Jonathan Edwards
- Born in Aitkin, MN, folk and country singer/songwriter may be best known for
his Top 5 hit "Sunshine." After growing up in Virginia and studying
art in Ohio, Edwards and his blues band Sugar Creek moved to Boston in the late
‘60s. Opting to try a career as a solo artist, “Sunshine” made its way onto his
solo debut as an afterthought. “Honky-Tonk Stardust Cowboy” followed in 1972 as
did singing backup on Emmylou Harris’ 1976 LP “Elite Hotel.” He recorded his
1976 release “Rockin' Chair, with Harris' Hot Band. After touring with a
national production of the musical “Pump Boys and Dinettes,” Edwards joined the
bluegrass group the Seldom Scene for 1983's “Blue Ridge.” After moving to
Nashville, his 1989 album “The Natural Thing” spawned his biggest country hit,
"We Need to Be Locked Away." After a pair of live recordings, in
2011, Edwards returned with the studio album “My Love Will Keep.” His new
release, “Tomorrow’s Child,” was produced by guitar wizard Darrell Scott and
features cameos by Vince Gill, Shawn Colvin, Alison Krauss, John Cowan, Jerry Douglas
and Kenny Malone.
Tim O’Brien &
Old Man Luedecke - A multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter who has
achieved international acclaim, Tim O’Brien is a native of Wheeling who came to
prominence with the band Hot Rize. In the mid-’80s, fellow West Virginian Kathy
Mattea scored a pair of Top 10 hits with Tim’s “Walk the Way the Wind Blows”
and “Untold Stories.” When Tim’s 2005 release, “Fiddler’s Green,” won a Grammy
for “Best Traditional Folk Recording,” he became a sought-after session player
and producer. Tim has released more than 20 CDs including solo recordings and
duet projects with his sister Mollie. Tim was named “Male Vocalist of the Year”
by the IBMA in 1993 and 2006, while his song “Look Down That Lonesome Road” won
IBMA’s “Song of the Year” award in 2006. More recently, he has released a
collaboration with Darrell Scott, a Grammy-winning recording with Jerry
Douglas’s Earls of Leicester, and toured with the rekindled Hot Rize. His
latest release, “Pompadour,” continues his standard of excellence and creative
approach to acoustic music. Joining O’Brien will be Old Man Luedecke, an
award-winning singer/songwriter based in Chester, Nova Scotia. Old Man Luedecke
has toured the world and won multiple Juno Awards. With a unique mix of folk,
bluegrass and pop hooks, his music is driven by a “cunning lyrical flair.” His
fifth release, “Tender Is The Night,” was produced by none other than Tim
O’Brien.
Anna &
Elizabeth - This collaboration between classically trained violinist Anna
Roberts-Gevalt and mountain ballad singer Elizabeth Laprelle has drawn raves
from reviewers on both sides of the Atlantic. Historians, storytellers, visual
artists, and musicians, the two gather songs and stories from archives and
visits with elders. After meeting in 2011, the duo has performed at the Atlanta
Museum of Modern Art; folk festivals in Brooklyn, the Yukon, Chicago, Maine,
and Uzbekistan; held residencies at universities; summer traditional music
schools; and small theaters and folk clubs across the U.S. and U.K. The two
have revived the tradition of the scrolling picture shows to illustrate their
old songs, along with with papercuts, shadow puppets, prints, and embroidered
fabric. The duo’s second release, “Anna & Elizabeth,” features legendary
folk singer Alice Gerrard.
Tony Furtado -
Very few musicians of any stripe so personify a musical genre as completely as
Tony Furtado embodies Americana roots music. Tony is an evocative and soulful
singer, a wide-ranging songwriter and a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist adept on
banjo, cello-banjo, slide guitar and baritone ukulele. Relix hit the nail on
the head when writing of Tony: "True talent doesn't need categories."
A native of Pleasanton, California, who now makes his home in Portland, Oregon,
Tony Furtado took up the banjo at age 12, inspired by the Beverly Hillbillies
TV show and a sixth grade music report. He first attracted national attention
in 1987, when he won the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship in Winfield,
Kansas. Tony enthusiastically describes his newest album, The Bell, as "the most personal of my career." It
represents a return to Tony's banjo-playing roots, with the banjo and
cello-banjo more prominent than in recent years; the original songs concern
such weighty themes as the loss of his father, the birth of his son and his own
creative rebirth. Most important of all, this is the first album in a long time
on which Tony had complete artistic control. It's his music, done his way.
Session Americana
- A sextet with a revolving cast of stellar guests, Session Americana’s live
shows are a family gathering of players, swapping songs and instruments. Based
in Somerville, MA, the band includes the cream of the Somerville/Cambridge
roots music community and has grown from a rag-tag jam at a local pub to a
regional institution, playing coffee houses, nightclubs; regional, national,
and international festival tents. The group won Improper Bostonian’s “Best
Roots Act” and “Best CD,â and won Boston Music Awards’ “Best Folk Act” and
“Best Live Residency.” It was also been nominated for Boston Music Awards’
“Best Americana Act” and “Best Live Act.” Session Americana’s current release
is titled “Love and Dirt.”