Irene Kelley started playing music at 15, and joined her first full time bluegrass band, Redwing, in 1981. By 1984, she was headed to Nashville with her guitar, a handful of original material, and a love for traditional and bluegrass music. Although it was MCA Nashville’s country division that signed her to a record deal, she was adamant about having Carl ...

Singer/Mandolinist Amanda Cook started singing music with her dad when she was in her mid-20s through her mid 30s. Her dad, a well known banjo player in their hometown and regionally in Florida, bought her a mandolin to play when they formed the band. “I was literally learning to play an instrument while I was in the band,” she admitted. ...

Province Of Thieves is an acoustic ensemble hailing from Charlotte, NC. They feature guitar, mandolin, ukulele, Irish bouzouki, banjo, upright bass, and percussion. Their blend of unique instrumentation with powerful vocals is impressive; so much so that it earned them a 2018 Carolina Music Award. The “Thieves” have been together since 2012 performing predominately all original music, which is influenced ...

The Americana Music Association will be celebrating it’s 18th year of artist achievements at their annual conference and awards ceremony, September 10th through the 14th, 2019 in Nashville, TN. Emmylou Harris said the event was “the shining star of Nashville and music everywhere.” The Americana Honors & Awards has been broadcast in years past on CMT, Austin City Limits via ...

The International Bluegrass Music Association will celebrate the 30th anniversary of it’s annual awards this September (24th – 28th) in Raleigh, NC, at it’s annual conference and music festival. Del McCoury, who is celebrating his 80th birthday will co-host the event with famed music songwriter, Jim Lauderdale. “What could be better than Del co-hosting the Awards Show with the legendary ...

It is mid-summer and I am on the road from Norfolk, Virginia to Annapolis, Maryland thinking of the upcoming festivals I will be playing later this summer and fall. They are all quite different. The best ones create a fest-family of artists that then grows to include the audience. As a veteran of performing at festivals, and producing a music ...

Natalya Zoe Weinstein is a multi-instrumentalist and an award-winning songwriter. Together with vocalist, John Cloyd Miller, they make up the string duo of Zoe & Cloyd. Founding members of the trio Red June, the pair have been touring as a duo since 2015. They met in Ashville, NC hanging around the local music scene there in 2005. Red June lasted ...

Scottish brothers Charlie and Stirling Gorman live in a little village near Glasgow. As kids, they played in various bands and dreamed of one day making it big and finding a way out and into the big music world as stars. Then, one day in 1994 it happened. Their band, Murmur, caught the attention of a record executive. The next ...

When Bobby Messano was 14, he was already playing guitar in clubs with guys that were in their 20s. “I wanted to be Eric Clapton and I wanted to play the Philmore East,” he recalled. “I never got to do either,” he laughed. But Bobby has been able to accomplish a few things in his legendary career as a guitarist. ...

Jim Stephen’s Yellow River album release is his 4th in 36 months on Ropeadope Records. It’s a 10 song “tour-de-force” featuring music rooted deep in Jazz, Soul, Blues, and Funk. It was recorded mostly in two days at the legendary Esplanade Studios in New Orleans where Jim calls home. Jim got a late start in music, not really playing or ...