Ashley Beck, a.k.a, Den of Ashes, comes from a deep tradition in music as the grandson of 1930’s to 50’s era Country & Western entertainers, John and “Texas Peggy” Clemens, know as the The Wyoming Ramblers. They toured and shared friendships with The Carter Family, Tex Ritter, Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash. As the musical landscape ever evolves, we see a new emergence of the Western music ...
Read More »Americana Music Profiles
Sister’s Birthday Sparks Band
Brothers Michael (guitar and vocals), Charlie (bass and vocals) and Mark (vocals) make up the trio called The Riddle Brothers. They write and perform an eclectic blend of acoustic, Americana, and Folk, laced with stories from the life they’ve lived along the shores of the Mississippi River, including, Baton Rouge, LA; Moline, IL; and Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN. “Music ...
Read More »Jake Bartley
South Carolina is the home state for the group of guys who call themselves, The Jake Bartley Band. Each member of the band spent years playing and traveling with other musical endeavors prior to seizing this opportunity to play together as a band. Their quest to create a fresh, soulful, yet roots oriented sound is realized with the release of ...
Read More »Irish Roots and Folk Traditions
Danny Burns began his career as a traveling folksinger nearly 20 years ago, working both in the US and across the pond. His unique Irish roots weigh nicely into the mix of folk traditions from his native Ireland and his American influences. He’s lived in the US for 19 years, beginning in New York City, playing bar gigs before gigging ...
Read More »Lacrosse Club Leads To Family Band
Not all bands start out the traditional way. For Don Harrison, it was his experience making documentaries for his daughter’s travel Lacrosse team that unearthed a latent interest in songwriting, which led to a full blown CD recording several years later. Don’s friend, Steve Willett, runs Crosse Over Lacrosse, a lacrosse exchange program for 13-15 year old girls with the ...
Read More »Time To Give It A Shot
Jeff Parker has more than 30 years under his belt touring and recording bluegrass music. The Kentucky native spent eight years with the band Renfro Valley, and five years with the Lonesome River Band before joining Daily & Vincent 12 years ago. Jeff recently felt the tug to start his own project, and left Daily & Vincent this past December ...
Read More »Tradition Through Innovation
Audie Blaylock currently resides in Auburn, Indiana but was born in Texas, and spent part of his childhood in the Cumberland Gap area of Virginia; an area rich in Appalachian traditions. In the mid-60s his family moved to Michigan for work, but they would visit family in Virginia often. So Audie grew up with a musical family exposed to the ...
Read More »Appalachian Roots
Anya Hinkle’s (2019 Merlefest’s Chris Austin Song Contest winner) distinctive vocals set the tone for Asheville-based Appalachian roots-music band, Tellico. A native of Southwest Virginia, Anya’s native influences coupled with her worldly travels makes for a seasoned musical flavor full of honesty and heart. Both of Anya’s parents were musicians, and she grew up playing violin, singing in the church ...
Read More »When I Rise
Cary Morin is a Crow tribal member born in Billings, Montana. Cary spent the bulk of his youth in Great Falls, where he honed his musical skills picking guitar standards at neighborhood get-togethers. He eventually moved to Northern Colorado in 1989 where his professional musical career hit the ground running. Cary’s first big break came with the internationally acclaimed band, ...
Read More »It’s In My DNA
Singer/songwriter Artie Tobia makes his home in New York, and comes from a deep pedigree of music. “My great, great grandfather played with John Philip Sousa. I had grandfathers and uncles and cousins who all had careers in music. So I got the gene and/or that bug,” he told us. Artie said he remembers writing his first song at around ...
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