Hayes Carll - Praised by
Anthony DeCurtis as “an inheritor of the Texas songwriting tradition that
includes Townes Van Zandt and Steve Earle,” Hayes Carll has garnered a
reputation as one of the finest troubadours Texas has to offer. Often
performing more than 200 shows a year, Carll has co-written with the likes of
Guy Clark, John Evans and Ray Wylie Hubbard. In 2008, Carll won the Annual
Americana Music Association’s “Song of the Year” award for his satirical “She
Left Me For Jesus" - which “Imus In The Morning” host Don Imus called “the
greatest country song ever.” After parting ways with his record label and going
through a divorce, Carll regrouped - while continuing to write and tour. In
2015, Lee Ann Womack’s cover of his song "Chances Are" won a Grammy
for her and Carll. His new release, “Lovers and Leavers,” was recorded with the
in-demand Joe Henry while the song "The Love That We Need" was
co-written with Allison Moorer and Jack Ingram.
Darrell Scott - Known as a
songwriter for Garth Brooks, Faith Hill and the Dixie Chicks, and as a sideman
for singer/songwriters like Steve Earle, Guy Clark, Patty Loveless and Tim
O'Brien, the Kentucky native is a Grammy-nominated artist, an award-winning
songwriter and a first-call session musician. Along the way, the
multi-instrumentalist - he excels on dobro, mandolin and guitar - earned a
degree in poetry from Tufts University. In 2003, Scott launched his own label,
Full Light Records, and produced a traditional, mountain country album for his
father. Scott has been the “artist in residence” with Orchestra Nashville along
with Sam Bush and Bill Frisell. Scott’s latest release, “Modern Hymns,” offers
up his take on a dozen songs by songwriters like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and
Paul Simon. Some of Nashville’s best players helped out including Del McCoury,
Alison Krauss, Sam Bush, Mary Gauthier, The Fisk Jubilee Singers, and Stuart
Duncan. In recent years, he has been a member of Robert Plant’s Band of Joy.
The Kentucky native won the Americana Music Association’s 2007 “Song of the
Year” award for his song “Hank Williams’ Ghost.” Following 2012's “Long Ride
Home” (which featured Nashville legends including WV native Charlie McCoy), he
and frequent collaborator Tim O’Brien (another WV native) released the live
“We’re Usually a Lot Better Than This.” His most recent release is a 2015
tribute album to his friend Ben Bullington, a small town doctor and
amateur songwriter from Montana who died of cancer in 2013.
Parker Millsap - An Oklahoma
native, singer/songwriter Parker Millsap was brought up in the Pentecostal
church, an experience that provided ample fodder for the 20-year-old’s cannon
of songs. Influenced by the dust-bowl neutrality of John Steinbeck, Millsap’s
religious-laced parables, character-driven narratives and relationship tales
are delivered with the power and conviction of the preachers he witnessed
growing up. After a stint in California where he interned at Prairie Sun
Recording (where Tom Waits cut “Bone Machine” and “Mule Variations”), he returned
to Oklahoma. Then, during a trip to Nashville he was playing at the Tin Pan
South songwriter's festival, where his performance so impressed Old Crow
Medicine Show's manager that he invited Millsap to open a string of dates for
the band. His self-titled 2014 release racked up praise from NPR, the Wall
Street Journal, and USA Today, as well as a nomination for Americana Emerging
Artist of the Year. Now hot property - and with good reason - Millsap’s new
release is titled “The Very Last Day.”
Brennen Leigh - Austin-based
singer/songwriter Brennen Leigh’s songs have been recorded by Sunny Sweeney,
Austin's the Carper Family, Norway's Liv Marit Wedvik, and Grammy winner Lee
Ann Womack. She has collaborated with songwriting greats including Jim
Lauderdale, John Scott Sherrill and David Olney. A member of Austin string band
High Plains Jamboree and Nashville’s Antique Persuasion, Leigh’s smart and
danceable songs have elevated her to cult status in Europe, Scandinavia and
South America.