give new life to many a beautiful but overlooked country, bluegrass or folk tune.
Mary Ann Kennedy
Mary Ann Kennedy and Pam Rose,"KENNEDY ROSE" recorded for and toured with STING in the 90's. The duo also enjoyed success as a songwriting team in Nashville for many years. They met EmmyLou Harris in 1985, and have a musical and personal friendship that continues today.
Annie Crane & Robin Aigner
Annie Crane's music captures you with stories of immigrant grandparents, February ice storms, heartache in snowy Toronto and an industrially sweet Brooklyn love. Robin Aigner's quirky, irreverent and original old-timey/gypsy folk has a loyal following from New York to Nashville, New Hampshire to San Francisco.
Sam Bush
Grammy Award winning multi-instrumentalist Sam Bush doesn’t seem old enough to be a musical legend. And he’s not. But he is. Alternately known as the King of Telluride and the King of Newgrass, Bush has been honored by the Americana Music Association and the International Bluegrass Music Association.
Mike Farris
In 2007, when Mike Farris debuted his critically acclaimed Salvation in Lights, people who'd never heard of the former Screamin' Cheetah Wheelie's frontman, music business people and retailers who thought they'd "heard it all and seen it all," stood with mouths agape, eyes like saucers, aghast at how that sound, that soul, could come from such an unlikely source.
Miss Tess and The Bon Ton Parade
Miss Tess has just released “Live Across the Mason Dixon Line”, a double album featuring two live shows – one from the Regatta Bar in Cambridge, Massachusetts and one from Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, Georgia. This release proves to be a valiant effort by the band, Miss Tess & The Bon Ton Parade, to blur the lines that once clearly dictated style, genre, and location.
Caitlin Rose
Caitlin Rose is a twenty one year old singer/songwriter from Nashville, TN, who is spending more time recreating the songs of our past than most artists twice her age are able to do. Upon first listen, you might swear you’ve heard Caitlin’s music before. Perhaps in a smoky honky-tonk or a dimly lit dive bar where the waitresses are all named Wanda and the well drinks are only a dollar. Though this would simply be an auditory illusion, your first impression wouldn’t be far from the truth.
Dex Romweber Duo
"Dex Romweber was and is a huge influence on my music. I owned all of his records as a teenager, and was thrilled at the fact that we were able to play together recently on tour. His attitude towards music is remarkable. His songwriting, along with his love of classic American music from the south, be it rockabilly, country or R&B, is one of the best kept secrets of the rock n roll underground." - Jack White, White Stripes.
Peter Bradley Adams
Peter Bradley Adams was one half of the duo "eastmountainsouth" signed by Robbie Robertson (of The Band) to Dreamworks Records in 2002. He has released two solo records ("Gather Up" and "Leavetaking") and is set to release his third, "Traces" this September on Sarathan Records.
Scott Miller
Scott Miller blends folk and rock like there ain’t no words for. The power of storytelling with the power of a compressed electric guitar comes through this Virginian not heard since the likes of Wayne Newton (fellow Virginian) or The Statler Brothers (also of the Commonwealth.) Not even since Thomas Jefferson (Virginian) and Woodrow Wilson (another Virginian) formed their rock trio with drummer Stewart Copeland (northern Virginian) “League of Nations”.
Jonny Corndawg
Jonny Corndawg is a country singer, not a singer-songwriter. Born in Montana, raised in rural Virginia, Corndawg has been touring on his motorcycle since he dropped out of high school in 2001. He’s played shows in every U.S. state, Canada, eleven European countries, Australia, Argentina and India. But you won’t find him on CMT. His music is more in the vein of that obscure, ‘70s gay country that housewives would discover on a Bear Family reissue in twenty years.
The Grascals
Great musicians will always find a way to make good music, but for great musicians to make great music, they must form a bond – one that, more often than not, goes beyond the purely musical to the personal. For The Grascals, that bond has been forged at the intersection of personal friendships, shared professional resumes and an appreciation for the innovative mingling of bluegrass and country music that has been a hallmark of the Nashville scene for more than forty years. As their records prove, The Grascals’ rare musical empathy gives them an unerring ear for just the right touch to illuminate each offering’s deepest spirit - whether they’re digging into one of their original songs or reworking a bluegrass classic or a pop standard.
James Intveld
A native of Los Angeles, James Intveld started his career at an early age listening and singing along to his parents' recordings of Hank Williams, Sr., Dean Martin, Lefty Frizzell, and Elvis. During the cow punk movement of the '80s, Intveld was working the same clubs as Dwight Yoakam and Rosie Flores, playing his own brand of rockabilly, and so impressed Town South of Bakersfield producers Pete Anderson and Dusty Wakeman that he was included on the second volume of the compilation series.
The New Familiars
From the foothills of Appalachia a new musical combo has appeared; grown from seeds of the folk, blues, and bluegrass found abundant in the Carolinas, yet shaped by the undeniable power of rock and roll. Known as The New Familiars, these five gentlemen combine an amazing passion for harmony with multi-instrumental talent and unusual storytelling abilities.
Holy Ghost Tent Revival
Characterized as "explosively intoxicating," this Greensboro, NC six-piece can only be described in terms of what has already been defined, for there is no way to narrow them into any perfect genre. Mixing euphonium with banjo, and acoustic guitar with drums, keys, and electric bass, Holy Ghost Tent Revival is an eclectic mix of so many things -- dirty jazz, ragtime, folk, roots country/bluegrass, big band and rock and roll.
Nancy Griffith
Nancy Griffith got an early start on her path to performing and songwriting. At the age of 6 she began to write songs, thinking of it as “part of the process of learning how to play guitar.” While she doesn’t remember many of her earliest songs, she does recall that “the first original song my mother commented on…was a song about Timothy Leary.” Then at the age of 14, when a campfire turn at the Kerrville Folk Festival caught the ear of singer-songwriter Tom Russell, she was on her way. Having recorded 18 albums and performed concerts all over the world, it’s safe to say that she’s never looked back.
Josh Williams Band
From easy-going ballads to fiery, hard-driving instrumentals, it’s no wonder the Josh Williams Band was voted the 2010 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Emerging Artist of the Year.
Shawn Byrne
Shawn moved to Nashville from Boston in May 2003 without knowing a soul and began washing dishes at the World Famous Bluebird cafe. Since that time Shawn has had his songs recorded by such artists as the Duhks, Aussie super-star Adam Brand and Kevin Montgomery. Shawn was awarded a SESAC award for his song "Ol' Cook Pot" recorded by Sugar Hill recording artists The Duhks who took the song to the top 5 on the Americana charts. Shawn's self produced CD 'But I Digress" released independently in 07 was released to rave reviews and has been a steady seller on cdbaby.com and itunes. Stellar songwriting is not the only trick in Shawn's bag.
Steve Kimock
Steve Kimock is an innovator. Not just for his ability to successfully navigate live performances spanning the Summer of Love through the advent of MTV and well into the new electronic-pop revolution. And not just for his gift for leading the live music recording and download revolution with a meticulous dedication to archive and share his live shows for more then twenty years (Macworld, 2005). He is not just an innovator because of his craftsmanship restoring vintage analog equipment and for a completely custom and organic sound (he designed a highly collected edition of Two Rock brand “Kimock Amplifiers” and most recently a custom, ergonomic Scott Walker guitar, in stereo).
Angela Easterling & The Beguilers
So the old story goes, a small-town girl with ambition puts her all into her music, moves to the big city, meets the right people, and finds success. But with Angela Easterling, it was the opposite. She went back to her small town, and in doing so, gained her greatest success yet. What she found in her native Greenville, SC had Roger McGuinn, founder of legendary folk rock group The Byrds, calling her "a bright shining star on the horizon," going on to say "Her gift is so special….brought me back to the time the Byrds recorded Sweetheart of the Rodeo - tradition meets youthful exuberance."
Webb Wilder
Hardly a purist, he has described the music he and his band, The Beatnecks, make as, "Rock for Roots fans and Roots for Rock fans." In essence: Rock and Roll. There’s nothing new about combining R & B, Rock and Roll, Country, Blues, Pop and Rock. The Rolling Stones and the Beatles proved that it can yield marvelous and diverse results. I said he wasn’t a PURIST. I didn’t say he wasn’t very PICKY about the quality of the music. That includes everything from the sonics of the recordings, the choice of players, the influences he draws on, the songs he chooses to cover, or how attentive he is to the craftsmanship of his own songs.
Charlie Louvin
The term "living legend" gets thrown around quite a bit, but it actually applies to Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Louvin. The magical harmonies and depth of feeling found on Louvin Brothers recordings of the 50's and 60's inspired a new generation of musicians, firmly establishing the Louvins' stature as one of the most influential duos in country music history. In 2006, the Tompkins Square label reached out to Charlie about making his first new studio album in over ten years. They enlisted Mark Nevers, who engineered sessions for many top country artists, and produced Calexico, Lambchop, Candi Staton among others. Guests on the album include Elvis Costello, George Jones, Jeff Tweedy, Will Oldham, Tom T. Hall, Tift Merritt, Marty Stuart, Bobby Bare Sr., David Kilgour, members of Bright Eyes, Lambchop, Clem Snide, Superchunk and more. Louvin enjoyed the experience.
Shawn Camp
Some careers can be described with a couple of words, but Shawn Camp’s isn’t one of them. A bold and distinctive singer, a songwriter who’s provided material for artists ranging from Garth Brooks and Brooks & Dunn to Ralph Stanley, Del McCoury and Ricky Skaggs, and a multi-instrumentalist who’s played with everyone from Alan Jackson to the Osborne Brothers, his music sprawls across the lines that divide mainstream country, Americana and bluegrass—and if his songs have been recorded by more popular artists, his energetic new CD, Fireball, makes a compelling case that no one can do them better.
Green on the Vyne
Listening to Green on the Vyne is like being reacquainted with an old friend. But how can that be, when the oldest member of the group is just the tender young age of sixteen? This group of old souls is breathing a breath of fresh air into the long-existing world of acoustic and bluegrass music, while staying true to their roots. Green on the Vyne is made up of five, incredibly talented musicians.
John Cowan
Bluegrass, Newgrass, Gospelgrass, Rock N’ Rollgrass…true innovators like John Cowan break boundaries and personify innovation. John’s ability to take audiences on a musical journey through multiple genres has made him one of the most unique vocal artists of his generation.
Quebe Sisters Band
Since their musical journey began in 1998, Grace, Sophia & Hulda have been covering a lot of ground. In the beginning, the Q's started taking fiddle lessons from Sherry McKenzie (Joey's wife) and later from Joey, learning traditional Texas-style fiddling. From the start, all three sisters demonstrated astonishing talent and determination and a real love of music. Shortly thereafter, the girls began entering fiddle contests and had success early on; winning several State, regional and National fiddle championships.
Eric Brace and Peter Cooper
The body of work that Eric Brace and Peter Cooper have created reflects their literate sensibilities as songwriters, a love of harmony and wry humor, and their deep respect for the masters they're lucky enough to play with. Brace and Cooper’s most recent album, Master Sessions, is a tour de force that made its way onto numerous critics’ Best of 2010 lists, spent 4 months on the Americana chart, and was Top 5 on the F.A.R. and Folk DJ charts. It features the instrumental work of pedal steel guitar legend Lloyd Green and dobro master Mike Auldridge.
Dale Ann Bradley
"I think Dale Ann Bradley is an awesome singer. It's heart and soul with her." – Ricky Skaggs It's 9 a.m. on a rainy January day in Nashville, five days into 2009. Dale Ann Bradley is coming up the studio steps without a raincoat, carrying a guitar and a folder full of lyrics. She's been on the road for 14 straight days, it's 25 degrees and pouring, but never mind all that. She's been shaping the concept of her new project, the follow-up to her Compass Records debut Catch Tomorrow, for months, and she can't wait to kick off the first song.
Radney Foster
The position that Foster enjoys in the country music landscape is remarkable. Mainstream country music and independent Americana tend to occupy separate orbits. Yet for 24 years Foster has thrived in both as a songwriter, recording artist, live performer and producer. His songs--solo, with Foster and Lloyd and recorded by other artists--have topped the country, Texas, Americana, and AAA charts alike. At the same time, he's earned the respect of his peers and a devoted audience as intent on listening as they are eager to dance.
Pam Daley
When Pam Daley delivers a song she invites the listener in as she unknowingly reveals pieces of her soul. Her refined, crystal clear vocals are at once intimate and open, as if the words are meant to be shared, but also meant only for you. In years past, Daley sang in rock bands that tended to drown out the subtler colors of her voice. But when she returned to the music that she loved, bluegrass and acoustic country, she had found her way home. *Guest appearance will be made by Pam Daley for PBS special.
Donna Ulisse
Donna Ulisse (pronounced "you-liss-ee") was born in Hampton Virginia and surrounded by a musical family. She made her first appearance singing at the tender age of three when she wandered onto the stage with a bluegrass band and broke out into "Take This Hammer". From that moment until now, there has never been any doubt that she would be creating music. She worked in a local western swing band where she met and married Rick Stanley, being fully indoctrinated into a bluegrass family when Rick's cousin Ralph Stanley, along with the Clinch Mountain Boys performed at their wedding reception.
Emmitt-Nershi Band
On New Country Blues the Emmitt-Nershi Band has fully realized its potential.With Drew Emmitt (Leftover Salmon) on mandolin & vocals and Bill Nershi (the String Cheese Incident) on acoustic guitar and vocals, ENB delivers a dynamic blend of bluegrass, newgrass, country and Americana that is sure to excite fans of all those genres and more.
Mountain Heart
Mountain Heart is the band that has been fearlessly revolutionizing the way acoustic music can be presented and played. The band's name has been synonymous with cutting-edge excellence in acoustic music circles since the group's creation in 1999. Widely known throughout the music industry for continually redefining the boundaries of acoustic music, the band has gained legions of loyal fans both as a result of their superlative musicianship, and more notably, their incomparably exciting live performances.
Chris Volpe
Chris Volpe’s gentle vocals, padded by long strains on the harmonica, whining pedal steel and warm acoustic guitars, have a nice way of relaying some hard truths on his new disc, Shipwrecked. Shades of Neil Young emerge in the bleak “Afraid of the Dark,” which tackles the weighty issue of environmental pollution and paints a picture of the resulting mess when mankind fails to react responsibly.
Nashville Mandolin Ensemble
With its scintillating contemporary qualities, the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble has been hailed for revitalizing and reshaping a type of ensemble music that enjoyed nationwide popularity at the turn of the 20th century. Through its array of mandolins, mandola, mandocello, violin, guitar and bass, NME commands expressive string colors of kaleidoscopic range and variety.
Cherryholmes
With their roots based in bluegrass, Celtic, and jazz music, Cherryholmes has stormed to the top of the music world since winning the 2005 IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) Award for Entertainer of the Year.
Donna The Buffalo
Donna the Buffalo's eclectic and often socially conscious music has it's base in traditional old-time mountain music and is infused with elements of Cajun/ zydeco, rock, folk, reggae, and country. The group’s core are vocalists Tara Nevins, who plays fiddle, guitar, accordion, and scrubboard, and guitarist Jeb Puryear. Keyboardist Dave McCracken, bassist Kyle Spark, and drummer Vic Stafford complete the ensemble.
The Believers
THE BELIEVERS have a serious love for old school country music - they can’t help it if they were raised on punk & folk. It was that very love that prompted a move from their hometown of Seattle to their current stomping grounds of Nashville, Tennessee. Founding members Craig Aspen & Cyd Frazzini share a broad scope of influences from The Louvin Brothers to The Clash to Steve Earle to George & Tammy, all coming together to create a Country Soul sound with the urgency of a great rock record and all the intimacy of your favorite Neil Young or Bob Dylan records. Such a sound has earned them praise from the likes of Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale and the BBC2’s Bob Harris who simply declared them “Brilliant.”
Kristi Rose and Fats Kaplin
Kristi Rose and Fats Kaplin have long been revered as artists of “distinctive personal approach” Kristi Rose as a singer with a voice that can “sing the stars from the heavens” and Fats, as a “brilliant multi-instrumentalist” who has toured and recorded for years with a diverse roster of artists. Together, Fats and Kristi Rose have created a musical genre, (and way of life) known as Pulp Country. This is their second appearance on Music City Roots and at this show they will include songs from their newly released Christmas CD - “I Wonder As I Wander”. In this thought provoking album, Fats and Kristi Rose, delve deep into the meaning of the Christmas Season, reminding us of its poignant beauty, mystery, and joy.
Chuck Mead
He’s been known as the co-founder of the three-time Grammy nominated BR549, the honky-tonk heroes that almost single-handedly lit and carried the blowtorch for the mid-‘90s alternative country explosion. He’s been hailed as ‘The Hillbilly Renaissance Man’ for his subsequent successes as a songwriter, performer, producer and musical theater director. Now after more than a decade as one of the most uncompromising and consistent talents in the American roots music movement, Chuck Mead at last emerges with the most anticipated role of his entire career: Solo Artist.
Tim O’Brien
At a point in his career where you'd think he'd be charging at full speed toward the next big thing, Tim O'Brien confounded expectations by doing something else: he took time--and plenty of it--to create the next small thing. Chameleon is an intimate project that, in its blend of virtuosity, wit and warmth, is unmistakably his. And this time around, it's literally his alone.
Will Hoge
In May 2010, two weeks after a thousand-year flood devastated parts of Nashville, TN, Will Hoge and his band drove 14 hours back home to perform a single song on stage at the historic Ryman Auditorium. He'd been invited to perform the finale of a nationally televised benefit concert stacked with high-profile artists like Keith Urban, Keb Mo and Brad Paisley. But as a native son of Nashville and a true hometown rock star with an extraordinary ability to connect with a crowd, Hoge's powerhouse vocal on "Washed By The Water" proved the perfect climax and well worth the long haul.
Jason Ringenberg
A couple of years ago Jason and I were doing a run of dates together through the snowy Midwest. I was road-ragged and he was fresh as a daisy. He'd driven across Alaska not long before and spent six weeks in Sweden and England and Holland before that! We got to talking about farm life and how Jason and his brother grew up feeding the hogs at five in the morningeveryday. "You know," Jason said to me, "My brother and I worked ALL the time. It was incredibly hard work for an adult, let alone a skinny 9 year old boy. It was a never ending cycle feeding the hogs, cleaning out the hog houses (by hand), hauling water and straw, or working the fields.
Viktor Krauss
Those who know Bassist/Composer Viktor Krauss primarily by his supporting roles with Lyle Lovett, Bill Frisell, Jerry Douglas, and scores of others, might be surprised by the eclectic range of the original music on his second recording, aptly entitled II. On the other hand, listeners familiar with Krauss’ remarkable 2004 solo debut, Far From Enough (Nonesuch), and attuned to the finer details of his recording and touring credits—with everyone from Carly Simon, Elvis Costello, John Fogerty, Film Composer - James Newton Howard, and Graham Nash to Chet Atkins, the Chieftains, and Joan Baez—will find II quite consonant with that eclectic track record.
J.D. Souther
In 1984, singer/songwriter J.D. Souther followed the chart-topping successes of "You're Only Lonely" and the James Taylor duet "Her Town Too" with HOME BY DAWN, an album that Rolling Stone declared his best, with songs that "rank right up there with his forlorn classics 'Run like a Thief' and 'Faithless Love.'"
Tennessee Mafia Jug Band
From the pastoral hills, hollers, shopping malls and interstate highways of Goodlettsville Tennessee, home of Bill Monroe, Bashful Brother Oswald, Stringbean, Grandpa Jones, Keith Whitley and some living country music performers, comes the most entertaining "blast from the past" since Lester Moran and the Cadillac Cowboys. They’re the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band -- five guys and a scrubboard, with roots like wisdom teeth.
Tony Joe White
In 1969, Tony Joe White brought his brand of Swampy Blues into a Top 10 hit with his song “Polk Salad Annie.” This was followed very shortly in 1970, by Brook Benton’s soulful rendition of White’s timeless “Rainy Night In Georgia.”
Sugarcane Jane
Sugarcane Jane's music inspires images of a southern past and gives vibrant proof of the present. Songs like, “Home Nights” weave images of white cotton clothing blowing gently, in rhythm on a warm, balmy southern afternoon. Their sweet tunes trundle you down a dusty, country road in the back of an old truck. You’ll taste sweet blackberries and when the notes fade away, you’ll want more.
Chris Scruggs
It's hard to put a label on a multi-talented artist like Chris Scruggs. The Washington Post aptly described him as "part John Lennon pop and part Milton Brown western swing with a little bit of White Stripes edginess."
Nathan Blake Lynn
Nathan Blake Lynn brings together the deep traditions of bluegrass and country music. His songs define his childhood days running through the backwaters of Western Kentucky, his long nights hauling cars across the country, and his love for honky-tonk nightlife. A writer of historical fiction, Lynn sheds new light on forgotten storyies from the Deep South to the High North.
Tomi Fujiyama
“Tomi Fujiyama” is Japan’s first lady of Country music. In 1951, a young Tomi switched from performing traditional Japanese songs for small Japanese audiences, to performing Country for the American soldiers on Army and Navy bases across Japan. After recording 21 singles and 5 albums for Columbia Records she was brought to Las Vegas to play a backbreaking 7-days- a-week, 4-shows-a-night contract at the Mint Hotel.
The Dirt Daubers
Colonel JD Wilkes (The Legendary Shack Shakers) and his wife Jessica, along with "Slow" Layne Hendrickson, make up the hillbilly/hokum trio THE DIRT DAUBERS! Hailing from western Kentucky, these three caterwaulin' hooligans sing loud and proud an ecclectic mix of Appalachian, ragtime, and hot jazz standards and original music.
Gove Scrivenor
When looking for expressive and uncommon sounds, Dolly Parton, Neil Young, Dan Seals, Hank Williams, Jr., Iris Dement and Glen Campbell all turned to the evocative sound of Gove Scrivenor’s autoharp. When Gove released early albums on Flying Fish Records, his friends, Doc Watson, John Hartford, Marty Stuart, Buddy Emmons...all lined up to contribute to his recordings.
Split Lip Rayfield
Bluegrass worthy of being blasted out of the windows of a Plymouth Barracuda with 451 Hemi engine. Metal and jazz like freakouts done acoustically. Arising out of the ashes of Scroat Belly, the Lip's live shows were the stuff of legend. They whipped crowds into a sweaty frenzy—Jeff hunched over his homemade, gas-tank bass "The Stitchgiver," Kirk breaking guitar strings by the dozen and changing them fast enough to ensure himself a place on any NASCAR pit crew, Wayne scorching his fire-proofed mandolin, and Eric, looking the part of a Civil War re-enactor, doing things to a banjo that Eddie Van Halen wishes he’d thought of.
Randy Kohrs
With the release of Old Photograph, on Rural Rhythm Records, multi-instrumentalist Randy Kohrs has also arrived as a first-rate vocalist, songwriter and producer. With a 2008 Grammy win for producing, engineering, mixing, singing harmony, and playing on Americana icon Jim Lauderdale’s latest, The Bluegrass Diaries, he has now solidified his standing as one of the strongest all-around musical forces coming up on the Nashville scene.
Kenny Brown
Sometimes it really is all about location, location, location. Kenny Brown was not only blessed with talent, he was born in the backyard of some of Mississippi’s best bluesmen. Although R.L. Burnside is fond of calling Kenny Brown his adopted son, it is really the sadly under-recorded north Mississippi bluesman Joe Callicott who was the first musician to take Kenny under his wing.
Shannon McNally
Shannon McNally was born and raised on Long Island, New York but has spent most of her adult life traveling and living all over North America. After graduating college with a degree in Religious Anthropology she followed Los Lobos out to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music. She quickly signed with Perry Watts-Russell to Capitol Records/ EMI.
Afrissippi
A magnificent cross-cultural river of sound Afrissippi was born in 2002, over a jam session in Oxford, Mississippi, at the home of the legendary R.L. Burnside between Senegalese Fulani griot Guelel Kumba and Burnside apprentice Eric Deaton. The similarities between Kumba’s traditional Senegalese melodies and north Mississippi hill country blues were immediately apparent and thrilling, and so the journey began.
Jimbo Mathus
"Grew up in Mississippi like a good boy should," sings Jimbo Mathus on the title track to his new album Jimmy the Kid. "Nobody thought he'd turn out much good." The song's hero, like Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," bears a striking resemblance to the singer. Mathus is a reformed (mostly) juvenile delinquent who on record and stage deftly incorporates the richly diverse Southern sounds he heard growing up around Clarksdale, Miss.
Darrell Scott
Born on a tobacco farm in London, Ky., in 1959, and raised in E. Gary, Indiana, Darrell was part of a musical family. His father Wayne, a steelworker by trade but a songwriter in his heart, moved his clan to Southern California when Darrell was 11. Soon Darrell and brothers Denny, Dale, Don, and David were part of their dad’s band, getting on-the-job training in country music as they played its hits on the stages of roadhouses and taverns as far north as Alaska.
Supple Station Trio
Songs about the devil and whiskey aren't just for adults now. The Supple Station Trio sound like they've been playing bluegrass together for years. The trio consists of Don Chambliss, fresh out of high school, Taylor Brashears and Carter Brallier, still seniors in high school here in Nashville.
The Greencards
From the first notes struck together in 2003 through tours with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson and up to and beyond their fourth studio album in 2009, The Greencards have won steadily escalating acclaim for their multi-dimensional Americana vision. Each step they’ve taken has widened their appeal. Their releases have topped the Billboard Bluegrass charts. Two singles have garnered Grammy nominations. They’ve earned ovations from “newgrass” music devotees at MerleFest and rock loyalists at Lollapalooza.
The Sweetback Sisters
Like their pseudo-sister role models, the Davis Sisters, the Sweetback Sisters sing country songs in close, surrogate-sister harmony and matching dresses. Their repertoire combines several of the Sisters' passions -- country music from before they were born and new interpretations of those traditions -- to create a fresh take on what it means to be country.
Rebecca Pronsky
Rebecca Pronsky was just eight years old when she began singing professionally. Rebecca studied voice with a local rock singer who had a weekly gig at the Bitter End in Manhattan. One night she invited Rebecca, then a third-grader, to sing at the club. The crowd loved her, and not surprisingly she immediately felt enamored with performing. Fast-forward past the wonder years and there she was- a full-fledged teen singer-songwriter. Pronsky had picked up the guitar and had begun to write her very own songs.
John McCauley
John Joseph McCauley III, was born and grew up in Providence, RI. Self-taught on drums, guitar, piano, and pedal steel, McCauley's music shows the mixed flavours of the pop, rock, blues, and country influences he brings to his music adds complexity and depth to his tunes.
Will Kimbrough
With 10 artist albums to his credit, WILL KIMBROUGH has released five solo recordings and five albums as a founding member of DADDY, the bis-quits, and Will and the Bushmen. Dubbed an "Alien" performer as a way to explain his masterful performance on the guitar, Will was recognized in 2004 as the "Instrumentalist of the Year" by the Americana Music Association. His songs have been recorded by Jimmy Buffett, Little Feat, Jack Ingram, Todd Snider and others. His new full-length album – WINGS (Due out Feb. 23!) - features songs that invite the listener to comprehend the universe with a modern introspective eye. Exploring themes surrounding the conflict between family and career, love and work, parents and children, the music is based in classic folk rock, with touches of atmospheric guitar, cello, saxophone, trumpet, banjo, Hammond organ.
Amber Digby
Texas claims Amber Digby, but her roots (both musically and geographically) lie in Nashville, TN. Born and raised in the birthplace of Country Music, Amber comes from a long line of Classic Country Music Royalty. Amber’s father is Dennis Digby, longtime bass player in the Coal Miners, Loretta Lynn’s road band. Amber’s mother, Dee, was a backup singer for artists such as Connie Smith. Amber’s stepfather, Dicky Overbey, is a steel guitar legend who recorded and performed with Faron Young, Connie Smith, Hank Williams, Jr., Ronnie Milsap, and Johnny Bush. And Amber is the niece of Darrell McCall, who garnered a #1 hit when he wrote “Eleven Roses”, on top of his own solo top 40 hits.
The Hot Seats
“I wonder if 'for a good time call The Hot Seats' is written on every bathroom wall in Richmond, Virginia . . . The band has taken its raw talent and honed and crafted it precisely to sound easy and effortless.” - Rochester City Paper
Ashley Cleveland
In some very real ways, God Don’t Never Change is Ashley Cleveland’s first gospel record. Yes, the new record is Ashley’s eighth full-length project. Yes, she’s been plying her trade in the ephemeral corner of the music world called “Christian music” pretty much from the get-go, crafting earthy songs with a heavenly message for nearly two decades. And yes, she’s even recorded an entire album of hymns, 2005’s Men & Angels Say.
Jerry Leger
What possesses a young person in 2010 to pick up an acoustic guitar and write a song? One reason is certainly the eternal desire to find the ideal lover, although the inherent failure in doing so remains an equally powerful motivator. This is how life’s hardest lessons are learned, and after the shock, anger, sorrow, bitterness, and fear subside, what we are left with is wisdom.
Amanda Shires
Lubbock-born gem Amanda Pearl Shires steps into the spotlight with the release of her new album, West Cross Timbers. Her clever songs glitter with a tinge of the Western swing she honed so expertly as a side woman for Tommy Allsup and the legendary Texas Playboys, with whom she began work at age 16. Though Shires hasn’t left the band she co-founded, raucous Texas indie rockers The Thrift Store Cowboys, she’s shifted her focus to her solo work for the time being.
Nedski and Mojo
The duo is comprised of Stephen Mougin (Sam Bush Band) and Ned Luberecki (Chris Jones and the Night Drivers.)Ned Luberecki and Stephen Mougin present a marvelous contrast in almost every way...and the combination works!
Danny Flowers
Tools for the Soul is Danny Flowers’ stunning Brash Music label debut- and only his third album in 25 years. At that rate, the 58-year-old developing artist- his own typically self-deprecating description- should have enough material for a box set right around his 100th birthday. Clearly, the awe-inspiring guitar guru, soulful singer and hit songwriter is not cruising in the fast lane, or racing in reckless fashion to snag fame’s temporal brass ring. Instead, the album’s eleven introspective and provocative compositions reveal a soul-searching journey colored by loss and gain, pain and joy. It is a journey that digs deep inside, reaches out to fellow travelers with selfless generosity, and arrives at a blessed state of grace.
David Ball
David Ball was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, growing up in a family where everyone played an instrument. Starting out on guitar, he eventually gravitated to bass fiddle. David joined childhood friends Walter Hyatt and Champ Hood in Uncle Walt’s band and subsequently relocated to another fertile landscape, Austin, Texas. “All kinds of great music were being made in Texas.” In the mid 1980’s, a publishing deal brought David to Nashville.
Larry Stephenson Band
Larry Stephenson began his musical career while in his early teens when he and his father, Ed Stephenson formed Larry Stephenson & The New Grass in Larry's hometown of King George, Virginia. Honing his God-given talents, he began professionally with Bill Harrell & The Virginians during January, 1979, playing mandolin and singing high lead and tenor. In June, 1983, he moved to a similar role as a member of The Bluegrass Cardinals, remaining until October, 1988, when he organized THE LARRY STEPHENSON BAND while still residing in Virginia in February 1989.
Chip Taylor
If you’ve ever wondered how Chip Taylor, the songwriter whose hits include “Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning” and whose songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Peggy Lee, Dusty Springfield, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, and the Hollies wound up pursuing a career as a country performer, don’t worry. With the release of his latest album, Yonkers NY, he takes you back to the start of his life and explains it in a collection of songs with the patented Chip Taylor charm and grace.
Cowboy Jack Clement
Born in Whitehaven, Tennessee, alongside Highway 61 which brought a generation of bluesmen north from the Mississippi delta to Memphis, Jack Clement played a crucial part in bringing rock 'n' roll music to the rest of the world. During a career of treading thin lines between folk singers, polka bands, outlaw songwriters, and the commercial countrypolitan music industry, this visionary maverick combined song publishing, music and film production, a record company and recording studios decades before the current trend of international conglomeration. He still runs a pared-down empire from his house, The Cowboy Arms Hotel and Recording Spa. "I thought that a recording studio was the worst place in the world to make a record, so I built this studio at home 30 years ago," he says. "Now everyone wants one!"
The Band of Heathens
The guys in the Band of Heathens are fond of saying they became a unit by accident. But that’s like saying the Big Bang was an accident. Unplanned, maybe, but hardly random. One might even argue that a kind of destiny was involved. The merger of singer/songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Ed Jurdi, Gordy Quist and Colin Brooks, with bassist Seth Whitney and drummer John Chipman, from their respective solo careers and bands may not be akin to a cosmic explosion, but their new album, One Foot in the Ether, offers irrefutable evidence that they were meant to be together — and have evolved into a solid entity worthy of the comparisons they receive to the Black Crowes, the Band and Little Feat.
Cadillac Sky
"Original", "innovative", "fearless", "ambitious", "propulsive", "a marvel of emotion and razor sharp focus"....these are the words of those that have had a chance to hear the sound that for the past several years has been reverberating out of Texas from one of American music's most compelling bands, Cadillac Sky. Their music has been coined everything from "experimental acoustic music" to "psychobilly bluegrass" but they themselves, simply hope they just make "good" music. With an admitted dose of naivety, they simply choose to believe that there should be only two categories in which music should be placed: good and bad. "We try to make music we believe in and would like to listen to".
The Gibson Brothers
2010 IBMA Award Winners, The Gibson Brothers—Eric and Leigh—are widely recognized as the finest brother duet in bluegrass music today. Help My Brother is their tenth release and arguably the finest in the duo’s career. The album features twelve tracks, most of which are originals, and all of which feature the ensemble’s tight arrangements as well as the contributions of band members Clayton Campbell (fiddle), Joe Walsh (mandolin) and Mike Barber (upright bass). Several guests make cameo appearances on the album as well, including Ricky Skaggs (mandolin and vocals), Alison Brown (banjo), Mike Witcher (Dobro) and reigning IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year, Claire Lynch.
Pokey LaFarge
Pokey LaFarge was born in the heartland of America and took to the open roads at a young age, earning the key to the freedom by hitching rides and writing boxcar ballads that spun tales of a boy finding his way through this big wide-open country. He submerged himself with the most American of music and embraced himself in the beauty of the land while picking and strumming with down-home groups everywhere he went, falling in with traveling caravans of vaudeville poets and hell-raising bluegrass pickers alike.
The Apache Relay
In an unlikely matrimony between singer/songwriter and bluegrass band, The Apache Relay are creating a strikingly fresh blend of progressive bluegrass and Americana/folk music. Playing together for under a year, the group is planning on releasing their debut LP 1988, produced by Doug Williams (The Avett Brothers “The Gleam”, “Second Gleam”, “Four Thieves Gone” and “Mignonette”) in late August.
Maura O’Connell, Two time Grammy nominee
“A lot of people think every singer is someone’s puppet,” explains Maura O’Connell from her home in Nashville. “That they are not fully invested in the song – that they are at the whim of a producer or a songwriter or a band. Singing has been denigrated like that for too long.” Widely acclaimed throughout her career as a vocalist and interpreter of utmost grace and insight, O’Connell’s latest album is a defiant, boldly undiluted statement on art of singing. Naked With Friends consists of thirteen tracks of singing – and nothing more – and is decisive evidence that singing is more than enough.
Alison Brown
An internationally recognized musician with a wide-reaching and loyal fan base, banjoist Alison Brown first came to national prominence when she was asked by Alison Krauss to join her band Union Station in 1989. Brown had already made a name for herself prior to that by performing extensively with fiddler Stuart Duncan, amongst others and an occasional pick-up session, which included Vince Gill, Byron Berline, John Hickman and others.
The Chapmans
The Chapmans continue to enlarge their fan base to include Americana, bluegrass and acoustic country genres. Albeit a young band, they have been touring professionally for almost two decades, while fans and peers alike have nominated and honored them with numerous awards for their songwriting, instrumental, vocal and entertaining talents. Having played thousands of shows, they’ve evolved into a band with a great artistic formula which reaches any size and aged audience, crossing several genres of music.
Aly Sutton
Vietti Chili’s own brand ambassador, Aly Sutton, is a Country Music Artist who can really rock your boots off!
Shannon Quinn
Shannon Quinn is the latest young musician making her mark on Canada through performance. At 20 years of age, Shannon Quinn is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, dancer and composer. Having been performing with her father Tony for 12 years, she has been featured among many successful recording artists, and in turn has become one herself. She was born and raised in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia; a place full of musical talent.
Jill Andrews
Jill Andrews has been a musician all her life: from her first original tune in kindergarten – a ditty about the letter P – to the stage at Fillmore East. And this year, the heart-stopping voice and June-apple face of the everybodyfield’s embarks on an exciting new solo project. Jill picked up a guitar for the first time when she was 19 and a camp counselor in East Tennessee. Armed with only three chords, she had all she needed to create deep and soulful songs with lonesome melodies and haunting lyrics.
Blue Mother Tupelo
Ricky and Micol Davis, shortly after marrying in 1994, began their musical life together at an open mic night in Knoxville, Tennessee. Their latest CD, Heaven & Earth, has made waves across Americana and Roots Rock Radio stations worldwide. It debuted at #2, behind Kris Kristofferson, on the EuroAmericana Charts for November of 2009.
18 South
18 South's music is created by a wide array of influences. The organic and earthy quality of their sound rings with overtones of Blues, Bluegrass, Jazz and Gospel that lends itself perfectly to their stripped down acoustic approach that is truly "Americana". The Band members resume's read like a Encyclopedia of Musical History and once you see them live you'll know why they are individually some the most well respected musicians on the scene today.
Gary Nicholson
Whether you are looking for a hit song, a cool guitar groove, a great record production or a top entertainer, Gary Nicholson is your "go-to" guy in Music City, U.S.A. A 2006 nominee for the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Nicholson has had more than 350 of his songs recorded, has won 26 ASCAP songwriting awards and is responsible for more than a dozen major hits. Unlike most tunesmiths, he is not bound by musical genre. His songs routinely top the country hit parade. But rock bands, blues artists, folk stars and bluegrass acts have also embraced him as a songwriter.
Seth Walker
“The first time I heard Seth Walker at a small club in Nashville I was impressed like I haven't been impressed in 30 years, with performance, presence, and great songs.” - Delbert McClinton It would seem to those previously unfamiliar with Seth Walker that he emerged practically overnight as one of the fastest rising stars in blues and roots music. Prior to his recent move to Nashville, the 37year old singer and guitarist hung his hat in Austin for 15 years and has been finetuning his songwriting and soulful croon since his late teens.
Barry and Holly Tashian
Barry and Holly Tashian are established touring musicians and duet singers based out of Nashville. They have written songs for Kenny Rogers, Solomon Burke, Ty England, Daniel O’Donnell and others, and recorded with Emmylou Harris, Tom Paxton, Nancy Griffith and Iris DeMent.
Marshall Chapman
Marshall Chapman was born and raised in Spartanburg, South Carolina. To date she has released twelve critically acclaimed albums, and her songs have been recorded by everyone from Emmylou Harris and Joe Cocker to Irma Thomas and Jimmy Buffett.
Minton Sparks
Fusing music, poetry and her intoxicating gift for storytelling, wildly original spoken word artist Minton Sparks releases her latest triumph, Open Casket. Her debut live show DVD is yet another ground breaking performance that further proves Sparks is in a category all her own. Sparks peeks over the edge into the warm spot where most would prefer sleeping relatives lie. Open Casket is a raucous, provocative, brilliant one-woman show featuring Minton alongside world-class musicians: guitarist John Jackson, blues pianist Steve Conn, guitar and mandolin virtuoso Pat Flynn and special guest, Irish singing sensation, Maura O'Connell.
Red Molly
"Everything Red Molly sings is delivered with tick-tight arrangements, crystalline vocals, and caramel harmonies. But what is most striking is the ardor they bring to everything they do, whether snuggling into the sweet parochialism of an old spiritual, or the gritty pathos of a Gillian Welch tune. They come on less like stars strutting for their minions than pals sharing their favorite songs. In the friendly world of the coffeehouse, that remains a starmaking quality." -Scott Alarik, The Boston Globe
Harpeth Rising
“Harpeth Rising, warm, honest and true music by four exquisite musicians.” Peter van Zeijl, Folk en Zo Harpeth Rising met at Indiana University, each individually pursuing degrees in classical performance. Four years later they all graduated, still entirely enmeshed in the classical world. Then, one beautiful summer weekend in June of 2006, a trip to a bluegrass festival inspired Jordana and Rebecca to take a big chance. Rebecca took up the banjo for the very first time, and she and Jordana hit the road. They busked their way across the western United States and ended up in Hawaii (in a round-about sorta way.)
Elizabeth Cook
I’m not a welder, at least not in the typical sense of the trade. But my daddy is, by way of 2300 hours of training that certified him, courtesy of the Atlanta Federal penitentiary. I myself couldn’t put a rod in the thingamajig. And heavy equipment makes me nervous. But I do tend to fuse things, confuse things, sometimes with sparks, sometimes like a lava melt, sometimes backed by a tank of compressed air ready to blow, sometimes quiet as a slow leak.
Jon Byrd
Jon Byrd lived his formative years in small town America in the piney woods of south Alabama, one county over from the birthplace of legendary country artist Hank Williams. When Jon was eight years old, his dad was diagnosed with TB and began singing Jimmie Rogers' "TB Blues" around the house. That same year Jon saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and his obsession with the musical tension between country and rock was born. The very next year he was conscripted into the drum corps of his tiny school's marching band and played Booker T. and the MG's "Green Onions" while the majorettes held the cymbals and danced. There was no turning back.
Kevin Gordon
Over the course of twenty years of writing, recording and touring, Kevin Gordon has built an impressively consistent catalog of songs, a critically acclaimed stack of albums, and a reputation for dynamic live performances that make first-time listeners life-long fans. He is currently completing his next full-length album, to be released later this year. Among the new material is a 7-minute piece titled “Colfax”. The song has already generated some great press.
The Wrights
In 1998, I was living with a couple of guys in a rundown little house back in my hometown of Newnan, Georgia. I worked at a bar and grill during the day and would set up and play there on the weekends--sometimes by myself, sometimes with a little blues trio. We'd do lots of J.J. Cale, Jimmy Reed, Howlin' Wolf...some Dylan, Willie Nelson. Anything really. Things were kind of on cruise control for me then. I worked, came home, and wrote songs or played guitar. I didn't really hang out with a lot of people. I pretty much kept to myself. Even on the nights that we were playing, I'd go outside between sets and just walk up and down the sidewalk. Music wasn't my only friend, but in those days it was probably my closest.
Jim Lauderdale
Jim Lauderdale is a multi-talented performer and songwriter, with successes in both country and bluegrass music. His roots stem from the Carolinas, yet his career has taken him all over the United States and abroad, making him an international recording artist with an ever-growing fan base. Jim won "Artist of the Year" and "Song of the Year" at the first "Honors and Awards Show" held by the Americana Music Association in 2002. Subsequently, he has hosted this same show for the last seven years.
Dana Cooper
“I’ve always considered myself an outsider as far as the music industry goes,” Dana Cooper says. “I focused on a grassroots career by making albums I liked and that I took to people by playing live. Now that’s what everyone says is the new music model, that you build a sustaining career by playing live and sticking to your own vision. If that’s the case, then I figure I’m ahead of the game, because I’ve been doing it that way for more than 30 years.” With his newest release, The Conjurer Cooper strikes a powerful balance between a lived-in, natural artistry and a passionate desire to speak one’s truth. Finding that balance between craft and art takes experience, and this is where Cooper’s lifelong commitment to his work shows: Having started performing more than 40 years ago at age 16, he owns an expert craftsman’s skilled hand and a dedicated artist’s constant desire to tap deeper into his own experience.
Ray Wylie Hubbard
When F. Scott Fitzgerald issued his classic conclusion that ‘There are no second acts in American lives,' he failed to envision the career of legendary Texas troubadour Ray Wylie Hubbard. A willing conspirator in the late seventies Cosmic Cowboy revolt that ushered in the mythical Outlaw era, Hubbard was a catalyst in the cultural upheaval that led to the peaceful coexistence of Lone Star music enthusiasts who comprised each end of the social and political spectrum of that troubled time. In the stellar company of iconic colleagues like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Doug Sahm and Jerry Jeff Walker, Ray Wylie Hubbard was an architect of the musical legacy that continues to inspire subsequent generations of up-and-coming Texas talent.
Two Man Gentlemen Band
The Two Man Gentlemen Band’s original brand of raucous, retro vaudevillian swing is fast becoming an underground sensation. Three short years ago, The Gentlemen were playing marathon sets for tips in New York City’s parks and subways. These days, they traverse the country incessantly, playing hundreds of shows per year for legions of dedicated fans and even catching the attention of big-names like Bob Dylan & Willie Nelson, for whom The Gents opened a handful of shows last summer.
Monte Montgomery
Monte Montgomery has taken the acoustic guitar beyond anyone's expectations. With his amazing fretwork, unique combination finger and pick style playing through trailblazing "chordal" thoroughfares often baffling even the most accomplished players. While Monte remains a huge enigma in the guitar universe, his legendary reputation has spread like wildfire since he appeared on Austin City Limits. In 2004 Monte was named on Guitar Player Magazine's list of "Top 50 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time" and in 2005 he was featured the Covers of "Frets" and "Acoustic Guitar" magazines. Countless articles have been written about Monte describing him "The Evel Knievel of Guitar", "Six Strings Attached To Dynamite", "The Answer To The Fermi Paradox" and "The Acoustic Shred Master" just to name a few. Monte's fretwork has become the benchmark for acoustic guitar players. "An American Original", there is no doubt Monte Montgomery is destined to become An American Legend.
Phil Lee
If Phil Lee was as good at knife-throwing as he is at songwriting he would be on the David Letterman show three times a week. He may very well be that good at it – he practices enough - but listening to any one of his excellent CDs, including this new one, has great rewards and fewer risks - at least for the audience. Phil has never feared, personally or lyrically, to scamper out on a limb with a gleam in his eye and a hacksaw in his hand. Sometimes a club owner or promoter will “suggest” that certain of his songs might ruffle a local feather or two but danged if he won’t have those very birds squarely in his corner before the night is done. Charm, guts and great material can get you a long way. Like Wile E. Coyote, he has a knack for recovering from the most explosive circumstances but unlike that hapless canine he usually ends up on top and grinning. This has been of immense help in his previous incarnations as a truck driver, roadie, huckster and bon vivant. Phil Lee likes to say that “at a hundred, my age, weight and IQ have all averaged out.” Maybe so but if that’s true he’s sure getting maximum output in all three areas. He writes constantly, eats a sensible diet and, peripatetic as hell, he won’t hesitate to haul out of his Nashville habitations in his pickup for a gig in Wisconsin on a Friday, cannonball from there to Missouri on Saturday and hit Indiana on Sunday - after church of course.
Rob Ickes & Robinella
Rob Ickes : A Northern California native, Rob Ickes moved to Nashville in 1992 and joined Blue Highway, the highly esteemed bluegrass band, as a founding member in 1994. He is recognized as one of the most innovative Dobro players on the scene today, contributing signature technique and greatly expanding the boundaries of the instrument's sonic and stylistic territory. He won the International Bluegrass Music Association's Dobro Player of the Year award for a record-setting eleventh time in 2009; IBMA notes that he is the most awarded instrumentalist in the history of the IBMA awards. Robinella : Robinella’s career began with a sort of luck that rarely comes to most artists within their lifetime. What started out as a simple husband-and-wife duo fresh out of college quickly grew to a full-fledged band that blended Bluegrass, Country and Jazz. The combination of Robinella's honey-sweet vocals with violin, mandolin, bass, drums and piano captivated audiences, thus creating the ever popular Robinella & the CC Stringband.
Doug and Telisha Williams
Doug & Telisha Williams live right in the middle of the places others only write about. A place where old time religion, superstition, run down bars, gravel parking lots and boarded up factories all mingle together. Their most recent release, “Ghost of the Knoxville Girl”, received wide critical acclaim, and spent 15 weeks in the Americana Music Association Top 40 Radio Chart. Quick wit and a Southern drawl make every show different from the last, while fearless delivery and stunning honesty make every show personal.
Peter Karp & Sue Foley
Peter Karp : Peter Karp is a gifted American troubadour, a master songsmith with an art for spinning true-to-life emotions, humor, and candor. With an upbringing that was equal parts southern Alabama and the swamps of New Jersey, Karp's music is fueled by the Yankee-Rebel juxtaposition. Sue Foley: Sue Foley is considered to be one of the finest blues/roots artists working today. Born to a working class family Sue spent her early childhood moving from Canadian town to town with her mother. At 16 she embarked on her professional career. By 21 she was living in Austin TX and recording for legendary blues label Antone's Records.
The Black Lillies
Born in the rumbling cab of a stone truck and aged in the oak of Tennessee’s smoky night haunts, The Black Lillies have come to the forefront of the Americana scene in little more than a year. Founded by multi instrumentalist and vocalist Cruz Contreras (co-founder of Robinella and the CCstringband), The Black Lillies have created their own unique brand of country, roots, rock and blues via Appalachia. The group, formed in 2008, also includes bassist Taylor Coker, electric guitar and pedal steel whiz Tom Pryor (the everybodyfields), and drummer Jamie Cook (the everybodyfields). Trisha Gene Brady rounds out the lineup with Southern charm and smoky vocals.
The Dixie Bee-Liners
The Dixie Bee-Liners are an American bluegrass band formed in New York City in 2002 by Buddy Woodward and Brandi Hart, and the band members currently reside in Bristol, Va., and Nashville, Tenn. Their music has been bluegrass, Americana, alt-country, folk, and “Bible Belt Noir”.
KingBilly
At a KingBilly show, you’ll experience something completely different—a blend of high, lonesome bluegrass harmonies, bluesy lap steel and banjo and the country equivalent of AC/DC power riffs. It’s all fused into a seamless whole as tight and dynamic as the Blue Angels in flight. The five band members are equally adept at pickin’ and writin’; like deep-sea anglers, they throw back the good tunes and only keep the great ones. KingBilly can and will play just about anything, as long as it’s good. To a man who knows his pickers, these guys are lively, inquisitive and engaging. To the fairer sex, hot, fun, and one heck of a live show. KingBilly is determined to forge an innovative path to success while maintaining the integrity of the music.
Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers
Known for blazing innovative trails with the release of several past projects, the white-hot foursome known as Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers is at it again with the web-only release of Glow In The Dark, a spectacularly sparkling live recording taped at Mexicali Blues in Teaneck, New Jersey in 2008. The project concept debuted February 2, 2009, and continues for 14 weeks at the band's website - www.azpeacemakers.com, where fans can hear and watch an entire live show that captures the true spirit and vigor of RCPM. A new song (audio and video) debuts each of the 14 weeks.
Tommy Womack
Alt.Country hero, published author, podcaster and indelible live performer TOMMY WOMACK is the author of the rock memoir cult classic "Cheese Chronicles: The True Story of a Rock n Roll Band You've Never Heard Of" and the recording artist behind 2007's career-defining "There, I Said It!" album, as well as founding member of the band DADDY with Will Kimbrough. In late 2008, Tommy released his second book - "The Lavender Boys & Elsie" - a fictional collection of letters documenting the Civil War's only all-gay Confederate regiment, grisly murders at home, a well-accessorized Christmas show and the real reason for Pickett's Charge. A two-time WINNER of "BEST SONG" in the Nashville Scene's annual "Best of Nashville" poll, the Village Voice wrote this of Tommy: "Think Spalding Gray if he’d grown up in Kentucky with a guitar and a vinyl copy of Black and Blue."
David Jacobs - Strain
Slide guitarist and singer-songwriter David Jacobs-Strain grew up in Oregon, far from Mississippi, but found his first musical home in the Delta blues. “I’ve always been drawn to the dark stuff,” David says. This young roots musician channels age-old wisdom and heartache with such energy and passion that you can’t help but feel good, even about feeling bad.
Bearfoot
It's a commonplace that crises create opportunities, but the principle was thoroughly—and successfully—tested by Alaska-‐ by-‐way-‐of-‐Nashville's Bearfoot last year, when original members Angela Oudean and Jason Norris found themselves presiding over a prolonged period of shifting personnel. Yet the cliché proved true in the end when the pair recruited Todd Grebe, another Alaska-‐to-‐Nashville transplant, Nora Jane Struthers, a rising young singer/songwriter and one of her bandmates, P. J. George, to create a renewed ensemble full of energy and creativity. And now, with the release of American Story (available Sept 27), the group's latest effort for Compass Records, it's plain to see that the crisis was little more than a blessing in disguise.
Jessica Stiles
Having grown tired of both the hippies and incessant rain of Portland, Oregon, Jessica now lives in sunny Nashville, TN. After fronting her own Honky Tonk and Americana band for the past number of years in the Northwest, she has found herself tracing her musical roots back to the mountain and classic country mecca that is Tennessee.
The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band
The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band consists of dyed-in-the wool traditional players with over 100 years of combined live gigging experience. Joining guitarist Peter Rowan are Jody Stecher, mandolin; Keith Little, banjo; and Paul Knight, bass. The ensemble has graced the stages of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Grey Fox, Merlefest, Rothbury and numerous other festivals, entertaining audiences with original songs executed in vibrant harmony
Stephen Simmons
Stephen Simmons was raised in the small town of Woodbury, Tennessee. His mother was a schoolteacher and his father held a factory job. In his family, they were the first generation that didn’t work the farm. As a songwriter, Stephen’s vision has grown to entail more than just reflections of rural America. The songs on his new recording, Girls, deal with existential realities that are familiar to country and city dwellers alike: redemption, heartbreak, hangovers and the loneliness of the road. Like Stephen’s previous records, The Superstore, Last Call, Drink Ring Jesus, Something In Between, and The Blame’s On U.S. (which were compared to everyone from Johnny Cash to Ryan Adams), Girls combines virtuosic songcraft and musicianship with unparalleled artistic honesty.
Dread Clampitt
Blue-eyed soul grass. Hipbilly. Funky bluegrass fusion. These words have been used to describe Dread Clampitt. With clever and heartfelt lyrics, Dread combines humor and a realistic outlook of the world with the sounds of bluegrass, rock & roll, blues, jazz and some Louisiana Bayou funk.
Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn, prior to forming the Byrds, toured and performed folk music with the Limeliters, Chad Mitchell Trio and Bobby Darin as a guitarist and banjo player.
Brigitte DeMeyer
Brigitte DeMeyer was already one of the most discussed artists in the Americana movement. Her work stirred accolades in national media. She was tapped to open shows for Marc Cohn, Dan Fogelberg – and Bob Dylan. She wrote songs as weavers thread tapestries, her most vivid colors being a Southern feel, a churchy soulfulness in her vocals, and a way with words that bore comparison to literature as easily as to the best contemporary lyrics.
Con Hunley
Soulful singer Con Hunley was born and raised in Fountain City in the Smoky Mountain foothills of East Tennessee. One of six children, Con had music in his life from birth. His first entrance into the music world was singing gospel songs at church with his family. Con was overjoyed when his parents bought him a used "Stella" guitar for Christmas when he was nine years old. His parents taught him basic chords (G,C,D,A) and some simple songs. "I was 10 or 12 years old before I realized that everybody didn't know how to play the guitar and sing, because everybody in my family did. On Saturday nights, we'd all pick and sing. On Sundays, we'd go to church and sing. That's what everybody did, including aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents."
Nora Jane Struthers
Nora Jane Struthers calls her music “Classic Americana.” The singer-songwriter’s self-titled solo bow, to be issued June 22 on her own label, will be a revelation to roots music fans: overflowing with affecting, literate original compositions and featuring a complement of top Nashville players, it announces the debut of a major new talent.
Steve Poltz
He trick-or-treated at Liberace’s house, planned a two-day stay in Amsterdam that ended a month later with him escaping the city under the cover of darkness, and was Bob Hope’s favorite altar boy. Alone, these anecdotes go well with a fistful of peanuts at a cocktail party. But on top of these add that this person also co-wrote the longest-running song on the Billboard Top 100, had a debut solo album that earned three and a half stars in Rolling Stone, and was awarded the title of “San Diego’s Most Influential Artist of the Decade” at the San Diego Music Awards. What you end up with is one of the most engaging, twisted, and prolific songwriters of our time - Steve Poltz.
Jason and The Scorchers
With the release of HALCYON TIMES, Jason & The Scorchers have accomplished an extremely rare feat: almost 30 years into their career they have made a rock ‘n’ roll record every bit as dynamic and mind-blowing as their vintage work. Very few rock bands can make this claim. Jason & The Scorchers can, they should, and they do.The band’s story essentially starts in the late 1970s. Warner E. Hodges, the son of country musicians Blanche and Ed Hodges, was living in Nashville after his dad’s retirement from the military. Warner had played drums as a boy for his parents’ USO bands. He knew country music inside out. However, as a teenage rebel, he got hooked on early AC/DC and the first wave of punk rockers, waving that flag with high-decibel pride. In Nashville’s schmaltzy country pop atmosphere of that time, he stood out like a pig in a perfume shop. He played in punk and rock bands with his friends Perry Baggs and Jeff Johnson, two other tough street rockers in a genteel Southern town. They made a lot of noise but were essentially ignored outside of Nashville’s tiny rock community.
Brandi Carlile
Brandi Carlile's third album, Give Up The Ghost, unveils her talents in their truest form. After two albums and non-stop touring, she has let her guard down and offers her most candid recording to date. If the phrase "give up the ghost" most often refers to death or dying, it can also be used to describe the passing of stages in life, of transformation.
Randall Bramblett
Randall Bramblett and his wife, Lenore, were kicking around ideas for an album title when she suggested Now It‘s Tomorrow. But no amount of thought could have produced a more apt description of where the singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist stands at this point in his celebrated career.
Drunk Uncles
The Drunk Uncles were founded five years ago by Mike McGill and Jeff Barbra, but only filled out its full lineup nine months ago. Having assembled a well-versed but eclectic crew with a similar appreciation for country music pioneers, the group has set out to revive the tunes that inspired them and contribute new songs in the same style.
Daddy
Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack both boast amazing underground resumes. Kimbrough (2005 Americana Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year) and Womack (Two-time winner of the Nashville Scene Best Song Award) first came together in 1992 in the bis-quits, who made one impressive guitar-fest record for John Prine's Oh-Boy! label. They discovered a musical and personal kinship that they fought for years in and amongst other commitments to get back to. With the breakup of the bis-quits in 1994, Kimbrough went on to be lead guitarist in Todd Snider & the Nervous Wrecks. (He has since produced several of Snider's records, along with a whole slew of other artists.)
Lissy Rosemont of The Junior League Band
Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Lissy Rosemont, 28, is the front woman for the Washington, D.C. based Junior League Band. This rock inspired blue grass band has only been around for a few years, but their popularity is on the rise. They've toured all over the country introducing audiences to their unique blend of rock and blue grass tunes. Despite the changes in band members, the group has managed to release three records in less than 18 months.
Sarah Siskind
Sarah Siskind is seen as one of today's most eclectic songwriters with songs covered by Alison Krauss, Randy Travis, Bon Iver, the Infamous Stringdusters, April Verch and more. Krauss released both Siskind songs as singles, and in 2008, her rendition of "Simple Love" was nominated for a Grammy.
Dexateens
THE DEXATEENS AREN'T GOING ANYHERE AND THAT'S THE WAY THEY LIKE IT. But you wouldn't know it by listening to them. These Alabama natives play a boot stomping brand of 'Skillet Rock' that'll grab you by the collar and make you dance until your legs tremble, and sing until you can't sing anymore. However, family ranks a lot higher for The Dexateens than fame and fortune. Always has and always will. Their time away from the spotlight isn't for sale at any price, so don't be surprised if they're not playing a venue near you anytime soon. When they're actually on tour your bound to catch up with 'em, and when you do it'll be worth the wait.
Futurebirds
In Athens, Georgia, the future can look a lot like the past. Often not too many changes down that way and Futurebirds certainly don’t mind. Some folks think good music comes from making a whole bunch of sounds no one’s ever heard before. Some folks think that you can sit back and take her easy for a little while without trying too damn hard. Some folks think you can have a little of both. If you push yourself every once in awhile, you might wind up in the right place around the right friends and come up with something worth playing on the porch-swing over an ice-cold beer. That’s exactly Futurebirds’ situation. Surrounded by a sleepy-living music community—more earnest than you’ll find elsewhere—the band works to set things right where they belong. Provide people with an infectious melody and a refreshing song about things they understand and they’ll sing with you.
The Boxcars
We are excited to announce representation of the newly formed bluegrass supergroup, The Boxcars. Adam Steffey, Ron Stewart, John R. Bowman, Keith Garrett and Harold Nixon make up what will surely soon be one of the top headliners in bluegrass and beyond.
Pine Hill Haints
Taking inspiration from roots music and Southern tales of the supernatural, the Pine Hill Haints play a self-described style of "Alabama ghost country" that touches upon honky tonk, rockabilly, folk, and bluegrass. As a child, Jamie Barrier (vocals, guitar) often joined his grandfather in attending local hootenannies, where he was exposed to the musical traditions of his native Alabama. Later, Barrier honed his own voice by singing in a graveyard -- the Pine Hill Cemetery -- and formed the raucous rockabilly outfit the Wednesdays while still in elementary school. The Wednesdays would go on to release several albums in the 2000s, but Barrier nevertheless formed the Pine Hill Haints in 1998 as a second (and considerably different) project, piecing together a revolving lineup that ultimately solidified around core members Matt Bakula (washtub bass, banjo), Ben Rhyne (snare drum), and Jamie's wife, Katie Barrier (washboard, mandolin).
Ernie Hendrickson
Born in Cuba City, WI, but raised in Rockford, IL, Ernie Hendrickson grew up on a steady diet of Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Cat Stevens, and The Grateful Dead. These early heroes opened the gates to the deep well of American roots music which he continues to draw inspiration from. Even by the age of 16, Ernie was forming bands searching for his own sound. While attending Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal, Hendrickson found himself the leader of The Seed Band, a group that would release three independent records, and found a cult following in the university subculture and surrounding areas. CD sales numbered in the thousands and many more live tapes were circulated before the group disbanded.
NewFound Road
When it comes from NewFound Road, it comes from the soul. There are more famous bluegrass bands, but you’d be hard pressed to find one that plays and sings with more feeling and heart than this extraordinary ensemble. NewFound Road’s second collection for Rounder Records, Same Old Place, following their well-received 2006 CD Life in a Song, tells you all you need to know about this group’s depth of emotion. It’s chock full of driving rhythms, haunting ballads and classic bluegrass, all brought into sharp focus by the band’s instrumental prowess and the soulful vocals of Tim Shelton.
Have Gun Will Travel
Since the 2008 release of their debut full-length Casting Shadows Tall As Giants, the band has been gaining momentum regionally as well as nationally. The album was featured on NPR’s “Second Stage” program. "Their music has a great energy to it with some infectious, sing-along choruses and refrains." commented NPR host Robin Hilton. At Creative Loafing's Best of the Bay Awards held in Tampa, HGWT took home the Readers' Poll Award for Best Americana Act and Staff pick for Local CD of the Year. Casting Shadows... landed in the top 5 most-played album of the year on Tampa's WMNF 88.5 fm. The album opener "Blessing and a Curse" was chosen to appear on every episode of the 2009 season of PBS's Roadtrip Nation.
Kenneth Brian
The Kenneth Brian Band has been working very hard, finishing up the as-yet-untitled new record, produced by classic rock and studio legend, Johnny Sandlin. Sandlin's work speaks for itself. Having played in Hour Glass (with his pals Duane and Gregg Allman), he then became Vice-President and head of A&R at Capricorn Records, going on to engineer and produce some of the most influential records and artists of all time, including: The Allman Bros., Bonnie Bramlett, Wet Willie, Delbert McClinton, Cher, Widespread Panic, Leroy Parnell, Marshall Tucker Band, Derek Trucks, and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, to name just a few. Johnny's experience in the classic/southern rock genre (he is one of the pioneers in the field) is a perfect match for Kenneth Brian's southern sensibilities, musically and otherwise. Be sure to check back soon for more details on a release date and title, as the record is ALMOST DONE!!!
The Claire Lynch Band
There were very few role models for a young woman starting out on the bluegrass highway back in the mid ‘70’s when Claire Lynch joined a band called Hickory Wind. A native of Kingston, New York, who has lived in Northern Alabama since the age of 12, Claire was offered a position in the band, decided she was going to be a bluegrass singer, and that was pretty much that. After changing its name to the Front Porch String Band, the group worked regularly throughout the Southeast over the next several years, becoming fan favorites on the strength of its open-minded musical approach and incredible lead singer.
The Darlins
The Darlins was formed in September of 2008 by Erinn Bates and Jude Toy. Erinn was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee and graduated from Belmont University with a degree in Music. Just after graduation, she signed a development deal with Sony Nashville and worked with Grammy winning producer, Mark Wright. She also began working with hit songwriters, Mark Selby and Tia Sillers. Selby played guitar and co-produced her project with Wright. In 2006, she packed up and moved to Las Vegas where she sang as part of a group in a country show band. Shortly after her year in Vegas, she returned home to Nashville to pursue a songwriting and artist deal again.
Honeycutters
In a world that is becoming increasingly digitalized and impersonal, the Honeycutters are building a reputation based on live performance and songs that tend to stick with you. Their first full length studio release "Irene" (May '09) has landed them in Iaan Hughes' (No Depression Podcast) top twenty of 2009, Fret Knot Radio Hour's "Nine you need to know from '09", and number 32 in WNCW's listener voted top 100. Singer/songwriter Amanda Anne Platt has been hailed as "one of the best songwriters coming out of WNC these days" by WNCW programming director Martin Anderson, and her voice has been described as "perfectly unadorned" and "recklessly beautiful".
Sonos
Emerging in 2009 from the college a cappella scene, Sonos turns the genre on its head with bold interpretations of C21st classics. On their Verve debut “SonoSings,” the vocal group reinvents Radiohead, Bon Iver & Fleet Foxes and dazzles with unique twists on the mainstream such as a dark, trip-hop Jackson 5 cover. Recent appearances include live radio sessions on NPR’s Weekend Edition, KCRW, BBC Americana, Sirius/XM; collaborations with novelist Margaret Atwood at UCLA Live and the beloved Young@Heart Chorus; plus performances all over the country including the Sundance Film Festival. 2010 sees Sonos touring widely as well as embracing projects in dance with Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Co. and science/theater with bestselling author and psychologist Dr. Daniel Levitin ("This Is Your Brain on Music"). A new Sonos album featuring covers, collaborations and originals, will be available in the fall.
Kim Richey
"Kim Richey would rule the charts in a land where Marshall Crenshaw was king, Aimee Mann queen, and the The Beatles never put out another record after Revolver." Steve Horowitz, popmatters.com
Andrew Combs
With his roots in Texas, singer and songwriter Andrew Combs has been steadily growing his branches in Nashville. In essence, he is a storyteller. His sharp, southern voice carves out stories and carries you through the ridges, making you feel as if you whittled out this story from your own past. When accompanied by fellow singer and song- writer Heidi Feek, the contrast is deep, dark, and beautiful. Her tranquil and smokey style pairs with Combs' reflective exuberance like a cold glass of whiskey and a long cigarette on a sunny day.
Shotgun Party
The original Shotgun Party trio met in a little Texas dive bar in 2006. They got their start performing weekly at Austin's own Continental Club. Sparks flew and now Shotgun Party, the Austin based trio, really knows how to fire up a crowd! Their original songs are beautiful and timeless drawing influences from early blues, country, bluegrass and depression era swing. Katy Rose Cox's fearles fiddling is simply virtuosic. Miss Jenny Parrott's gorgeous vocals and addictive songs will bring you to your knees. ...and introducing Shotgun Party's newest member, Andrew Austin-Petersen (formerly of the Shake 'Em Ups) on show stopping upright bass! With tight harmonies and lively stage antics, Shotgun party will leave you with a smile ear to ear. Don't miss 'em!!
Westbound Rangers
Hailing from Nashville via North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama and Texas, The Westbound Rangers are forging a new sound that crosses boundaries between Americana, Bluegrass, and Old-Time. The four piece string band, consisting of clawhammer banjo, mandolin, guitar and doghouse bass, has been turning heads since the band’s unassuming start in 2008.
Jesse McReynolds
Mandolin stylist known for his musical wizardry, songwriting, singing and arranging. A member of the award-winning brother duo, Jim & Jesse until Jim’s death in 2002. Grand Ole Opry member for more than 45 years. Has performed throughout Europe and Africa, as well as in the U.S. Multiple Grammy nominee and winner. Co-winner of the IBMA Instrumental Recording, "Mandolin Extravaganza". Nominated in 2005 for IBMA Instrumental Recording of the Year for his stellar collection of mostly original songs, "Bending the Rules." Currently celebrating his 63rd Anniversary in music!
The G2 Bluegrass Band
In a few years the name G2 will be synonymous with European bluegrass. The five band members, best friends since they met while jamming at a festival in their native Sweden four years ago, have formed the most exciting bluegrass band ever to come out of Europe. With one album under their belts, another in the works, and plans to tour extensively in the United States, G2 is poised to make a mark on the bluegrass world.
Rodney Dillard
The folks of Salem, Missouri, listening to Rodney Dillard pick songs as a child, had little idea the prominent role he would play in music history in later years. Rodney began his career as a part of a family group that performed at fairs, pie suppers and square dances -- a career that has spanned, so far, 40 years of creating and influencing great music.
The Whites
"There's nothing like playing music to bring a family together," says Sharon White, but that's not exactly right; over 30 years have shown that the music of The Whites - sisters, Sharon and Cheryl, and father Buck - has just as much power to bring audiences together in a feeling that resembles that of one giant, extended family.
Sierra Hull
A good chunk of popular music’s real estate has been carved up along lines of age these last half-dozen decades, and we’re used to seeing young musicians aim exclusively for young audiences then flounder as they outgrow teenaged listeners’ tastes and concerns. Pan-generational mentoring and mingling has done much to insulate bluegrass from this coming-of-age quandary. Still, Sierra Hull is the rare soul to make it through these years entirely unscathed.
The Farewell Drifters
Echo Boom, the band’s third album, displays a growing maturity both musically and thematically, as the band considers the pressures and expectations placed on their generation by the previous one, and the ramifications of some of the vague self-actualization advice passed on by the boomers to their latchkey kids. “We were told by our parents that we could do anything we wanted, and though there’s an amazing freedom in that, a lot of my generation needed more direction,” says singer and guitar player Zach Bevill. Joshua Britt (mandolin/vocals) adds, “We were told to ‘Just Do It,’ but a lot of my friends are like, do what exactly? There is a lot of uncertainty about whether the lives we’re leading are going to get us anywhere.” That sentiment is expressed in “Punchline,” the lead track from Echo Boom. Britt, who wrote the song, juxtaposes earnest seriousness (“I don’t know what it is that fills my head with doubt/I just wanna shine the light that’s trying to get out/But it takes so long/And it’s always a process/And I can’t find the patience”) with the idea that life for his generation often seems like some cosmic joke, and that success is akin to successfully delivering a punchline. The chorus ends with the plea to “Let me deliver, let me deliver.”
The Rockin' Acoustic Circus
With hearts in traditional music and heads in the 21st century, Rockin’ Acoustic Circus points toward a fresh direction for acoustic music. Sharing their passion with impressive musical prowess and boundary pushing style,eir unique vibe of original work, appeals to a wide audience of both traditional and progressive fans alike.
Bobby Bare Jr.
Nominated for a grammy at the age of 6 years old for a duet with his dad called "daddy what if"-written by Shel Silverstein - has a degree in psychology from the UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE - is VERY afraid of elves - made 2 albums for Immortal Records with his band BARE JR. one for sony records in 1998 and one for virgin records in 2001- born in Nashville, TN june 28, 1966- has 2 children -- believes that blue is a flavor and not a color nor a feeling--- has made 3 albums and 1 ep for BLOODSHOT RECORDS since 2003- co-produced his dad's last record THE MOON WAS BLUE in 2006- grew up in HENDERSONVILLE, TN with George Jones and Tammy Wynette as his next door neighbors- is only making music in the hopes of getting one step closer to his ultimate dream of being STEVEN PATRICK MORRISSEY'S personal bicycle mechanic- has toured with- DR. DOG, THE WALKMEN, THE DECEMBERISTS, THE BLACK CROWES, BOB DYLAN, AREOSMITH, MY MORNING JACKET, CENTRO-MATIC, THE BOTTEL ROCKETS, THE DRIVE BY TRUCKERS, ANDREW BIRD, and THE OLD 97's has
Bryan Sutton
Bryan Sutton seemed to come out of nowhere as part of Ricky Skaggs' return to bluegrass in 1997. Bluegrass Unlimited's review of Bluegrass Rules! took special note of his "spellbinding solos...[which] establish him as a musician who bears close scrutiny," while an appearance on Tina Adair's Just You Wait And See (Sugar Hill) led another reviewer to call him "a guitarist to be reckoned with." All in all, it was a remarkable welcome for a young musician.
Gary Morris
Morris' voice is the only instrument needed to move the listener's heart and soul. He is probably best known for his original recording of "Wind Beneath My Wings," which won both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music Song of the Year Awards. At the height of his Nashville recording career, Morris boldly opted to play opposite Linda Ronstadt in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Puccini's opera La Boheme. Next, he accepted the heroic lead role of Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables," on Broadway. Receiving resounding critical praise, including a Drama Desk Best Actor nomination, his performance set the standard for this challenging role. Morris' famous rendition of "Bring Him Home" can be found on the platinum-selling Grammy Award-winning International cast album, as well as on his latest CD, "Gospel Classics, Volume 2 - Rock of Ages."
Matt King
I hate bios, there's plenty of fabricated, fornicated stuff out there if you wanna go root around for it. I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina. I worked in a goldsmith shop and an auction company growing up. I came up at the feet of honest to God mountain people singing bluegrass music about dying and losing lovers. My dad told me stories about our family killing people, killing each other and the generalities that go along with a family of bootlegers, preachers and splintered women. I didn't think it was fashionable to talk about those things and then one day the apostles of suburbia began making up songs about how cool it was, then took it to the people and sang it to 'em. - I don't know about that. These are my stories, I try to be as honest as a liar and a thief knows how to be, I hope you find some threads of truth in here. I like rocks too, I root around in the banks and ditches, dumpsters and dirt every chance I can. Books are nice, I read 'em a lot. I always wanted to be a magician, I guess it's a fine line between Houdini and a Hootenanny. Prime numbers drive me crazy, taking apart stuff really gets me going, and a fresh dumpster in a hoity-toity part of town, well, forget it, I'm going diving. That's me, enjoy
Cary Hudson
Cary Hudson first became recognized as a pioneer of a new music movement in the late eighties while joined in songwriting partnership with John Stiratt (WILCO) in The Hilltops, an alt-country band born out of Mississippi. When Stiratt left The Hilltops to play bass in Uncle Tupelo and then Wilco, Cary Hudson formed the widely-popular Blue Mountain that captured critical acclaim and gained cult status among its followers. After enjoying a long and successful run, and several popular releases on Roadrunner Records, Blue Mountain disbanded and Cary Hudson embarked on his solo career in 2001. With his solo releases, Cary Hudson has perfected the roots rock-n-roll tradition in a new, stripped down, grittier style that returns roots rock to its roots. His releases and performances have been well-received by both critics and fans alike, proving that Cary Hudson can transition from pioneer to powerful solo songwriter and musician. His solo releases continue to redefine the music that launched a movement.
Megan McCormick
Megan McCormick always knew her life lay in music. It wasn’t a matter of fancy costumes or the notion of thousands of people clamoring for her attention. The girl who grew up in Alaska – and whose grandparents are in the Western Swing Hall of Fame – could feel it on a cellular level.
Derek Hoke
Derek Hoke has said goodbye to rock n roll. Kind of. At least thats what he sings in the opening lines of his new solo debut album, Goodbye Rock N Roll. But Derek, what oh what, did rock n roll ever do to you to make you leave her so? The story might end on the streets of Nashville for now, but his love affair with music, even his erstwhile love rock n roll, began long ago amongst the South Carolina country side and Hee-Haw reruns on Sunday evenings.
Dale Watson
Dale Watson isn't one to uphold the music industry's status quo. He's moving forward on his own terms and true to his own convictions. Even with frequent proclamations declaring him one of country music's last authentic voices (like that in Crazy Again--a recent documentary on Watson's life--when a fan declares, "son, you play country like country was when country was country"), Watson is done with the "C" word and what it's come to represent in modern times. So much so that he's created his own genre, simply called Ameripolitan. In a recent posting on his website (www.dalewatson.com), Dale explains it like this: "I've been trying to come up with a name the best describes this music that me and folks similar do. When folks ask, I hesitate, down right embarrassed really, to say country. I didn't used to be that way, but with the change in country, the term doesn't mean the same as it used to. If you say traditional, or old, or western swing most folks think 'retro' and dismiss it without hearing it. I wanted a name that didn't say country anything and didn't give anyone a preconceived idea. I came up with Ameripolitan. I even put it in Wikipedia defined as: Original music with 'prominent' roots influence." And so it goes with Dale Watson, the kind of unparalleled iconoclast that's far too rare in music today.
Suzi Ragsdale
Nashville native, Suzi Ragsdale virtually cut her teeth in the recording studio. Her dad a singer/songwriter as well, she grew up surrounded by music. At age 5, she sang with the kiddie chorus on her father Ray Stevens’ Grammy Award winning smash, “Everything Is Beautiful”. At 10, she began recording children’s albums and writing her own songs… by 13, she was singing other writers’ demos… & by 17 singing in local clubs.
Kara Clark
Kara Clark is a storyteller. It’s all about reality for Kara. Whether her songs were penned from actual personal experience or the stories she heard her mother telling her friends over the kitchen table, you will hear the validity of truth in the words and music that are Kara Clark. Each song unravels the events of a captivating tale that will leave you hanging on every word to find out what happens next. Whether good, bad, or just plain and simple honesty, her words will remind you that life is always believable and definitely much more interesting than anything that can be made up! No fairytales for Kara, only truth. No dressed up lies, only honesty in its rawest form. Refusing to sugarcoat reality, Kara Clark is honest, bold and real. With one line, slipped in at a most conspicuous spot, she can bring you face to face with your own reality. Kara Clark is a gifted storyteller.
The Infamous Stringdusters
The Infamous Stringdusters are at the forefront of a new movement in bluegrass music. Their unmatched virtuosity has enabled them to take acoustic music to a completely new level. They wield an expansive repertoire touching on masters from Jimmy Martin to John Hartford, but their strength lies in their original compositions. Dedication to arrangements sets them apart and extended improvisation makes every performance completely unique. The live Stringdusters experience is antiformulaic, groove friendly, and mind‐expanding ‐ not your granddaddy's bluegrass. Unless your granddaddy was Jerry Garcia.
Barry Scott & Second Wind
Since the beginning of his musical journey at the age of seven, Barry Scott has served his time with several of Bluegrass and Gospel musics best known acts. This Georgia native has been a member of The Perry’s, The Dixie Melody Boys, Gold City Quartet, and most recently a nine year tour as tenor and lead vocalist with Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver.
Chris Jones and The Nightdrivers
Chris Jones is no newcomer to the musical spotlight. His resume includes appearances and recordings with some of the world’s most respected musicians including The Chieftains (he was featured on their 2003 U.S. tour), Earl Scruggs, Vassar Clements, Lynn Morris Band, April Verch Band, the McCarters and the award-winning quartet Weary Hearts, among others. He has performed as a sideman at the Grand Ole Opry and has been seen on such television shows as Conan O’Brien, Emeril Live, and The Grand Ole Opry Live. Jones’ collaboration with legendary country singer/songwriter Tom T. Hall led to the release of the duet “Man On The Side Of The Road” from Chris’ “Just a Drifter” album, which became one of the Top 5 airplay bluegrass songs of 2001. Most recently, he appeared in the PBS series “The Appalachians” as a both a performer and commentator.
Gabriel Kelley
Raised in the foothills of the Appalachians, Gabriel Kelley grew up in a rustic space out of time, steeped in the music of his forefathers. In his world, contra dances, pickin' parties and neighborly bluegrass were no anachronism. As a child, Kelley picked up the guitar and quickly became versed in the various styles of old-time players and songwriters surrounding his youth. So when he began writing and creating his own sounds, Americana wasn't a chosen genre or format. It was, simply, music.
Ben Glover
Ben Glover has been compelled to write songs since his mid-teens when he was awoken and unsettled by Bob Dylan. It’s writers whose work contains lyrical richness and who take a poetic approach in exploring the human condition that attract Ben. In his own writing he creates characters so life like that you can almost trace the lines of their face with your finger. Whether it’s the soul-moving melody of “Too Late to Leave Her Alone,” or the worn portrait of a “Full Moon Child,” he crafted images that linger and stir. His words find their way to the deepest place in your soul.
Missy Raines & The New Hip
A beloved figure in bluegrass and a pioneering force in acoustic music, Missy Raines' adventurous musical spirit has always been her compass. Launching her career with experimental bluegrass outfit Cloud Valley, Raines next toured the country with Eddie and Martha Adcock. Soon she was lending her bass skills to the Masters (Adcock, Kenny Baker, Josh Graves and Jesse McReynolds). Raines joined Claire Lynch's popular Front Porch Band, and developed a successful duo with band mate Jim Hurst. Their CDs and live performances pushed the envelope on how much music two people with two acoustic instruments can make. A stint with the Brother Boys opened Raines' eyes to the value of spontaneity and immediacy in her musical approach.
Yarn
Brooklyn-based Americana/Alt-Country band Yarn’s sound owes as much to Gram Parsons and Earl Scruggs as to Jerry Garcia and Exile On Main Street-era Rolling Stones. Following in a fine tradition that includes forward thinking roots bands like The Flying Burrito Brothers and New Riders of The Purple Sage, Yarn weaves roots music idioms into a fresh sound that turns on hipsters and fans of country music alike with technically impressive song-crafting and universal tales from the road of life.
The Coal Men
Some people measure life in years. Dave Coleman measures it in moments. And capturing the impact of a moment is what the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter of The Coal Men set out to do on "Beauty Is a Moment," the band's second full-length release.
Folk Soul Revival
FOLK SOUL REVIVAL is an upbeat, rootsy foursome from the mountains of Appalachia. Based out of Southwest Virginia, these youthful musicians have been playing around the immediate area, for many years individually, and for the last several months in this configuration. Their diversity, creativity and passion is evident among those who have witnessed the boys hone their craft onstage. The band, with their distinct vocal approaches, back-porch instrumentation, haunting three-part harmonies and sheer talent have garnered local success with high profile gigs opening for the likes of guitarist Jason Isbell (of Drive-By Truckers fame), vocalist Justin Townes Earle (Steve Earle’s son), and multi-instrumentalist Chris Janson (fresh off tour with Hank Jr and Lynyrd Skynyrd).
Mary Gauthier
“There’s freedom in knowing that you don’t have to know it all,” she says, “which is why to me, a song should end with a question, not an answer.” It might seem that after six groundbreaking albums of original songs, more than a dozen years of recording and touring around the world, a harvest of music industry awards, and covers of her songs by a roster of great artists – that Mary Gauthier (say it: go-shay) should have a handle on some of the big answers. Yet with each new album, with each new cycle of songs that illuminate her soul, with each old and new set of characters and life changes she introduces, Mary is always ending up with more questions. Where do her people come from and where do they go? How can they find shelter from the storm? What is the truth?
Shannon Whitworth
Over the past several years, Shannon Whitworth’s impact in the world of Americana music has created lofty expectations by fans nationwide. As a founding member of the acclaimed acoustic quartet The Biscuit Burners, Shannon received national praise for her definitive songwriting and captivating voice.
Gypsy Hombres
The acoustic violin/guitar based trio, The Gypsy Hombres, blend traditional jazz with European, South American, and classical music to create a sound unlike any other musical group. The Hombres' repertoire embraces a wide variety of composers and styles; from Brahms and Chopin to George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong to international folk songs, all while retaining the gypsy spirit. But besides just adding their own arrangements and personalities to standards, they are also accomplished composers with several original songs featured on their latest album.
Erika Chambers
Nashville based singer-songwriter, Erika Chambers is a modern roots artist with a nostalgic twist. Relatively new to the music scene, Erika is honored to be a 2 time IBMA showcase songwriter (2007 & 2008) and has had the pleasure of performing with such Americana/ folk inspirations as Leigh Nash, Julie Lee, Drew Holcomb, & Katy Bowser.
Rhonda Vincent & The Rage
To another artist at a similar point in their career, the idea of self-producing a new album, recording it in their own studio, and then releasing it on their own label, would be an unthinkable gamble, fraught with loose ends, complications, and a distracting degree of responsibility. For Rhonda Vincent, however, it is simply the next logical step. Among the most complete and accomplished artists of her generation – in any genre – Vincent was born into a performing family, and from an early age has dedicated herself to understanding and excelling at every element of her craft. She is quick to point out that she is not infallible: in fact, her willingness to take chances and then diligently assess the results afterwards has insured her continuing artistic and professional growth.
The Harpers
Gaylon and Katrina were both raised around music: festivals, church singings and get together's. Katrina was born into the Bob Lewis Family Band from Doniphan, Mo. They traveled the bluegrass circuit for a couple of years upon hiring a young banjo picker named Gaylon Harper while he and Katrina were both seniors in high school. After marrying and making their home in Bunker, Mo. God has blessed them with three very talented children.
Next Best Thing
They didn't grow up playing instruments or singing everyday. Although they traveled thousands of miles and listened to more bluegrass than most people hear in a lifetime --- even BEFORE they were born.
Isaac Moore
The best way to describe this young man is UNBELIEVABLE!!! Isaac is 8yrs old, and sang his first bluegrass song, "Over the Clouds of Glory", at the age of 2 in its entirety. Isaac can remember the words to a song faster than most 20 year olds. Isaac has incredible pitch & loves to sing the songs of Del McCoury, Bill Monroe, Dr. Ralph Stanley, and Flatt & Scruggs. Isaac has that old time sound at age 7 that most Bluegrass singers strive for their entire life!!!! Isaac loves to sing and is ready to go anytime the word bluegrass is mentioned.
Jerry Douglas
Internationally recognized as the world's most renowned Dobro player, Jerry Douglas undoubtedly ranks amongst the top contemporary maestros in American music. Douglas has garnered twelve GRAMMY® Awards and numerous International Bluegrass Music Association awards, and holds the distinction of being named "Musician of the Year" by The Country Music Association (2002, 2005, 2007), The Academy of Country Music (11 times), and The Americana Music Association (2002, 2003). In 2004, the National Endowment for The Arts honored Douglas with a National Heritage Fellowship, acknowledging his artistic excellence and contribution to the nation's traditional arts, their highest such accolade.
Joey + Rory
Often times, Nashville goes to great lengths to sell you on how ‘real’ an artist is. Sometimes they’re not quite as genuine as they are advertised to be…but then again, sometimes they really are.
Mother Truckers
The Mother Truckers are a kick-ass rock 'n' roll band from Austin, Texas! Their music is high-octane Americana, blending elements of Country and Blues with loud guitars, big choruses and powerhouse vocals. Their creative songwriting and high energy live performances lift you up to a place that’s somewhere between a honky-tonk and a mosh-pit!
Frontier Ruckus
We’ve memorized so thoroughly the worlds from which we come. With a lifelong obsession, we’ve catalogued and internalized the apparently permanent fixtures of a cherished locality until our bodies have in fact become either physical extensions or microcosmic containers of these landscapes: arms kinking in unbroken strip-mall chains, gaping mouths mimicking the enormous vacancy of an evacuated sports dome. The chief business of Frontier Ruckus is the collection and organization of these solid, unmoving markers. We spool the vast confusion and depth of existence around fast-food restaurants in anchoring tethers; we use the vacuous space of the abandoned 90s mall, now dead and tomb-like, as leaky reservoirs of overflowing memory. We turn to these devices to render memory and its innumerable landmarks somehow less crippling in their abundance—to seek some agency, some proprietorship over a world as heavy and unwieldy with contents of the past as a backyard filling with nightfall.
John Oates
John Oates was destined to be a musician. Singing from the time he could talk and playing the guitar since the age of five, his calling in life was never in question. Born in New York City, his family moved to a small town outside of Philadelphia Pennsylvania in the early 50's ....a move that would change the course of his life. Like most kids at that time, the impact of the early days of rock left an lasting impression on John. At the age of four he witnessed his first live concert: Bill Haley and the Comets playing their classic rockabilly hits at a local amusement park. Then there were the records...
Jeff Black
A tin lily is just what it says—and much more than it seems. A thin piece of metal shaped in the petals of a delicate flower, it's designed to take a soft glow, often from a candle, and give it more shine. It's a hard element that does what it can to spread something as ethereal yet as essential as light.
Brian McGee
Having spent his musical adolescence in Pennsylvania playing in punk rock bands, Brian McGee is not the most natural figurehead for a movement of new Americana rock. But after living in Western North Carolina for the last ten years and absorbing the sounds and culture of the region, McGee has milled a new angle into his songwriting palette and taken to fusing his punk rock heritage to raw country sounds. Once it became obvious to him that Iggy Pop and The Carter Family played the same three chords, McGee was off and running.
The Ragbirds
Led by dynamic, energetic front woman and multi-instrumentalist Erin Zindle, The Ragbirds utilize an arsenal of instruments from around the world. The Ragbirds are a fusion of folk rock and pop hooks over danceable world rhythms stirred with a Celtic fiddler’s bow.
J D Crowe
Banjoist J.D. Crowe was one of the most influential progressive bluegrass musicians of the '70s. Initially influenced by Earl Scruggs, as well as rock & roll and the blues, Crowe worked his way through several bands during the '60s, developing a distinctive instrumental style that melded country, bluegrass, rock, and blues. Crowe didn't receive national exposure until the early '70s when he formed the New South, but after the release of the band's eponymous debut in 1972 he became a fixture on the bluegrass scene for the next 20 years.
Jennifer Niceley
"After some years spent in Nashville and releasing two recordings --- 2004's Seven Songs EP and 2007's full length Luminous--- I moved away from the city and found my way back into country life. Back to the family farm in East Tennessee just outside of Knoxville, where I was born and raised. I came back without knowing what the hell I was doing or why, didn't know how long I would stay, if music was just a dream, if I would ever write a song I liked again, and also wondering: does the world even need any more "singer-songwriters"?
Manda Mosher
“Here in the city of clowns, is where it all goes down” Not many can claim they are a sixth generation Californian, let alone Angeleno. Manda Mosher can. Still what does that mean? It’s not as easily defined as saying you are a sixth generation New Yorker, or Bostonian for that matter. Manda’s first ancestor to settle in the region, came to Downtown, Los Angeles in the 1800’s from Delhi, New York after the Civil War, additional family followed establishing a chicken farm in the Valley in 1911.
Madison Violet
Both hailing from Scottish small towns in Canada, Brenley MacEachern and Lisa MacIsaac have chosen another musical path; one that channels their parent’s vintage record collection that comprised of the likes of Neil Young and Dolly Parton. Madison Violet came to be nearly 9 years ago after a chance meeting at an appropriately titled restaurant 'The Green Room'. Since that fateful meeting, the pair have come into a sound of their own, which has been described as both city-folk and tumbleweed pop.
Stonehoney
On their debut album The Cedar Creek Sessions, the Austin, Texas-based quartet Stonehoney delivers a bracing set of 14 original tunes that effortlessly transcend genre restrictions, merging rootsy grit with savvy melodic hooks and pointed lyrical insight. The foursome’s catchy tunes are matched by their seamless vocal harmonies and punchy ensemble performances, which make the most of the band members’ remarkable musical rapport and personal chemistry.
Joe Diffie with Special guests Newfound Road
"I always had in mind to do a bluegrass album someday," says Joe Diffie. "It was something I wanted from the first day that I got my country deal." And while he might not be the first to say that, it not only has the ring of truth when you hear it straight from the man himself, it’s got a lifetime’s worth of bluegrass roots and connections to back it up. In fact, the most surprising thing about the translation of that thought into reality - and given the way that the country music industry has kept bluegrass at arms length, it’s not very surprising at all - is that it’s taken this long.
Riders In The Sky
For thirty years Riders In The Sky have been keepers of the flame passed on by the Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, reviving and revitalizing the genre. And while remaining true to the integrity of Western music, they have themselves become modern-day icons by branding the genre with their own legendary wacky humor and way-out Western wit, and all along encouraging buckaroos and buckarettes to live life "The Cowboy Way!" Riders In The Sky are exceptional not just in the sense that their music is of superlative standards (they are the ONLY exclusively Western artist to have won a Grammy, and Riders have won two), but by the fact that their accomplishments are an exception to the rule as well.
The Huntley Sisters
The Huntley Sisters have played at Silver Dollar City Bluegrass & BBQ in Branson, Missouri the last 3 years and will be there in May, 2010! We played Dollywood's BBQ & Bluegrass in 2008. We played The Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009. Tori and Kevin did an instrument demo at The Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
Ben Cameron
“Ben Cameron possesses two of my favorite new voices. He sings with one and writes with the other. And now he's made an album worthy of praise and envy.” – Peter Cooper, The Tennessean
The Howling Brothers
With a whoop and yell, Raised in the backwoods of America brought up in the alleyways of country and blues, and living gumbo of American roots music!! The Howling Brothers are an American band through and through from down right dirty blues to the most breathe taking vocals the brothers keep audiences on their heels. Taking America by storm they've gathered a large local following, night after night non bluegrass fans stop to take another look at what might just be the most hard working band in the business.
Julie Gribble
It just comes naturally for Julie Gribble, writing, singing, and performing. But what she loves most is to inspire, to reach people with her music. With her Traditional Americana/Country Music, Gribble has entranced audiences with her modern stories of life, love and relationships. When you think about the edge of an artist like Lucinda Williams, the melodies of Allison Krauss, and a likeness to Natalie Merchant, you'll find Julie. Audiences connect immediately to the unique lyrics because they’re not the same old love clichés. As Craig Ferguson said, on his show about her record, So Typical, "It's Fantastic!"
Elio and The Hank Sinatra Band
Elio and The Hank Sinatra band are making fans around the world and now is your chance to be part of a musical movement that is taking the music industry by storm. Don't miss this chance to be a part of music history. Elio and Hank Sinatra Band.
The Secret Sisters
The Secret Sisters’ incredible story is as simple and true as the effortless harmonies that got them here. Begin anywhere – the thick and fertile brambles of their own family history (their grandfather and his brothers actually forged a group called ‘The Happy Valley Boys’) or light upon the branches of the wondrous, fractal menagerie that makes up their debut album (a guileless, rapturous mixture of roots-ified pop that includes classics like “Why Don’t Ya Love Me?” and “Why Baby Why”). The pure goldenrod from a pair of Alabama sisters direct from Mussel Shoals (barely twenty-somethings themselves) dare to cover the Sinatra untouchable “Something Stupid,” one minute, and deliver their own self-penned, soon-to-be signature anthem “Tennessee Me,” the next.
Anna Johnson
A girl who makes music from the deepest part of her heart. It's intentionally simple so people feel what she feels. Effortless. Beautiful. No unnecessary words. No unnecessary flash. Lyrics and music from her soul to yours. Alison Krauss meets pop meets Norah Jones meets something honest and true.
John Carter Cash
John Carter Cash has been in music in some form or fashion all his life. He is a singer-song writer and record producer. He is the Grandchild of Maybelle Carter and the only son to Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. He preserves the family legacy and is caretaker to the heritage of his musical ancestors.
Catie Curtis
The vivid songwriting of Catie Curtis combines insightful lyrics with addictive melodies and energy. Catie's recordings (released on EMI, Rykodisc, Vanguard and Compass), engaging live shows and impressive touring career (in the US and Europe) have earned her rave reviews and wide recognition. Her songs have been featured on Dawson's Creek, Felicity, Alias, Chicago Hope, and Grey's Anatomy, as well as in several independent films. She's toured extensively with Mary Chapin Carpenter and with the original Lilith Fair. Catie was named grand prize winner of the International Songwriting Competition, for her song "People Look Around", co-written with Mark Erelli. In January 2009 performed at the Human Rights Campaign's official Obama inaugural ball. In 2010, she performed at the White House. Catie is recording a brand new CD of new material in January, which will be released in the summer of 2011.
Rayland Baxter
Rayland Baxter is a gentleman, a singer of song, a teller of tale, a picker of strings, a thinker of things. Born in the untamed hills of Bon Aqua, Tennessee, he tells a story unlike any other, a story that is true and full of unravelling emotion. No lines drawn, no box to be found in the world of Rayland Baxter. He is who he is and he tells the unmatched story. Wether it be the story of love, the story of struggle, or the story of joy, the road that he travels is full of dust and flowers, fire and ice, comets and dreams, and he walks with stars in his eyes, leaving the scent of wild magnolias for those on his trail...for us, we are fortunate to find him at the end, smilin. Tradition is a staple in Rayland's music. In any given song, one can hear the nuances of his favorites...from Dylan to Van Zandt, Johnson to Hopkins, or anyone else on the musical map that has tickled his fancy at one time or another. His reconstruction of song is mesmorizing in its own right...a true artist...a humble man...a dreamer.
Angaleena Presley
Born and raised in Beauty, Kentucky, I'm a true product of Appalachia. I love biscuits, gravy, dirt bikes, overalls, bluegrass, bonfires, burnt rubber, quilts, afghans, mason jars, moonshine, mud, and family. My uncle Bobby was an outlaw musician with an amazing voice and style all his own. I remember sitting on Mamaw's front porch soaking up his versions of songs like "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", "Sixteenth Avenue", "Almost Persuaded", and "Sugar Mountain". My Daddy, who was a coal miner for thirty years, showed me how to play "Mamma Tried" when I was sixteen. I've been plucking away and writing songs ever since. My mom took Willie and Waylon's advice. Determined not to let her baby grow up to be a cowboy, she sent me to a community college right out of high school. Despite her efforts, I was drawn to music and knew in my heart that it was my destiny. I used to skip class and take my guitar up to Butcher Holler. I'd sit there at Loretta's home place and write songs, dream, and will myself to Nashville, TN. Mom eventually got her way and I wound up graduating from Eastern Kentucky University with a degree in Psychology. However, one year out of school, I packed up everything I owned and moved to Music City, U.S.A. I began playing writers nights, and to my sweet surprise, I signed a publishing deal nine months after I moved to town. I'm still a staff writer with the company that gave me my first deal.
Jompson Brothers
Born in the garage, built for the arena, and hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, The Jompson Brothers are a new breed of Rock ‘n’ Roll. They’re a riff-driven, fist-pumping sonic assault fronted by Grammy-nominated vocalist, Chris Stapleton. JT Cure (bass) and Bard McNamee (drums) provide the tight, chest-thumping back line while Greg McKee brings the lead guitar swagger. Their first studio album is expected to be released in the fall of 2010.
Darin And Brooke Aldridge
Darin and Brooke Aldridge are beautiful young newlyweds who sing and play a rich combination of bluegrass, bluegrass gospel, and country duets certain to please fans on any stage or festival, church or concert hall. Their fine harmony work showcases two fine individual voices which blend to perfection, and they are backed by perfect instrumentation.
Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen
A Third-Generation Californian with deep roots in the Cowboy history of the American West, Chris Hillman was born in Los Angeles, California on December 4, 1944. Hillman spent his early years on his family’s ranch home in then rural North San Diego County “riding horses, and doing ranch chores”. His interests would soon change from spurs and saddles to guitars and mandolins.
Tom Mason
Tom Mason is a true renaissance man. Life is a department store and Tom Mason is running up and down the aisles filling his pockets. A fine guitarist, a sizzling slide player and multi-instrumentalist, a seasoned actor, and a passionate songwriter, Mason is above all an entertainer, eager to share his lust for life every time he straps on a guitar or hits the stage.. Since arriving in Nashville in 1993, Mason has not only established himself as a favorite in nightclubs and studios, he’s also become a sought after actor in theater and film. With his new CD Alchemy, Tom Mason draws on all his talents to create a work filled with magic. For this Music City Roots performance, he’ll be playing songs from his instrumental holiday CD “A Slide Guitar Christmas”.
Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike
When it comes to making music, there’s nothing wrong with playing by the rules, but that’s never been the right way for Valerie Smith. While the energetic singer/songwriter knows and respects the tried and true ways of bluegrass—and knows the penalties that can follow a departure from them—she’s held fast to one simple rule of her own: “I sing from my heart,” she says. “I do my own thing.” And today, a dozen years after her first album and on the eve of the release of her latest, she can look back with pride at a musical path that’s all her own, even as she looks ahead to the next dozen with the confidence of a seasoned artist who’s built a devoted following in the best way it can be done—just by being herself.
Jason D Williams
Son of Hank & Marie Williams, Jason began playing the piano at the age of three. After many youthful years of playing, without any formal training, Jason headed down the road of success at 18.
My Name Is John Michael
In late 2007, New Orleanian John Michael Rouchell decided it was time for a change in his life. He set out to write, record, and release one song a week for the entire year of 2008 under the name MyNameIsJohnMichael (MNIJM). What began as a solo project with Rouchell tackling every instrument and even engineering duties on occasion soon grew to the huge project it is today with an ever-expanding following.
The David Mayfield Parade
Leaving the 1956 Flex tour bus David Mayfield and his family called home to start his nightly shift at the tool and die along side his father it’s easy to understand why he celebrates every performance he’s afforded.
Abigail Washburn
"A daring, definite talent, whose feel for the folk idiom results in moving material. Soulful is the word"-- Wall Street Journal "Washburn stomped and skipped through fiery Appalachian takes on the local songs of Sichuan. Her bilingualism's no gimmick; she nails the dips and peaks of pitch while leading her band in scorching variations on simple, repetitive traditional melodies…” – L.A. Times
The Defibulators
The DEFiBULATORs have emerged as one of the most engaging live acts from the thriving roots scene in Brooklyn, NY – melding, bluegrass rockabilly, dixieland, and punk into their own eclectic sound.
Last Train Home
"One of the country's most formidable roots-rock bands." That's the assessment of Nashville's Tennessean newspaper about Last Train Home. And while roots-rock is at the heart of LTH's sound, don't overlook the country, bluegrass, swing, blues, folk, pop, and Tin Pan Alley influences you'll find if you lend this band an ear. What began as a part-time band in Washington D.C. back in 1997 has evolved into an acclaimed full-time touring group based out of Nashville.
Jo-El Sonnier
The music of Jo-El Sonnier is a way of life. Steeped in passion, relentlessly committed to his craft … he has been the undisputed "King of Cajun" for the past 20 years and occupies a significant place in the rich artistic landscape of this country. His fans are undeniably dedicated, while the music industry elite - Dylan, Costello, Diamond, and Cash to name a few - admire his work to no end. He is a "musician's musician" with a wonderful gift to sing and entertain you in a way often imitated but never duplicated.
Dana Romanello and 1925
A fourth generation musician, Dana Romanello began singing with her family’s bluegrass band in Lucasville, Ohio at a very young age. With her sweet blend of bluegrass and the spark of classic country female songwriters, Dana has developed her own original style audiences know and love – something she likes to call “Sassy Grass”. Along with her career as a singer/songwriter, she is also the manager of country programming for Citadel Media and the host of ACC TV Around Town for American Country Countdown with Kix Brooks. She is a former Tennessee Titans Cheerleader and graduate of Marshall University. Dana released her self-titled debut album in 2008 and recently released a digital EP and live DVD titled “Porch Swing Sessions,” available at iTunes, courtesy of 1925 Entertainment.
Ron Sexsmith
Ron Sexsmith is a major contemporary writer/artist who has amassed a sizable and consistently enthralling body of work since making his major label debut in 1995 with his self-titled album on Interscope, followed by such eloquent musical gems as Other Songs (1997), Blue Boy (2001), Retriever (2004) and Time Being (2006). Each has its own particular character but is connected to the rest by the overarching intelligence, impeccable taste and understated emotionality of this single-minded voice in the pop-cultural wilderness. As one new fan put it in a comment on iTunes, Sexsmith’s music “wins you over with a silk punch.” Well put.
Kevin Welch
Kevin now resides in a log cabin in some woods outside of Austin, Texas, and is getting ready to hit the road behind a brand new record called "A Patch Of Blue Sky".
Dehlia Low
Emerging out of Asheville, North Carolina's roots renaissance, Dehlia Low echoes the sounds of early country with a strong bluegrass flavor, crafting a fresh originality that feels like home. Beginning in 2007, the group developed a devoted fan base with the help of their self-titled EP, receiving national and international reviews and radio play. In 2009, Dehlia Low released "Tellico," showcasing the group's exceptional songwriting talent and outstanding vocal and instrumental performances. They traveled across the U.S. on the national festival circuit in support of the release, including appearances at Appalachian Uprising, Pickathon, Jammin' at Hippie Jack's, Durango Meltdown and Bristol Rhythm & Roots.
The Coal Porters
Formed in Los Angeles during the last century, as so many things were, the Coal Porters were originally an electric act centred around ex-Long Ryder Sid Griffin, composer of the Long Ryders 1985 hit single “Looking For Lewis And Clark”.
Lissy Rosemont & The Junior League Band
The Junior League Band is an old-time inspired rock band fronted by the Georgia grown banjo, vocalist, Lissy Rosemont. Based out of Washington, DC, this nationally touring band has been compared to "Alison Krauss and the Band" by the Washington Post, and touts Levon Helm's own horn players on their catchy single "South Carolina Blues." Rosemont has been referred to as one of the "most promising up and coming vocalists on the Americana scene" (Bristol Rythm and Roots Festival) as well as recorded in the studio her old-time banjo with acts such as Missy Elliott and the Pussy Cat Dolls. Rosemont's family runs the oldest fiddler's festival in the country, the Old-Time Fiddler's Convention in Union Grove, NC. The 5 instrumentalists merge these influences with delta blues and pop rock (50's to Indie Rock) to make for an energetic, sing-song, string heavy, danceable yet mesmerizing live performance. Expect a show ripe with catchy melodies, toe tapping beats, sweet vocals, and some of the countries most talented up and coming players.
Spirit Family Reunion
Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, with roots firmly planted somewhere further south, SPIRIT FAMILY REUNION have comfortably lodged themselves in a niche lying somewhere between the protest stylings of Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, and the untamed bluegrass of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Tearing through songs off their self released as well as self sold EP/songbook, they had every soul in the small room stomping, clapping and singing along to their energetic brand of Americana. With the swagger of a man twice his age, the lead vocalist’s ability to control a room is an extremely rare and very much welcomed attribute to this generally tamed genre. With lyrics containing subject matter including God, the Devil, hard living and of love lost, they never stray too far from the road laid out years ago on that end, but maintain a constant ability to keep everything fresh and modern with the energy in which they put it on display.
Bailey Cooke
Bailey Cooke is a emerging artist in the Americana music scene. After spending a few years in Nashville and recording her first E.P, she has established herself as a new voice amongst singer songwriters and country/folk musicians. Her style incorporates influences from early country 78s and current life experiences. Her love for old music comes through her songwriting as she continues and write and perform. She looks forward to releasing her new record in January in which she has collaborated with musicians such as Beau Stapleton of Blue Merle, and David Mayfield of Cadillac Sky.
The Doobie Brothers
There’s no separating the unparalleled legacy of the Doobie Brothers from their upcoming release on HOR Records World Gone Crazy – not that anyone would want to. Nevertheless, the new album may be most remarkable for the extent to which it stands completely on its own. Yes, World Gone Crazy is another chapter in one of the great American music stories, but it’s neither comeback nor nostalgia. An exhibition of aggressive and emotional performances, evocative storytelling, unapologetic attitude and world class musicianship, the collection is its own justification.
Leo Rondeau and Dynamite Tales
Nominated for songwriter of the year in 2010 by the Academy of Texas Music, North Dakota native turned Austin, Texan; Leo Rondeau is firing up audiences after grabbing the torch from the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Doug Sahm and other ghosts of Texas music past. From honkytonks to indie clubs, hipsters to cowboys, Rondeau’s sound hooks them all. With five successful national tours under the tires, two critically acclaimed albums and a third on the horizon, Rondeau with his band, Dynamite Tales, have garnered the attention of the music world.
John Francis
Born in New York City and raised in rural Pennsylvania, John Francis started to show his musical gifts at an early age. The Gospel and Folk music of his upbringing happened on Sunday mornings swaying with the church choir, or at home gathered around the family piano with his mother at the helm. The son of musicians, and Christian ministers, Francis grew up playing music with his parents, in front of crowds. As a young child, John Francis was entranced by his father's Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and his mother's Neil Young, Dylan, and Sly & the Family Stone. He recalls, "the first cassette I owned was 'Chuck Berry's Greatest Hits', and I wore that cassette out quickly".
Mojo Gurus
The argument has been made that rock ‘n’ roll is dead. Well, if it is the Mojo Gurus are refusing to attend the funeral. These four guys from the Tampa Bay area of Florida play as if the burden of saving the genre lay square upon their shoulders. It’s bourbon soaked, gut bucket, glam meets twang, the Stones pick up Hank Williams hitchhikin’ down the Lost Highway. What’s that? Do I feel a pulse?
Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen
Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen play a wide variety of New Acoustic American Roots Music focusing on bluegrass and acoustic country, yet blues, folk, swing, and jazz also shine through as influences. Powerful vocal harmonies, expressive songwriting, smooth ballads, and instrumental prowess lend this versatile group of musicians to any type of venue. Each member is an inventive powerhouse.
Allen Thompson
Some folks’ paths are determined for them before they are old enough to wonder what their paths should be. Such is the case with Allen Thompson. Thompson has been singing and telling stories for longer than he can remember. Judging by the responses to his albums and live performances, he won’t be stopping anytime soon.
The Waymores
Grammy Award winner Don Henry’s songs have been recorded by Ray Charles, Patti Page, Conway Twitty, Kathy Mattea and dozens of other great artists… but they shine brightest when sung by the artist who wrote them. Long appreciated as one of Nashville’s finest singer-songwriters, Don is revered by fans, critics and peers alike for being one of the most inspiring, entertaining and funny(!) artists you are ever likely to see and hear.
Suzy Bogguss
“You can’t deal me the aces and think I wouldn’t play,” says Suzy Bogguss with a twinkle in her eye as she discusses her latest studio album Sweet Danger. It’s a line from one of her signature songs, but it’s also the philosophy with which the Illinois-born singer manages her career, and the stepping-off point for a collection of her strongest songwriting and most evocative vocals to date.
Camille Cortinas
Born in Dallas, Texas, Camille Cortinas’ earliest musical influence came in the form of her grandmother, a migrant farm worker who taught Camille wonderful Spanish folk songs that enchanted her and set her on a musical path. For her 16th birthday, she received her first guitar and pleaded with her older brother to teach her to play.
Amy Speace
“Amy Speace sounds uncannily like a 21st Century Joan Baez, her timbred voice full of genuine emotions…the record soars with salient vocals and poetic lyrics,” writes The Classic Rock Examiner in its review of Nashville singer-songwriter Amy Speace’s third album, Land Like A Bird (Thirty Tigers). After releasing two well-received albums on Judy Collins’ Wildflower Records, Bird is Speace’s first record since migrating south from her longtime home in the NYC area
Buffalo Clover
Buffalo Clover is a rare plant that grows in the wake of stampeding buffalo. It is also the name of one of Nashville's most eclectic bands. Fronted by songstress Margo Price, the group draws its inspiration from true roots music. Price and her husband/co-writer, Jeremy Ivey, formed the band after meeting in Nashville in 2008. Their styles range from underdog gypsy punk to Motown boxcar blues, Vaudevillian acid rock to train wreck folk. Their songs are unique yet familiar with a lyrical craft rarely present in popular music.
Hymn For Her
Lucy Tight & Wayne Waxing are "Hymn For Her", a band that hails from anywhere they can park their trailer. H4H live, tour and record in their 16 foot, 1961 Bambi Airstream (comes with dog and baby). Their new release, 'Lucy & Wayne and THE AMERICAN STREAM' was entirely recorded in their classic trailer on a coast to coast U.S tour. They stopped at various campgrounds and friends driveways between shows, set up their gear in their Bambi/home recording studio, rolled tape and rocked out. Armed with 2 bullet mics, a three-stringed broom handle/cigar box, banjo, dobro, bass drum, hi-hat, and harp, this 'lil duo causes massive earthquakes wherever they play.
Joey Morant & Friends
Joey Morant is a native Charlestonian, brass instrumentalist and vocalist. He is the quintessential trumpeter from the Jenkins Orphanage band tradition of the 1950s. At the age of eleven, inspired by the piano, he became interested in classical music. When Fletcher Linton, a teacher at Charleston’s Henry P. Archer Elementary School, put a school band together, Morant began studying the trumpet. A generous benefactor, recognizing his talent, arranged for him to spend the summers of his high school years studying theory at the Berklee School of Music. By age fifteen, Morant was teaching theory and saxophone to Oscar Rivers. Later, Joey joined the Metronome All Starts under the direction of music educator, Melvin Hodges, Jr., a member of the 1996 Olympic Committee.
Brian Wright
For Brian Wright, life as a traveling troubadour began in McLennan County, Texas near the highway and the trains. That is where his father took a job that required a great deal of travel, making the family VW van Wright’s first crib. Consequently Wright feels most at home when on the road, and this movement has helped shaped Wright’s sense of bare-boned lyrics and achingly beautiful songs that seem both distant and intimate at the same time.
Scott Miller
Scott Miller blends folk and rock like there ain’t no words for. The power of storytelling with the power of a compressed electric guitar comes through this Virginian not heard since the likes of Wayne Newton (fellow Virginian) or The Statler Brothers (also of the Commonwealth.) Not even since Thomas Jefferson (Virginian) and Woodrow Wilson (another Virginian) formed their rock trio with drummer Stewart Copeland (northern Virginian) “League of Nations”.
Jonathan Edwards
Warm as summer sunshine, real as the truth, intimate as a long overdue visit between old friends … such is a Jonathan Edwards concert. Four decades into a stellar career of uncompromising musical integrity, the man simply delivers, night after night – songs of passion, songs of insight, songs of humor, all rendered in that pure and powerful tenor which, like fine wine, has only grown sweeter with age.
David Vandervelde
David Vandervelde's very clothes were ablaze that day in his Nashville basement. And the only thing that was ever going to put the flames out was laying "Learn How To Hang" to tape. How else does a song so immediate come to be? The repeated mantra of its title, set to an exhilarating, tightly-wound Buckingham-like lick, is just as much Far East philosophy as it is the most serious of stoner advice. It's a self-effacing moment of clarity under the heat of a blowtorch. Same goes for its brother jam, "Wave Country," with its galloping, sunburst metal and inner-bitch-slap hook, "You ain't any cooler in the shade." And how could we, in good conscience, ever sit on songs so immediate for any longer than one red-hot heartbeat? Some jams can't simply be placed on a release schedule months in advance. Songs like these must be loaded in our bow and shot out into the world. Free Download available at www.secretlycanadian.com
The Civil Wars
In some ways, music doesn’t get much more modest or minimalist than it is in the hands of The Civil Wars, a duo comprised of California-to-Nashville transplant Joy Williams and her Alabaman partner, John Paul White. They travel without a backup band, and on their first full-length album, Barton Hollow, the bare-bones live arrangements that fans hear on the road are fleshed out with just the barest of acoustic accoutrements. Each song is an intimate conversation, and no third wheels or dinner-party chatter are going to inter-rupt that gorgeous, haunting hush.
Barry Waldrep
Performing music has been a way of life for Barry Waldrep from the time he was a young boy growing up in the small town of Wedowee, Ala. The multi-talented instrumentalist began playing guitar and mandolin when he was only six years old. He was heavily influenced by his dad, James, an accomplished Bluegrass guitarist, who handed Barry his first guitar. By the time he was eight, he had also learned to play the banjo and joined his dad onstage playing at festivals throughout the South. While touring on the Bluegrass circuit, he met and performed with Bluegrass legend Bill Monroe, known as the Father of Bluegrass.
Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors
Drew Holcomb and the neighbors find themselves in the midst of a creative revival of popular music in Nashville, where artists like Kings of Leon, Jack White, Mat Kearney, and a legion of other national acts have re-invented the reputation of Nashville as a hotbed of music beyond the realm of country. Holcomb and his band have found their own unique niche in this scene, with their 2008 LP, Passenger Seat, and their 2009 EP, live forever, both debuting at #2 on the iTunes singer/songwriter charts. They’ve also had multiple TV placements on shows like NBC’s parenthood, Oprah, Army Wives, The Cleaner, and others, proving that Holcomb’s career has stretched far beyond the TN state limits where he was born and raised.
Andy Friedman
On April 5, 2011, artist and songwriter Andy Friedman will release his third studio album, Laserbeams and Dreams (City Salvage Records). Produced by noted guitarist and producer David Goodrich (Chris Smither, Peter Mulvey), the album was recorded in Friedman’s Brooklyn neighborhood and cut in 24 hours with one overdub and mixed in the studio. Complementing Friedman’s “art-damaged, ragged-but-right” (L.A. Weekly) approach and Goodrich’s restrained, atmospheric lead guitar and piano is rising-star upright bassist and composer Stephan Crump (GRAMMY-nominated Vijay Iyer Trio, Jim Campilongo), whose latest album of “ingenious originals” (The New Yorker), Reclamation (recorded with his Rosetta Trio), NPR spotlighted among its top five jazz albums of 2010. The interplay of Friedman’s “engagingly singular” (Philadelphia Inquirer) songwriting and “slow, lugubrious, dipped in country heartache” (Hartford Advocate) strum with Crump’s “full, appealingly wooden sound” (The New York Times) calls to mind classic collaborations by Van Morrison with bassist Richard Davis on 1968’s Astral Weeks, or John Hartford and Dave Holland on 1972’s Morning Bugle Call — albums also recorded live in the studio without much pre-conceived musical planning. “We captured the mood created,” says Friedman. “It wasn’t our place to second-guess the results.”
Johnson's Crossroad
For Asheville, North Carolina’s Johnson’s Crossroad, 2010 got off to an auspicious start. With boxes of their newly pressed record Blood in Black and White in hand, the band was heading to Mo’Daddy’s for their cd release party when life in Asheville came to a standstill, the town virtually crippled by a snowstorm. Instead of playing to a packed house, Johnson’s Crossroad ushered the new year in by playing for a handful of die hard fans who braved the elements and treacherous roads to make it to the show.
Greensky Bluegrass
Greensky Bluegrass is one of the most exciting bands in today’s roots music scene. This five piece band plays traditional bluegrass instruments and uses them to create original songs and soundscapes that are unique and new, yet somehow feel comfortable and familiar. Though they have been likened to ‘70s era deeply American acts like The Band, Greensky would prefer not to be compared to any other bands. “We really just try to make music as a group that sounds and feels right to us”, says mandolin player Paul Hoffman, later adding that “it is nice to know that other people really dig it, too.”
Don Gallardo
Nashville-based singer/songwriter Don Gallardo (http://www.dongallardo.com) unites the introspective lyrics of Tom Petty, the gritty twang of Steve Earle, and the honey-warm crunch of Ryan Adams, producing a rootsy, personal sound that exists between the boundaries of Americana and mainstream rock. Gallardo's album, Sweetheart Radio Revolution, Etc., is garnered a following from alt-country and Triple A radio stations nationwide with its collection of folk-tinged stories of life and love.
Town Mountain
Imagine the band that occupies the common ground between traditional bluegrass, outlaw country, and pure old time mountain music. A group that harnesses the frantic energy of the modern punk string band, yet still remains respectfully rooted in the tradition of Bill Monroe. Imagine a band with one foot proudly planted in the path of traditional bluegrass, and one foot stepping out into the unknown forefront of American string music.
Uncle Monk
Tommy Ramone began his musical career as Tom Erdelyi an engineer at the Record Plant recording studios. In the musical doldrums of the 70’s he, along with the great JOHNNY, JOEY AND DEE DEE RAMONE, formed the rock group RAMONES and participated in the birth of New Wave, Punk Rock, and Alternative music. As manager, producer and drummer for the band, Tommy Ramone helped create the sound, style and ideology for what was to become modern rock. As an independent record producer Ramone has worked on recordings that include the single, Love Goes to A Building On Fire by TALKING HEADS, and the albums, Neurotica by REDD KROSS, Too Tough To Die by the RAMONES, and Tim by THE REPLACEMENTS, the later voted one of the best albums of the year by the writers of Rolling Stone, Record, The Village Voice, and The LA Times.
Paleface
PALEFACE was schooled by friend Daniel Johnston and soon discovered by the legendary Danny Fields at an New York City Antifolk open mic. He has since released over a dozen records including two major label releases. Paleface has influenced and inspired a wide range of artists including Grammy Award recipients Kimya Dawson and Beck who called Paleface “a big influence on my early work” in Annie Leibovitz's book "American Music.” Paleface's vocals, instrumentation and songrwriting have appeared on three albums by The Avett Brothers. This past Fall, PALEFACE and girlfriend drummer Monica "Mo" Samalot released their new album One Big Party (Ramseur Records), followed by US and Europe tours. Later in the Spring PASTE Magazine premiered a short documentary on Paleface, "Paleface: The Making Of One Big Party", which features an interview with Scott Avett (The Avett Brothers) in which he recounts being “blown away” the first time he met Paleface: “He was barking and singing and just throwing passion out. We were just immediately inspired and ignited by the fire he was throwing.” For more info: http://PalefaceOnline.com
Vance Gilbert
Vance Gilbert burst onto the singer/songwriter scene in the early 90's when the buzz started spreading in the folk clubs of Boston about an ex-multicultural arts teacher and jazz singer who was knocking 'em dead at open mikes. The word spread of this Philadelphia-area born and raised performer to New York; Shawn Colvin invited Vance Gilbert to be a special guest on her Fat City tour. Gilbert took audiences across the country by storm ("With the voice of an angel, the wit of a devil, and the guitar playing of a god, it was enough to earn him that rarity: an encore for an opener" wrote the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in its review of a show from that tour.)
Sydni Perry and Cafe Blue
Sydni Perry began singing with her family bluegrass band when she was eight years old. Just a few short years later, at age fifteen she was recording with country superstar, Patty Loveless, on Grammy nominated "Sleepless Nights" and then again a year later on Grammy winning "Mountain Soul II", during which time she toured with Patty, singing backup and playing twin fiddles with fiddler extrordinaire, Deanie Richardson. She is stepping out on her own now, with her band, Cafe Blue, playing a variety of classic country, bluegrass, jazz, R&B, and original material, all with their own twist. They have performed at a variety of venues around middle Tn. and southern Ky. and are starting to get serious ttention from the Nashville establishment. If you've heard therm before, you know what to expcect. If not, you are in for a treet. You're sure to enjoy an evening with Sydni Perry and Cafe Blue.
Gurf Morlix
Tempting as it may be, don't just judge Gurf Morlix by the company he keeps, even if it does provide a fine starting point: eminent musical artists like Lucinda Williams, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Warren Zevon, Ian McLagan, Patty Griffin, Robert Earl Keen, Michael Penn, Buddy Miller, Mary Gauthier, Tom Russell, Jim Lauderdale and Slaid Cleaves, to name but a few. Instead, listen to Last Exit to Happyland, his fifth solo album, and understand why his blue-ribbon associations as a producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist have led Morlix to a similar level of excellence as a singer, songwriter and artist in his own right.
The Great American Taxi
In the past five years, Great American Taxi has become one of the best-known headliners on the jam band circuit. Their uninhibited sound is a swinging concoction of swampy blues, progressive bluegrass, funky New Orleans strut, Southern boogie, honky tonk country, gospel, and good ol’ fashioned rock ’n’ roll. Great American Taxi was born when singer, guitarist, and mandolin player Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon joined keyboard player and singer Chad Staehly for a superstar jam to benefit the Rainforest Action Group in Boulder, in March of 2005. “We put together a dream band of the best local musicians for a one-off gig,” Herman recalls. “It worked so well we had to do it again, and again, and again.” Great American Taxi quickly evolved into one of the best country-, rock-, and bluegrass- influenced jam bands in the land, masterfully blending acoustic and electric instruments into music they call “Americana Without Borders.”
Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds
Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds is a nine piece powerhouse that delivers a blend of gut-busting soul, earthy rock, and New Orleans-inspired beats.
Patrick Sweany
Patrick Sweany likes the spaces in between. On a given night (or on a given album) he'll swing through blues, folk, soul, bluegrass, maybe some classic 50s rock, or a punk speedball. He's a musical omnivore, devouring every popular music sound of the last 70 years, and mixing 'em all together seamlessly into his own stew. Yet, the one thing that most people notice about Patrick isn't his ability to copy - it's his authenticity. Like his heroes, folks like Bobby "Blue" Bland, Eddie Hinton, Doug Sahm, Ray Charles, Patrick somehow manages to blend all of these influences into something all his own.
Jimbo Darville and the Truckadours
Bringing back the classic sounds of truck drivin' music, Jimbo Darville and the Truckadours have recaptured the vintage feel of the legendary life of a trucker! Enjoy them pickin' and grinnin' about the trials and tribulations of a driver, his rig, truckstops, and their women across the country!
Iodine
Sometimes I wonder, was I raised in the mountains, or was I raised by the mountains?" Growing up in the heart of the Appalachain Mountains, where the lines of East Tennessee and Virginia intersect, it is easily discernable where singer/songwriter Iodine draws her inspiration. She has been "dipped and stewed" in these rich roots, which is reflected strongly in her musical style and writing. Always out to create her own story - which in her opinion is far better than listening to one - she always was searching for ways to entertain herself while exploring the countryside and spending her summers fishing with her father at a neighboring catfish farm. Her ability to always find an adventure and trouble along the way earned her the nickname "Iodine" by her mother at a young age.
Highwater
Folks We Have Played With: The Meters, Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies, (The Late Great) Chris Whitley, Levon Helm, Drivin' and Cryin', Black Uhuru, Southern Culture on the Skids, Everything, Garrison Starr, Train, Mick Taylor, Kudzu Kings, Blueground Undergrass, Blue Mountain, Galactic, North Mississippi All-Stars, Bloodkin, Dayroom, Places We Have Played: New York City, NY. Long Island, NY. St. Paul, MN. Minneappolis, MN. Lewis, WS. Old Bridge, NJ, Atlantic City, NJ, Sayerville, NJ. Mt. Snow, VT. Killington, VT. Charleston, WV. Allentown, PA. Boston, MA. Lexington, KY. Paducah, KY. Bowling Green, KY. Asheville, NC. Charleston, SC. Hilton Head, SC. Cincinnati. OH. Savannah, GA. Atlanta, GA. Athens, GA. Columbus, GA. Huntsville, AL. Muscle Shaols, AL. Birmingham, AL. Auburn, AL. Jackson, MS. Oxford, MS. Starkville, MS. Hattisburg, MS. Nashville, TN.(obviously) Memphis, TN. Fairview, TN. Knoxville, TN. Murfreesboro, TN. Memphis, TN. Bristol, TN. Johnson City, TN. Chattanooga, TN. Cookeville, TN. Clarksville, TN. Little Rock, AR. St. Louis, MO. Farmington, MO. Evansville, IN. Gunnisson, CO. Telluride, CO. Steamboat Springs, CO. Fort Collins, CO. Crested Butte, CO. Baton Rouge, LA. New Orleans, LA.
Larry Cordle
Larry Cordle was born and raised on a small family farm in eastern Kentucky. While a young child he was introduced to bluegrass, country, and gospel music, by his great grandfather Harry Bryant, an old time claw hammer banjo stylist, fiddle player and dancer. He recounts, “mom said I could sing “I’ll Fly Away”, all the way through when I was 2”! Cordle fondly remembers this early influence by pointing out, “we lived so far away from everything, that we had to make our own entertainment. Papaw would get the fiddle out in the evenings sometimes and play and dance for us. Just as soon as I was old enough to try to learn to play I did so & kinda seconded after him on the guitar. He ran an old country store and I spent many happy hours in there with him playing, talking about and listening to music. It was our escape into another world, something we grew up with and looked so forward to. I was always happiest when we were in a jam session”.
Buddy Greene
Born and bred in Macon, Georgia, Buddy Greene benefited at an early age from the influences of a town and culture that produced musical giants like Little Richard, Otis Redding, and the Allman Brothers Band. By age 10 he was already playing to audiences around Macon and quickly establishing himself as a local talent worth watching.
The Tillers
The Tillers got their start in August 2007 when Cincinnati friends Mike Oberst, Sean Geil, and Jason Soudrette began thumping around with some banjos and guitars and a big wooden bass. Their earliest gigs were for coins and burritos on the city’s famous Ludlow Street in the district of Clifton. The songs they picked were mostly older than their grandparents. Some came from Woody Guthrie, some were southern blues laments, and many were anonymous relics of Appalachian woods, churches, riverboats, railroads, prairies, and coal mines.
Kopecky Family Band
Like all families, Kopecky Family Band beats with the same heart and writes in the same blood. ‘The Family’ began creating music together in Nashville, Tennessee in the Fall of 2007. What began as late night talks about life and dreams gradually flowed into eccentric and beautiful music that has led to numerous tours, including adventures to CMJ, SXSW and Bonnaroo, three EP releases and friendships across the country.
Jim Avett
Jim Avett and Family is a gospel album by a retired welder, his daughter and two sons. He is not only a welder of course. He, like any man, is more than his career, more than his working business. He is a farmer. He is an ex-psychology professor. He is a husband of forty years and a father of thirty-five. He draws. He cuts and bails his own hay for his own cows. From 1967 to 1971, he served in the United States Navy. He is a dedicated family man. He has worked with neglected children and broken households as a social worker. He has built bridges of steel and a home of lumber. Oh yes, he sings and picks the guitar as well. With this record, he has done so with his family in mind, so that his children’s children and so on will have a way to know a little of who he is, who he was. Perhaps fittingly, it is by his own children’s encouragement that it is now available to the general public. For all of what he is, this collection of tunes is a glimpse into his sentiment and history; the son of a preacher and a pianist, who as a boy, sat in the pews and heard not only his father’s sermons, but these songs as well. Now, he has sung them with the tape rolling, as honest and rough-cut as it gets, and anyone may listen.
Geoff Achison
Geoff Achison is a musician of remarkable ability who has forged his own path and won fans all over the world. Having taught himself to play in the isolation of rural Australia, he has developed a blues/funk style all his own that can be delicate one moment and explosive the next.
Onward, Soldiers
Onward, Soldiers: These guys know how to make good music. Sean Thomas Gerard, young'n from Pittsburgh who relocated to Wilmington, NC, he's a sharp guy. Teeth cut as much on folk heroes Guthrie and Dylan as Rakim and KRSOne. (Check the phrasing.) His songs are observations, peppered with prose about life as he knows it; restless, inspiring, not without ghosts or doubt but driven by ambition to leave obstacles in the dust, to wave at 'em in the rear-view mirror. Sean probably also has Benjamin Button syndrome. He looks 25 but has the voice of a man twice his age. It's bizarre, and endearing. When you see him onstage you're like "there's no way this kid isn't 50. Did he eat grandpa before the show?" "Nope, I'm right here," silver-fox drummer, Kevin Rhodes, would then reply. Kevin's reverse Benjamin Button. Don't let the gray fool you. **seriously, lock up your daughters.** Kevin has more energy than five kids on Cocoa Puffs. He sings, plays drums, piano, squeezebox, writes songs, eats cookies, and builds palace
David Wax Museum
Why do we need museums? They show us something familiar and traditional, while at the same time documenting our innovation, showing us possible directions for the future. This is the same reason we need David Wax Museum – to give us music that is somehow familiar, as if it has always existed somewhere in our cultural ether, but is at the same time undeniably fresh.
Becky Schlegel
Becky Schlegel has a gift for taking life’s experiences and transforming them into songs that are passionate and unique. Her music is a fusion of folk, bluegrass and country that is mesmerizing. Schlegel sings with an effortless, angelic and wistful soprano that has been described as “Clear and expressive. [Her] voice can go gritty at times or break appropriately or soar to ethereal heights or drift off in a whisper.” - Bluegrass Unlimited
Sweethearts of the Rodeo
The acclaimed sister duo Sweethearts of the Rodeo have been talking about doing a reunion record for years, but Life always seemed to get in the way. “Life starts to get your attention, and I think we got completely distracted with that,” explains Janis Oliver. “I had kids to raise and bills to pay,” adds sister Kristine Arnold. “Not being in the music business made me humble and made me realize that it’s not the most important thing. But every year on the day after Thanksgiving, we would do a gig at The Bluebird Café. Every time we would do that, we would say, ‘Why are we not singing together all the time?’ Then we’d go off back into our routines.
Andrew Peterson
Over the last ten years Andrew Peterson has quietly carved out a niche for himself as one of the most thoughtful, poetic, and lyrical songwriters of his generation. More recently he’s established himself as the grassroots facilitator of an online literary and songwriting community (www.RabbitRoom.com) and an emerging fantasy novelist as well (The Wingfeather Saga). But it’s still ultimately that sense of rootedness that listeners, readers and fans seem to respond to most deeply—because Andrew’s songs (and books) remind us again and again of simple, solid things like love and friendship and hope and redemption and beauty and how our stories were meant to be shared, and how the darkness will not always hold sway, and how we, being human, need to hear those things over and over again, because otherwise we become disconnected from the very stories we’re living in. All of which brings us, in a roundabout way, to our real starting point, because somehow, Andrew Peterson’s new, twelve-song project, Counting Stars (produced by Ben Shive, with Andy Gullahorn) manages to do all that without ever leaving home.
Robby Hecht
The music of Robby Hecht represents a return to the early 70s golden era of acoustic pop where thoughtful, well-crafted lyrics were blended with timeless melodies to impact mainstream music and culture. His 2008 debut album Late Last Night, produced by Lex Price (Mindy Smith) and mixed by Roger Moutenot (Yo La Tengo, Josh Rouse) features an impressive list of guest performers including Mindy Smith, Jeff Coffin, Thad Cockrell, Jill Andrews of The Everybodyfields, John Deaderick (Patty Griffin), Andrea Zonn (James Taylor) and more.
Johnny Possum
Since 2005 The Johnny Possum Band (formerly Johnny Possum’s Good Time Hootin’ Band) has been delivering their own brand of alt-country, Americana and bluegrass music featuring guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo and upright bass. From performances throughout New Zealand, to appearances at festivals and venues in the USA the band has developed a solid fan base and following.
Guy Davis
Whether Guy Davis is appearing on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” or nationally syndicated radio programs such as Garrison Keillor’s, “A Prairie Home Campanion”, “Mountain Stage” or David Dye’s,“World Café”., in front of 15,000 people on the Main Stage of a major festival, or teaching an intimate gathering of students at a Music Camp, Guy feels the instinctive desire to give each listener his ‘all’.
Foster and Lloyd
In 1985, Radney Foster and Bill Lloyd were two young singer-songwriters signed to the same song publisher. They came from different backgrounds but had enough in common to create an almost immediate response to the songs they cowrote and recorded. Their first success came as songwriters (early songs were recorded by Sweethearts of the Rodeo and Ricky Van Shelton), but it was the distinctive sound of their publishing demos that gained them their record deal with RCA Records.
Billy Henson
Very early in life, Billy Henson knew he wanted to be an entertainer. He taught himself to play guitar and was soon writing songs and dreaming of a big career. In 1952, while still in high school, he began his professional career with Carl Tipton & his Mid-State Playboys on WGNS radio in Murfreesboro, TN. In 1953, he joined the Goober & His Kentuckians show on WSIX television in Nashville. He and Patsy were married in 1960; with her help and encouragement, he attended business college and began to work in earnest to develop his singing and songwriting skills. In 1962, his hard work and perseverance caught the attention of the comedy team Lonzo & Oscar. He got a songwriting contract with their publishing company, a recording contract with Nugget Records and a job as their lead guitar player on the Grand Ole Opry. Billy toured the United States, Canada, and Europe with Lonzo & Oscar the next two years. Later, he was a featured vocalist on the Pee Wee King & the Golden West Cowboys Show, booked by Nashville’s Bo
Kieran Kane
Kieran Kane's music is adult in the truest sense of the word. His explorations of mature love (The Blue Chair's "Honeymoon Wine"), friends' struggles with personal difficulties ("Kill the Demon" from Six Months, No Sun), and the meaning of life (Shadows on the Ground's title cut) lead directly to his philosophical explorations of faith and life on his latest release, You Can't Save Everybody (with Kevin Welch and Fats Kaplin).
Doug Paisley
Pardon me, I won't take much of your time here, but please - this is important. I think Doug Paisley's new album, Constant Companion, can help you. You'll know it the moment you hear his voice, which'd be made of silk if silk weren't so prideful. Constant Companion's got everything his self-titled debut had, only more of it, and better. And that record's gotten me through some dark days and darker nights. He's my favorite navigator.
The Bo-Keys
In the early parts of their careers, members of the Bo-Keys performed in B.B. King’s orchestra, anchored the Hi Rhythm Section, nailed the unforgettable intro to “Theme From Shaft,” and survived the plane crash that claimed Otis Redding. This is a new, hard-hitting Bo-Keys lineup, featuring alumni both of Stax Records and Hi Records, plus younger musicians who’ve garnered an Emmy award and a Grammy nomination. Together, now, they play fresh Memphis soul.
Bobby Osborne
Bobby Osborne… the name conjurs up memories of that incredible high voice ringing over the hills at a bluegrass festival on a warm summer evening, of the sounds of Rocky Top rolling in on 50,000 watts on The Grand Ole Opry on WSM, 650 on your radio dial, of the sounds of Rubeeeeee!!!, on radio and television stations ever since Bobby Osborne first burst on the scene in 1949. Bobby’s many accomplishments as a professional musician and entertainer would fill an entire book, and they soon will, as his biography is soon to appear in print.
Amy Black
Amy Black may live in Massachusetts but her influences, like her roots, are clearly from below the Mason-Dixon line. Her live performances cover the styles and traditional themes of American music: loving, lying, drinking, dying and going to heaven – but not necessarily that order. She writes and perf