Raised in rural Montgomery County, Virginia, Steve Thomas’s early years as a young boy were mostly isolated – spent living on a working farm with seven brothers and sisters. But like many growing up in a rural setting, music was the main source of entertainment. The Southern Appalachians were a great location for music, and Steve learned early on that ...

One of the favorite style of acts among bluegrass fans these days is sibling harmony and family bands. Knoxville, Tennessee is the home base for one of those up and coming groups; The Family Sowell. The brother/sister ensemble ranges from ages 23 down to 13. Jacob, Joshua, twin sisters – Naomi and Abigail, John-Mark, and Justin all share in the ...

Colorado musician Lee Sims turned a middle school talent show performance into a musical career that resulted in a Colorado Entertainer of the year award in 2001; Colorado Country Music Hall of Fame Entertainer of the year in 2003; and a three time Golden Music Award Winner in Nashville, TN. Lee’s dad served in military and was in charge of ...

Frances Mooney has been playing music for over 50 years. This Atlanta Country Music Hall of Famer was a high profile singer and bass player with The Bluegrass Generation in the Louisville, KY bluegrass scene in the mid-70s during the early days of Ricky Skaggs and Vince Gill. Both actually contributed to a few of the early Bluegrass Generation albums. Born and ...

It was an incapacitating car accident in his late teens that moved Perth, Western Australian artist Andy Michaels to pick up a guitar. The result was a fusion of eclectic tastes and melodic sounds featuring hints of folk, country, Americana and contemporary pop. His latest project, Incendiary Heart, a 14-track, pop leaning mixture, with nostalgic influences from the 70s and ...

After years of working with and for other artists, Australian musician Rod McCormack decided it was finally time to release a project of his own. His debut CD, Fingerprints, is schedule to be released September 20th. Rod got to check an item off his bucket list recently by performing an album release show at the famed Station Inn in Nashville, ...

Zack Walther was a child of the 80s. When given the choice of band, choir, or art in elementary school, on the advice of his best friend at the time, they chose choir. “I was in it from then on,” he said. Zack grew up singing in the school choir and learning to play piano by ear on his brother’s ...

LaTresa Smith was born into a musical family. Her father, a Christian minister, and his minister brothers, all from Alabama, toured and performed southern Gospel music in their band, The Hester Brothers. LaTresa recalled as a young girl listening to bluegrass music on Saturday nights in an old store front in Mississippi and dreaming of having a bluegrass band of ...

Guitarist Jay Elle is a singer and a songwriter. And while he writes a lot of pop style songs, and is often billed as pop singer/songwriter, he says his songs are a bit on the mellow side these days. Jay suggests that you could classify him as more of an urban-folk musician. “I play a nylon string Ovation guitar which ...

At present, Gina Furtado is most known for her banjo work with Chris Jones and the Night Drivers. That’s all about to change as she sets out this summer on a solo career with her own band. She’s as innovative with her songwriting as she is with her banjo playing. She released her debut album, True Colors, in September 2017, ...