​Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn - This banjo duo pairs Bela Fleck - regarded as the world’s premier proponent of the instrument - with adventurous traditionalist, singer/banjoist Abigail Washburn. Fleck has virtually reinvented the image and the sound of the banjo through a performing and recording career that has taken him all over the musical and geographical maps. A 15-time Grammy winner, Fleck broke down musical barriers with his ensemble Béla Fleck and the Flecktones and has taken on a wide array of musical experiments, from writing a concerto for the Nashville Symphony to exploring the banjo’s African roots to jazz duos with Chick Corea. Meanwhile, Washburn’s music has ranged from her 2005, bi-lingual solo release, “Song of the Traveling Daughter,” and the “chamber roots” sound of the Sparrow Quartet (which often included Fleck) to the rhythms, sounds and stories of “Afterquake,” her fundraiser CD for the Sichuan earthquake victims. Long taken with Chinese culture, Washburn is fluent in Mandarin and has become something of a cultural ambassador. In conjunction 2011's “City of Refuge,” she completed a month-long tour of China’s Silk Road. The couple’s new, self-titled release, “Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn,” is a front porch banjo and vocal album of new music, Appalachian murder ballads, gospel, chamber and blues.

Kate Miller-Heidke - Trained as an operatic vocalist, Australian Kate Miller-Heidke took a last-minute detour into pop music. Her 2007 full-length debut, “Little Eve,” landed near the top of the ARIA charts, was certified Platinum, and garnered four ARIA nominations. The follow-up, 2008's “Curiouser,” received multiple nominations at the 2009 ARIA awards and the first single, “Caught In The Crowd,” made Miller-Heidke and her husband/guitarist/collaborato Keir Nuttal the first Australians to win the Grand Prize in Nashville’s International Songwriting Competition (out of 17,000 entries). In 2012, she issued “Nightflight,” which debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes album charts, and then supported the re-formed Ben Folds Five on more than 100 shows. The couple’s electronic side project, “Fatty Gets A Stylist,” has garnered attention since being used in a commercial for the New York Lottery. In 2012, Miller-Heidke sang roles in the English National Opera’s productions of “The Death Of Klinghoffer” and “Sunken Garden.” After three albums and seven years with Sony Records, Miller-Heidke issued her new record, “O Vertigo!” on an indie label.

Janiva Magness - Powerhouse singer Janiva Magness is no stranger to blues fans - in 2006 and 2007 she was voted “Best Contemporary Female Artist” in the Blues Music Awards, and she’s appeared at blues festivals in the U.S., Switzerland and Belgium. With a two-and-a-half octave range, she also starred in a production of “Ain't Nothin' But the Blues,” which was staged at LA’s David Geffen Theater. Raised in Detroit, Magness was inspired by the city’s mix of blues and soul, and relocated to Southern California in the mid-‘80s. She has also endured personal tragedies - the suicide of both her parents - that have informed her music and changed her life. She is now a National Spokesperson for Casey Family Programs, promoting National Foster Care Month. While signed to Chicago’s Alligator blues label, she released three discs and, in addition to winning her fourth Blues Music Award for “Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year,” she took honors for “Song of the Year” and “B.B. King Entertainer of the Year.” Her new release, “Original,” finds Magness pushing the boundaries of roots rock and soul.  

Storyman - Before changing their name to Storyman, this Ireland-based duo released three acclaimed albums under the moniker Guggenheim Grotto. Their work has earned a following thanks to their unique electronic-infused brand of folk music that blending programmed beats and acoustic instruments with evocative vocals and honest, observational lyrics. But as they often do on Mountain Stage, band members Kevin May (piano, lead vocals) and Mick Lynch (acoustic guitar, ukulele, stomp-board and vocals) strip away the electronic elements for a performance that spotlights their crisp, sibling-like harmony and memorable melodies. Storyman’s latest is called This Time Round.

Gabriel Kahane - A composer and singer-songwriter, Kahane, like Kate Miller-Heidke who appeared later on the same show, uses his extensive classical training to create his own strand of American folk-pop music. A current resident of New York, Gabriel Kahane has spent most of his life in California. His latest release, The Ambassador, has been described as a portrait of Los Angeles as viewed through the lens of ten street addresses. The ambitious project has been hailed by Rolling Stone as “One of the year’s very best albums.”