Dar Williams - With a beautiful soprano voice and lovely, intriguing songs, Dar Williams has been a major presence on the folk scene for nearly two decades. An idiosyncratic songwriter who writes from a unique, insightful perspective, Williams’ style has been compared to Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez - with a few acidic and humorous twists. Before turning to writing and performing full time, Williams directed plays and served as stage manager for the Opera Company of Boston. In 1998, she teamed up with Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell for an acclaimed CD and tour called “Cry Cry Cry.” For 2003's “The Beauty of the Rain,” she enlisted help from Alison Krauss, Béla Fleck, Dave Matthews Band's Stefan Lessard, and trumpet player Chris Botti. In 2010, Williams released a career-spanning two-disc set titled “Many Great Companions,” which featured one compilation disc of fan favorites and another disc of newly recorded songs from her catalog performed in an acoustic format. Her new CD, “In the Time of Gods,” marks her ninth studio recording. 

Ray Wylie Hubbard - Perhaps best known for his ‘70s barroom anthem “Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mothers,” Ray Wylie Hubbard‘s music embodies the essence of American music. A high school buddy of “Mountain Stage” host Larry Groce, Hubbard’s first band included Michael Martin Murphy. With band names like the Cowboy Twinkies (whose sets included songs by Merle Haggard and Led Zeppelin), twisted humor has long been Hubbard’s trademark. More recently, he wrote a screenplay - an “outlaw western set in 1912” with a cast that includes Dwight Yoakum and Kris Kristofferson - which has been filmed. He has also become an icon - and an in-demand producer - for the new folk and Americana movements, and programs his own Grit 'N' Groove Festival. A review of 2011's “A. Enlightenment, B. Endarkment (Hint: There is no C),” noted “Enlightenment is an entire back-to-basics movement rolled into 12 tracks that uncoil like a rattlesnake disturbed in its sleep.” His current release is “The Grifter’s Hymnal.” 

the dBs - One of the more creative and enduring indie pop groups of the early ‘80s, North Carolina’s dB’s featured a lineup - Chris Stamey, Peter Holsapple, Will Rigby and Gene Holder - that helped change the course of guitar-driven power pop for years to come. The group’s pair of classic LPs - “Stands for Decibels” (1981) and “Repercussion” (1982) - were issued on the British label Albion and became instant cult classics. In 1987, an incarnation of the group without Stamey signed to I.R.S. Records, released “The Sound of Music” and toured with R.E.M. Recently, the original members reunited for “Falling Off the Sky,” the band’s first new album with the original lineup in 30 years.  

The New Rope String Band - Combining superb musicianship with side-splitting comic genius, the three members of the New Rope String Band are truly unique entertainers. Elements of circus, clowning, vaudeville, slapstick and sheer inspired silliness are spliced with beautiful acoustic music from various world traditions. Based in the U.K., the group’s resume includes performances in Borneo's Sarawak rainforest, the Shetland Folk Festival and tiny village halls. The group mixes favorite routines like “musical tennis” with deconstructed nursery rhymes, and Python-esque absurdist humor. Other “props” include ladders, PVC pipes, seagull impressions, barbershop harmonies and mime. 

Arthur Alligood – Tennessee born singer-songwriter Alligood won grand prize honors at the 2011 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest for performing songwriters. Sessions with producer Mikal Blue (Colbie Caillat, Jason Mraz) included in-demand session musicians Jim Keltner on drums, Leland Sklar on bass and Michael Ward on guitar. The resulting album, “One Silver Needle” was released to high praise on the NewSong Recordings label.