Charissa Hoffman’s story is as eclectic as her instrument. A 6th-generation musician raised in Nashville, TN, her path to music seemed inevitable, but her choice of instrument- the ukulele- came out of nowhere. As a young recipient of the David Chow Humanitarian award and director of the Uke Can End It campaign to combat human trafficking, her heart has always been for the vulnerable, the underserved, and the underdog instruments.

Through the influences of genre-bending artists like Chet Atkins and Duke Ellington, she soon exceeded expectations for her instrument, establishing herself as a formidable chord-melody player and earning a spot as the first ukulele principal to be accepted to Berklee College of Music in 2017. Her songwriting earned her a place as participant in the prestigious Acoustic Music Seminar, and on stages at clubs and festivals across the country. Musically, Charissa has been influenced by artists ranging from Amanda Palmer to Joni Mitchell to Béla Fleck; within her there is a daring, open-hearted performer, a wistful, introspective songwriter, and an intentional instrumentalist who is driven to break down barriers for her instrument. She draws on singer-songwriter roots and jazz training in her music, creating dreamy, ethereal worlds for her listeners.

Pete Nelson has two CDs, The Restless Boys’ Club, and Days Like Horses, on the Signature Sounds label. In 2001, he took a brief hiatus from performing (20 years) to raise a son. He is also the author of thirty books, including I Thought You Were Dead, an autobiographical novel about a man and his talking dog. He was once nominated by The Boston Music Awards as best newcomer in the folk category but lost to someone named Patty Griffin.

Born in Ohio, Cormac made his singing debut on WKRC Radio in Cincinnati, as a three-year old belting out “Davy Crockett” on his father’s radio show. He returned to public performance some twenty years later, singing his own compositions with a bit more experience in his voice.

Rooted in rural New England since the age of ten, McCarthy grew up in towns where the economies teetered on marginal subsistence from logging and paper and woolen mills. His elementary school had the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades in the same room. Though the area was small, his musical influences were not: his father’s love for jazz and classical music introduced Cormac to everything from Errol Garner to Beethoven.

It wasn’t until his sister made a visit home from college, bringing an armful of recordings by Dylan, Baez, and Eric Anderson, that things clicked musically for McCarthy: he traded his clarinet for a Western Auto guitar, purchasing the Black Diamond strings across the street at the barber shop.

In his own college years, Cormac studied literature and music and took a great liking to the works of James Joyce, Miles Davis and Mississippi John Hurt. He spent most of his time reading, playing guitar, and working in the local mills to pay for school. His college roommate, Bill Morrissey, helped encourage Cormac to make his music more public, and a stint of shared local gigs and storytelling marathons ensued.

A trip west followed college, as did an array of different jobs including construction worker, truck driver, street singer, and a stint as a migrant worker. Through his music Cormac has succeeded in bringing lyrical magic to some of these rougher edges of life.

Cormac has performed nationally on many stages including three times at the Newport Folk Festival, twice on NPR’s Mountain Stage Live Radio Show, Boston’s WUMB Folk Radio 10th anniversary celebration, headlined at the Night of Humor and Songwriters and American Troubadours with Eric Andersen and Townes Van Zandt at Boston’s Somerville Theater, Ben & Jerry’s One World, One Heart Festival, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival and more.

McCarthy has recorded 5 highly acclaimed albums and is working on a new one. Click Here!

Also a poet, he’s slowly been compiling a collection of prose poems. Take a look.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, Cormac is not the novelist (author of “All the Pretty Horses, ” Blood Meridian”, etc.); although with his background in literature, rural roots, and knack for penning a great line it would draw some easy comparisons.

Presently, Cormac, his wife, Sammie Haynes, a musician in her own right, (www.treetopsmusic.com/), and their small, well-mannered dog live in southern Maine adjacent to the lively Seacoast arts scene centered around Portsmouth, NH.

His peers call Terry Klein a songwriter’s songwriter. Whether this is meant a compliment or an epithet is debatable, but most mornings you’ll find him in his writing room in Austin, Texas staring out the window in the grip of some line or word or syllable or a snippet of a melody, trying to figure out if a song is saying what it means to say.

Terry draws inspiration from musical heroes like Hank Williams, John Prine, and Lightnin Hopkins, but also from literature, film, and painting. His debut record, Great Northern, was produced by Walt Wilkins. Great Northern appeared on multiple 2017 Top Ten lists and garnered praise from Rodney Crowell and Mary Gauthier. Klein and Wilkins teamed up again for the follow up to Great Northern, Tex, which is out now and which Lonesome Highway calls “a story book full of tales that instantly capture the imagination, with lyrics at times uplifting and joyous and on occasions as painful as an open wound.” Tex has been the subject of international critical acclaim and reached the Top-20 of US Folk DJ Chart and the Top-15 of the EuroAmericana chart. He tours extensively throughout North America and Europe.