Artist Category: Bluegrass | Page 2

Stash Wyslouch

Stash Wyslouch has been teaching, recording and performing music for the past 20 years. Stash works primarily as a Bluegrass and Americana guitarist and has a Bachelor’s in Music Performance from Berklee College of Music.

Stash’s teaching style focuses on learning the building blocks of music and developing practical skills to problem solve your own musical riddles. Stash toured for many years in Bluegrass groups The Deadly Gentlemen, Bruce Molsky’s Mountain Drifters and The Jacob Jolliff Band. He has shared the stage with Billy Strings, David Grisman and the Yonder Mountain String Band.

Max Wareham

Max Wareham is a banjo player, songwriter, and author from Boston, MA. He is a member of the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band and was featured on the Grammy-nominated album Calling You from My Mountain.

After two years of touring nationally with Peter, Max recorded his own album, Dagommit!. The album features Chris Eldridge and David Grier on guitar, Laura Orshaw on fiddle, Chris Henry on mandolin, Mike Bub on bass, Larry Atamanuik on snare drum, and guest singer and producer Peter Rowan. Recorded by multi-Grammy winning engineer Sean Sullivan (Molly Tuttle, Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Jerry Douglas), Wareham’s commitment to early innovators of the instrument shines on this forthcoming record of soulful original songs, highlighted by the hard-driving chemistry of Nashville’s preeminent bluegrass stars.

Max’s interest in history extends to his writing. His first book, “Rudy Lyle: The Unsung Hero of the Five String Banjo” chronicles the life and music of early bluegrass banjo master Rudy Lyle by presenting exhaustive and largely never-before-published transcriptions and analyses of every break Lyle recorded with Bill Monroe, the “father of bluegrass.” Lyle’s historical significance is explored in interviews with banjo legends and members of Rudy’s family. Beautiful portraits of each interviewee are included alongside several never-before-published photos of Lyle himself.

In addition to his work as a banjo player, he has studied jazz guitar performance at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in NYC, written songs for and co-produced the album “Cousin Moon,” played bass with psych-pop outfit Sun Parade, and produced and recorded songs under the alias “Sir Orfeo.”

Old Hat Stringband

Old Hat is a string band based out of Eliot, Maine. Fusing tight vocal harmonies with a lively rhythm and groove section, Old Hat’s sound draws from bluegrass, old time, folk, and country traditions. The band is comprised of Whitney Roy (Guitar, Vocals), Steve Roy (Mandolin, Fiddle, Vocals), Amanda Kowalski (Bass), and Carolyn Kendrick (Fiddle, Vocals).

Whitney Roy’s lilting vocals provide the backbone of Old Hat’s vocal blend, while her solid rhythm guitar anchors the bands rhythm section.

Steve Roy is one of New England’s premier multi-instrumentalists, and has performed and toured with many of the acoustic world’s top acts.

Amanda Kowalski is one of the more sought-after bass players in the worlds of bluegrass and old time music, and her rhythmic drive and energy on stage are second to none.

Carolyn Kendrick is a California-based singer-songwriter, fiddler, guitarist, and producer. After graduating from Berklee College of Music, Kendrick crisscrossed the country with her former duo project The Page Turners. She has also shared the stage with beloved artists such as Bruce Molsky, Margo Price, Aoife O’Donovan, and Darol Anger, all while playing the festival circuit and winning numerous awards.

Mark & Maggie O’Connor

Mark and Maggie have been existing in an uninterrupted musical collaboration since the day they met eight years ago in 2014. As they were perfecting the finer points of Mark’s American Classical violin duos, it got so good that they decided to get married. The next stage of their musical journey turned into a larger family collaboration for which they each took home a Grammy for playing bluegrass in the O’Connor Band. Now, they have turned yet another musical corner. With a year-and-a-half of isolation from touring during the world-wide pandemic, they dedicated their days and nights towards further musical growth together. The couple workshopped new songs during seventy weekly online concerts from home; Mondays with Mark and Maggie. A group of dedicated viewers watched as they made their musical experiments, some fans tuning in for all of them. What came out of this exploration is an Americana album project of mostly original vocal songs they sing together, other popular songs reimagined, and all of them supported by a small universe of acoustic instruments they’ve brushed up on in the time off the road. The album reveals the pair’s most sincere and deeply personal work yet.

Naomi Sommers

Naomi Sommers is an Ithaca, NY-based singer-songwriter, guitar-, banjo-, mandolin- and flute-player. She performs solo, with her family (as the Sommers Rosenthal Family Band), and a number of other groups, and has recorded and performed professionally since childhood.

Over the years Naomi has sung and played flute, banjo, and guitar on more than 20 records released on her father Phil’s independent American Melody label, and has recorded three albums under her own name, as well as one with Lisa Bastoni as the slow-grass duo Gray Sky Girls.

While living Germany for nearly a decade, Naomi toured in the Netherlands and the UK. Gentle As the Sun was released by Continental Records in the Netherlands, and received stellar reviews & radio airplay in the UK and Europe.

Currently, Naomi teaches classes and workshops on singing and songwriting to elementary-aged students through the public schools in Ithaca and beyond. (She also now works for the Coalition for Healthy School Food as Ithaca Program Manager, bringing healthy, plant-based food, nutrition education, and cooking classes to students in the Ithaca City School District.)

Other recent music projects include a new Ithaca bluegrass band with veteran musicians Rick Manning, Dana Paul and Alice Saltonstall (tentatively called “The Afterlife, )duo shows with Massachusetts-based singer-songwriter Lisa Bastoni, and re-uniting with another long-time duo partner Dan Tressler for performances and a record in-progress.

Catfish in the Sky

Catfish in the Sky is a band that’s hard to pin down. With an instrument make-up of fiddle, cello, cajon, and ukulele, these young musicians are breaking musical barriers in ways that frankly shouldn’t work, but somehow do. With a style described as “Upbeat Americana Folk-Grass for All Ages,” these Berklee students are able to combine the vast array of styles and musical backgrounds they come from, creating sets that often cause bystanders to stop in their tracks. Ranging from fiddle tune standards to original music, Catfish in the Sky is sure to have something everyone will love.

Catfish in the Sky is made up of Ruth Shumway on Fiddle, Sammy Wetstein on Cello, Owen Miller On Cajón, and Sho Humphries on Ukulele. With music described as, “upbeat electric Americana folk-grass for all ages”, the quartet combines styles from the diverse musical worlds they each come from. The quartet currently attends Berklee, pursuing their studies while performing in Boston and beyond.

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer

TWO-TIME GRAMMY Award Winners, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer are master musicians with a career spanning over 35 years. Their superb harmonies are backed by instrumental virtuosity on the guitar, five-string banjo, ukulele, mandolin, cello-banjo, and many other instruments. An eclectic folk festival on their own terms, their repertoire ranges from classic country to western swing, gypsy jazz to bluegrass, and old-time string band to contemporary folk including some original gems. Their versatility defies a brief description, perhaps “well rounded Americana” does it best.

Cathy & Marcy have performed at hundreds of bluegrass and folk festivals and taught at close to 100 music camps. The Washington Area Music Association has recognized the duo with over 60 WAMMIE Awards for folk, bluegrass and children’s music. They have performed with Pete Seeger, Theodore Bikel, Tom Paxton, Patsy Montana, Riders in the Sky and a wide range of musical luminaries.

They are happily known as “social music conductors” ready to start a jam session, a community sing or to cre- ate a music camp helping others learn to play and sing. Past students include Kaki King and Rhiannon Giddens. Through their long relationship with the Music Center at Strathmore they collaborated with positive hip-hop artist Christylez Bacon. They continue to mentor up-and-coming artists on navigating the professional music world.

They have entertained the Queen of Thailand, been keynote singers for the AFL-CIO, performed at hundreds of folk festivals, appeared on the “Today Show” and on National Public Radio. They have advocated in Washington for unions, health care for children and the rights and livelihoods of artists.

As curators, performers and hosts, Cathy & Marcy produce A Tribute To Hank Williams at The Birchmere Music Hall, 2019 will be their 23rd annual concert. Their annual weeklong Ukulele & Guitar Summit at The Music Center at Strathmore goes into its 11th year in 2019.

Cathy & Marcy have earned two GRAMMY® Awards for their recordings cELLAbration: a Tribute to Ella Jenkins and for Bon Appétit!. Their CDs Postcards and Banjo Talkin’ were both GRAMMY nominated in the Best Traditional Folk Album category.

Cathy & Marcy have toured worldwide from Japan to New Zealand, Vancouver to New York and everywhere in between. Shows include The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (OH), Smithsonian Institution and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. American Voices Abroad chose Cathy & Marcy with fiddler Barbara Lamb to perform in China, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu for the U.S. Department of State.

Micah John & Lillian Chase

Micah John is an award-winning fiddler, guitarist, and singer. At only 17, she has spent the last decade immersed in the roots music community of the Northeast and has performed at legendary venues such as Club Passim and The Burren Backroom. Micah placed 1st in the Open Bluegrass Fiddle Contest at the 2019 Lowell Banjo & Fiddle Contest and 2nd in Old-time fiddle at the 2022 Lowell Banjo & Fiddle Contest.

Lillian Chase, a 19-year-old fiddler and vocalist, grew up enveloped in the old-time and bluegrass scene in and around Asheville, North Carolina. She has played at well-known Southern venues including Merlefest and Song of the Mountains, and is now studying Music Performance at Berklee College of Music. She placed 4th in the 2022 Open Old-Time Fiddle Contest at Clifftop and 1st in Old-Time Fiddle at the 2022 Lowell Banjo & Fiddle Contest.

Micah and Lillian were initially connected by their shared mentor, Bruce Molsky, and met at the 2021 Ossipee Valley Music Festival. The two started performing as a duo after competing together in the Twin Fiddle category at the 2022 Lowell Banjo & Fiddle Contest, where they placed 1st. Their duo quickly became well-established in the Boston area after playing a sold-out show at Club Passim in fall of 2022.

Micah and Lillian share a love for old-time fiddle tunes and ballads, and interlace their sets with newer songs and tunes. Their shows are full of tight harmonies, twin-fiddling, and rocking guitar & fiddle duets.

Alex Formento

Alex Formento is a guitarist, vocalist, and pedal steel guitarist based in Boston, MA. While his early roots are in rock and jazz music, he can now be seen playing among Boston’s thriving Bluegrass scene.

Hailing from northern New Jersey, Alex studied classical piano at a young age before picking up the electric guitar. Drawing inspiration from The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, he got the “Bluegrass bug” eventually after discovering a local jam session. His adventurous flatpick-guitar playing has become one of the main driving forces of his musicianship. As a songwriter and guitarist with the acoustic trio “Pretty Saro”, he has appeared at the Ossipee Valley Music Festival, Joe Val, Podunk, Club Passim, Rockwood Music Hall and other esteemed venues and festivals around the northeast. Since graduating from the Berklee College of Music in 2020, Alex has also been playing a single-neck pedal steel guitar. He has recorded for several artists in the Boston folk scene such as Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light, the Talking Hearts, Patrick Mulroy, and Matt Hannigan.

Tim O’Brien & Jan Fabricius

Multi-Grammy award winner Tim O’Brien and his wife Jan Fabricius have performed together nationally and internationally either as a duo or as part of the Tim O’Brien Band since 2015. In a duet setting with a guitar, a mandolin, and their two voices, they bring an intimate and warm acoustic music roots repertoire that’s at once both original and traditional.

Singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist O’Brien, born in Wheeling WV in 1954, grew up singing and playing guitar in church and in school. After seeing Doc Watson on TV, he became a lifelong devotee of old time and bluegrass music. Co-founder of Colorado’s Hot Rize, he toured the world with that band from 1978 until he started his solo career in 1990. His songs have been covered by Kathy Mattea, Garth Brooks, and the Dixie Chicks, and his collaborators onstage and in the recording studio include Darrell Scott, Dirk Powell, Mark Knopfler, and Sturgill Simpson. Awarded Grammy’s in both the Folk and Bluegrass categories, he is a member of both the West Virginia and the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. He lives with Jan Fabricius in Nashville TN.Jan Fabricius grew up in WaKeeney, Ks. and sang from an early age in church and school, taking up clarinet and then mandolin.

A registered nurse and mother of two, she kept her hand in music through local jams and regional bluegrass festivals while raising her family. Jan’s music with O’Brien started informally around their home as he wrote or learned new songs, and she soon found herself singing and playing mandolin in the studio and onstage. O’Brien’s 2021 release “He Walked On”, and his upcoming release “Cup of Sugar” feature original songs cowritten by Tim and Jan.