From the hills of Western North Carolina, two brothers set out to show the world their brand of bluegrass music, as so many brother duets have done before them. Jonah, age 18, and Grayson, age 14, grew up playing gospel bluegrass in their church services. From the very beginning, the brothers clung to the roots of the music, something that many young pickers tend to overlook. The love for the music pushed Jonah to start his own band, Jonah Riddle and Carolina Express.

Jonah takes care of banjo duties in the group, playing a style that is quickly fading away in today's business. You can easily hear the Stanley, Scruggs, and Osborne influences in his sound, the sounds of the pioneers!

Grayson is on guitar and does all of the groups lead singing. Grayson’s style of guitar playing will take you back to the days of the great Jimmy Martin; strong, steady rhythm, full of all the runs that help make bluegrass what it is! The brother's father, Benjie, holds down upright bass duties for the band. Michael Grove, is on the fiddle, joining the band from Cosby, TN.

Jonah and Grayson have had the privilege of picking on stage with many great artists: Doyle Lawson, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Balsam Range, Ralph Stanley II, Nu Blue, Ricky Skaggs, J.D. Crowe, and Kody Norris. They have performed at many concerts and venues across the country, including: The Ryman Auditorium Courtyard, Dollywood, the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh, Woodsongs, the Lyric Theatre in Kentucky, Houstonfest, the North Carolina State Bluegrass Festival, Bluegrass First Class in Asheville, North Carolina, the Earl Scruggs Center, the Pickin’ Porch, Tennessee Fall Homecoming, the Carter Fold and the World-Renown WDVX Blue Plate Special in Knoxville, TN.

Jonah and Grayson are also members of Tomorrow’s Bluegrass Stars and have performed at IBMA Kids on Bluegrass in Raleigh, North Carolina. They have won several awards during the time they have been performing such as Best of Show and individual awards for playing their instruments as well.

Despite its name, Redwine Jam is not a sweet alcoholic concoction suitable for spreading on toast. Still, folk music fans find it appetizing and heady! A performance by the folk band Redwine Jam carries the audience on an emotional rollercoaster complete with high-spirited roots music, wry humor, gripping story songs, love ballads, and the sheer joy of homemade music.

Redwine Jam is an Atlanta-based folk music quartet comprised of Chris and Carol Moser, master guitar/bass player Skip Romaner, and singer Brenda Lloyd. They perform a wide range of North American and Celtic folk songs and tunes, from traditional material to newly written compositions by contemporary folk legends. They accompany their vocals with guitar, bass, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, mountain dulcimer, flute, pennywhistle, bodhran and harp (not all at the same time).

Redwine Jam has developed a strong following at coffeehouses, festivals, private parties and other events in the Atlanta area and elsewhere in the Southeast. Whether they're performing a program of American folk, Celtic, a mixture of both, or their multi-media concert exploring the American Folk Revival, an evening with Redwine Jam is a delectable treat.

The Jones Brothers are an exciting group comprised of stellar musicians ranging in age from 14 years old and up. Johnathan and Josh Jones participated in the renowned Junior Appalachian Musicians program and thanks to the dedicated instruction of Bill Pruitt (who played with Bill Monroe in his past) have really grown into their music.

The vision of the JAM program is that all children throughout the Appalachian Mountains have access to the joy of participation in the music of their heritage.

Johnathan and Josh will be joined by Larry Garrett on upright bass and Betsy Blankenship on vocals and guitar.

Andrew “Finn the Fiddler” Magill has straddled the tenuous line of “fiddler” and “violinist” for the better part of his thirty years. Raised in an Irish musical household in Asheville, North Carolina he grew up studying with many of the best traditional American and Irish fiddlers at The Swannanoa Gathering music workshops. He was featured on NPR at age 18 and never looked back. His 2016 two-disc project Roots and Branches debuted at #46 on the Folk DJ charts and says grammy-winner Tim O’Brien:
“He has learned from and now plays with the best in the genre. On Branches you can hear a new musical voice emerging. I’m gonna keep listening for Finn Magill.”
He will play a set steeped in the bluegrass and oldtime traditions he grow up learning at the Swannanoa Gathering. Backing him up on guitar will be John Cloyd Miller, A twelfth generation North Carolina native and the grandson of pioneering bluegrass fiddler Jim Shumate, John is also a 1st place winner of the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest and a recipient of an Artist Fellowship for songwriting by the North Carolina Arts Council. John is a founding member of the acclaimed Americana trio Red June and currently performs in the New Appalachian duo Zoe & Cloyd with his wife, acclaimed fiddler Natalya Zoe Weinstein. https://www.johncloydmiller.com

https://www.andrewfinnmagill.com

Celtic ConFusion is Aoife Clancy on Vocals, Guitar and Bodhran and Bill Elliott on Vocals, Guitar, and Mandolin.

Aoife and Bill bring a vocal forward acoustic blend to the stage, combining elements of Celtic, Folk, Jazz and spoken word.

Aoife grew up in County Tipperary, Ireland in a particularly musical family as her father, Bobby Clancy, was part of the legendary Clancy Brothers.

In 1995 she was asked to join the acclaimed Celtic folk group “Cherish The Ladies” where she performed as the lead vocalist, guitarist and Bodhran (the Irish drum) player for the following six years. This included many world tours along with performances at the Atlanta Olympics and vocal solo’s with the Boston Pops. Since her time with Cherish the ladies she has been featured in concerts and festivals throughout the USA and the world.

Bill began playing guitar at the age of twelve, initially learning folk, then bluegrass, while transitioning into more contemporary music as a teenager. By sixteen Bill was composing songs and soon began performing on stage in musicals and as a singer/songwriter at various venues. Performing and composing remain his first love to this day.

Aoife & Bill met on St. Patrick’s day in 2015, and immediately found their common connection in music. To their great delight they realized that their musical tastes as well as their voices melded to create a fresh and unique sound that begged to be shared.

www.Celtic-ConFusion.com

Butternut Creek and Friends is a folk group from the North Georgia mountains. The groups repertoire is eclectic - blues, old standards and popular songs as well as traditional folk songs from the mountains. Members of Butternut Creek and Friends are Jennifer Cordier, Don Cordier, and Steve Harvey, all from Blairsville and Brenda Hull from Young Harris . To the guitar, banjo, autoharp and bass, they add harmonious voices and an assortment of unusual instruments including flute, doumbec, spoons and ukulele.

Butternut Creek and Friends performs for fun and donates the money that it earns from CD sales to charity. The group has donated money to the Wilderness Scouts, S.A.F.E. House, the Union County Courthouse Renovation, the Brasstown Concert Association and the Georgia Mountain Station Arboritum as well as a variety of environmental protection projects..

http://butternutcreekandfriends.com/

Geoff Hohwald has been playing banjo for over 40 years. He has played with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra, the Alliance Theatre Orchestra, and has been with the Greater Atlanta Bluegrass Band for the last 18 years. He is known in the bluegrass world for authoring five banjo instruction books and DVD's through Watch & Learn Inc.,

Rick Taylor has been performing with various bands, singing and playing banjo, guitar, and mandolin for the past 30 years. As a session player, Rick has played on recordings by Bob Dylan and the Black Crowes. He has been featured in three productions of "Cotton Patch Gospel" and most recently in Woody Guthrie's "American Song" at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta.

Tricia Spencer is a Kansas fiddler who grew up learning the tradition of old time music from her Grandparents. At an early age, she was perched up on some stage tapping her foot to the beat of fiddles, banjos, mandolins and guitars. While growing up, her free time was spent traveling to festivals and fiddling contests throughout the Midwest where she learned from the likes of Pete McMahan, Cyril Stinnet, Lymon Enloe, Dwight Lamb, Amos Chase, and Lucy Pierce. Tricia is multi-instrumentalist who has studied with some of the great masters and is highly sought after as a performer, dance fiddler, and instructor.
Howard Rains is a native Texas artist and a fourth generation fiddler (or “VY-lin,” as his grandfather would say) from a musical and artistic family whose two obsessions are painting and playing the archaic style of fiddling of his home state. Howard plays rare, old tunes learned from friends, family, mentors, and old recordings. As much known for his painting as his fiddling, Howard has painted many of the great old time musicians, both living and gone.
Together, Spencer & Rains have performed and taught nationally and internationally, preserving and building upon the traditions of their region. The husband and wife duo are known for their twin fiddle harmony, which is a product of the influence of midwestern Scandinavian fiddlers Tricia heard as a child. At the same time, Howard’s distinct repertoire reintroduces listeners to the pre-contest styles of Texas fiddling. That same sense of harmony is in their vocals, as well, which they pull from all manner of American folk music. Both multi-instrumentalists, they are steeped in tradition and are dedicated to the preservation, performance, and teaching of old time music.

https://spencerandrains.com/

Brasstown Ringers, the community handbell group of western North Carolina and north Georgia continues to challenge its ringers and its audiences with new and exciting music, as well as old favorites.

The concert's repertoire is full of fancy bell-ringing techniques that thrilled audiences every time.

Brasstown Ringers are a group of 14 from northern Georgia and western North Carolina. Pat Meinecke is their director.

https://www.facebook.com/brasstownringers