“After previously enjoying listening to music and playing a little bit of drums and harmonica, I didn’t really start writing songs or learning to play guitar until my late twenties,” says Americana troubadour, Marques Morel. An itinerant logger and woodworker, he began carrying an acoustic guitar his father had given him, in his truck. However, two years went by before ...

Born and raised for her first 14 years in the Detroit area, Heather Smith found herself in the very different environs of a very small New England town as she transitioned to her high school years. She says “It’s not the easiest thing to do…” but now considers it her rightful home, where she belongs. And although her road to ...

Not a single artist but a duo, Eleyet McConnell is the moniker spouses Chris and Angie (nee Eleyet) McConnell use to describe their vehicle for delivering music to their appreciative audiences. They met in 2013 and immediately clicked musically. Both hailing from rural Ohio, they ended up together in a cover band based in Urbana (OH). “…She might go from ...

The amazing musical collaboration of Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer spans more than 40 years, has resulted in 53 albums and garnered two Grammy awards, among many other accolades (including over 60 WAMMIE Awards for folk, bluegrass and children’s music from the Washington Area Music Association) based on their strong vocal harmonies and mastery of guitar, five-string banjo, ukulele, mandolin, ...

Unlike so many artists we’ve profiled Alexa Rose (her real name) says, “I grew up in not a very musical family. I was just always drawn to singing and writing songs. Then when I was 13, my uncle gave me a guitar…” Once she dug in with her new songwriting tool, one musical predecessor came to light: “As soon as ...

Marty Falle just released his fourth original Bluegrass LP in less than one year. One of Nashville’s most prolific Bluegrass singer-songwriters released “Appalachia Rust” on August 1, 2024. As of August 15th, Marty Falle “Appalachia Rust” has charted #1 for 15 straight days on the APD Top 50 Bluegrass Albums. In addition, Falle has four total albums in the APD ...

To paraphrase the Irish band’s PR material, JigJam is a bluegrass/Americana outfit that is here in America to “take back” the music styles that can be traced, in part, back “across the pond” to their musically prolific home isle. The band’s appropriately titled fifth album, Across The Pond, was released on March 1. Jamie McKeogh says “The theme throughout is ...

Sierra Hull, now in here early thirties, has already accomplished more as a musician than most artists dream about. Considered by many to be a master musician as a mandolin player, she was the first female to win IBMA’s mandolin player of the year – and has since won it six times, as well as being nominated twice for a ...

Anthony Crawford and Savana Lee, collectively known as Sugarcane Jane, have been lauded as “one of the best duos since Johnny and June” (Nancy Dunham, The Washington Times). So, how did this pair, now hailing from Loxley, Alabama, come together and attain such a level of acclaim? Savana recalls meeting Anthony while she was living the aspiring artist’s life in ...

As banjo player Derek Kretzer of The Plate Scrapers speaks about the band’s beginning, it becomes clear that his own journey into folk music, the assembling of the band, and their evocative name are all intertwined. After spending his high school years playing guitar in a variety of band settings and genres (along with his younger brother, a drummer at ...