Kat Wallace

• Fiddle
• Folk

Eastern Front Songwriting Grant winner, Kat Wallace, is a Boston-based fiddle player, singer, and songwriter who blends lyrical depth with powerful instrumental command. Wallace is best known for her bespoke fiddle playing in Rachel Sumner and Traveling Light, winners of the 2025 Telluride Bluegrass Band Contest. She has recently stepped into the spotlight with her debut solo album “Grand Design”, released in January 2025. The album showcases her songwriting on tenor guitar, drawing on Americana influences like Gillian Welch and John Prine, alongside centuries-old Celtic and English balladry.

Steven Manwaring

Steven Manwaring is a multi-instrumentalist, teacher, and photographer in the Boston area. He has played guitar and mandolin for nearly fifteen years, specializing in jazz, bluegrass and folk music, and performing in venues across the northeast. Steven performs regularly on mandolin and guitar as a member of the Boston-based folk quintet, Pumpkin Bread.

Steven fell in love with the mandolin at an early age, after watching Chris Thile’s Homespun instructional DVD, Essential Techniques for Mandolin. It was not until much later, however, after pursuing jazz guitar for 10 years, that he rekindled his passion for folk music and finally picked up the mandolin for real. While pursuing a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in music at Tufts University, Steven became immersed in the Boston folk and fiddle music scenes, where he cultivated and developed his skills on both mandolin and guitar.