Nickel Creek appeared on Mountain Stage in 2005, in support of their third and final album, Why Should the Fire Die? Distinguished by their youth and eclectic taste, Nickel Creek became a sensation, spreading bluegrass far beyond the genre's core audience. Guitarist Sean Watkins, fiddler Sara Watkins, and mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile first started performing together in 1989, and became regulars on the festival circuit through most of the '90s. In 1998, with help from Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek landed a record deal with Sugar Hill. Their self-titled debut was decidedly bluegrass, but boasted elements of classical, jazz, and alternative. The band’s 2002 sophomore album This Side debuted in the Top 20 of the pop charts and went all the way to number two on the country listings. In 2005, the group worked with producers Tony Berg and Eric Valentine to produce Why Should the Fire Die?, a dark and introspective collection of new material that found the trio steering even further away from their bluegrass beginnings. In mid-2006, Nickel Creek announced it would be taking an indefinite hiatus so its members could concentrate on solo work.

Pink Martini - Somewhere between a 1930s Cuban dance orchestra, a classical chamber music ensemble, a Brazilian marching street band and Japanese film noir is the 12-piece Pink Martini. Part language lesson, part Hollywood musical, the Portland, Oregon-based "little orchestra" was originally created in 1994 by Harvard-graduate Thomas M. Lauderdale. In the years following, Pink Martini has gone on to perform its multilingual repertoire on concert stages, in smoky clubs and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Greece, Turkey, Taiwan, Lebanon and the U.S. Building its legacy through unstoppable word of mouth, select high profile symphony dates, prominent placement in film and television and fashionable private appearances, Pink Martini continues to tour the world.

 Kathleen Edwards - Now one of Americana’s most highly regarded female performers, Kathleen Edwards was born in Ottawa, Canada, and began playing violin at 5. Her family moved overseas, where removed from the influence of mainstream North American pop music, Edwards delved into her older brother's collection of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and early Tom Petty records. After high school, she landed back in Ottawa, where she sang and played her guitar in local clubs while networking with other musicians in the scene. Her widely acclaimed debut album Failer was released in 2003, earning Edwards opening spots for Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. In 2005 she released her follow-up Back to Me, which began to introduce pop elements into her dusty Americana sound.

Sonya Kitchell - Released when she was 15, Sonya Kitchell’s Words Come Back to Me established the young singer-songwriter as an artist to watch. A native of Massachusetts, Kitchell first discovered her songwriting talent on the afternoon of September 11, 2001, when she returned from school so shaken that she turned her journal entries into a song. Local press attention led to a one-off date at the Iron Horse Music Hall, a prominent local folk-oriented venue, which then led to the formation of a full-time gigging band. She was awarded “Best Jazz Vocal” and “Best Original Song” from the 2003 Down Beat Student Music Awards with her song “Romance,” and her CD The Storm was produced by Daniel Lanois cohort Malcolm Burn. Her career took yet another turn when she was tapped by jazz legend Herbie Hancock for a world tour in 2007, celebrating the music of Joni Mitchell.