2025 Festival Lineup

AJ Lee & Blue Summit

AJ Lee & Blue Summit are an award-winning energetic, charming, and technically jaw-dropping band quickly rising on the national roots music scene. Based in Santa Cruz, California, the group met as teenagers, picking and jamming together as kids at local music festivals and jams
until one day, they decided they would be a band.

“Our roots go really deep,” explains de facto band leader Lee. “We met when we were young kids… We definitely decided to choose each other as a chosen family band later on in life, but in a lot of ways it was naturally just like that in the beginning.”

“It was like one of those late at night things,” she continued. “We were sitting on a trailer at Grass Valley” at the annual Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival held in the Sierra Nevada foothills – “Someone said, ‘All of us right here, we’re a band now.’ We kind of didn’t take it seriously, but
we were like, okay, we’ll be a band!”

And thank goodness they became a band. Their first gigs were local, small venues, cafes, restaurants, coffee shops, where they’d play for multiple hours honing their set list and learning shared musical vocabularies. Now, as they criss-cross the country performing hundreds of shows a year to larger and larger audiences, you can sense the intention they had back then – to make music together not for just aspirational reasons, but because it’s fun – and it’s all you want to do as young musicians.

Currently made up of Lee on mandolin, fiddler Jan Purat, and guitarists Scott Gates and Sullivan Tuttle, the band carries that youthful, festival-parking-lot energy with them still today, but at the same time there’s a genuine ease and confidence to their music making. This is not
the bluegrass of ambitious musicians intent on industry success, this is music made firstly for the joy of making it and primarily made for each other. It’s part of why, as they ready their third studio album, City of Glass – their first label release, out July 19th via Signature Sounds – their product feels mature and fully realized, while deep in the Blue Summit pocket.

Junior Sisk Band

Junior Sisk founded Ramblers Choice (the original band name) in 1998, releasing Sounds of the Mountains on Rounder Records. After leaving Blueridge in 2006, he reformed the group, Ramblers Choice and began a successful career with Rebel Records. His 2011 album Heart of a Song helped bring the band into the spotlight and eventually was named IBMA Album of the Year in 2012. It’s single “A Far Cry from Lester and Earl,” which Sisk co-wrote, became a rallying cry for a resurgence of traditional sounds in bluegrass and received the 2012 Song of the Year Award from the IBMA. Sisk was furthered honored when he was named 2013 IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year, while his band earned the 2014 SPBGMA Bluegrass Band of the Year award. In 2016, “Longneck Blues,” a collaboration with noted singer-songwriter, Ronnie Bowman, was named Recorded Event of the Year by the IBMA. Most recently, Sisk received the 2017 Male Vocalist of the Year award from SPBGMA. He and his band now record for Mountain Fever Records.

Junior’s band today is now simply known as, the Junior Sisk Band. The band consists of Johnathan Dillon, Tony Mabe, Heather Berry Mabe, and Curt Love.

Johnathan Dillon is in his tenth year as a member of the Junior Sisk Band. He’s the mandolin player, vocalist, driver, and bus expert.

Over the years, Heather Berry Mabe has recorded several albums including two for Tom T. & Miss Dixie Hall’s label, Blue Circle Records. She has sang all over the country at many different venues including the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. A two time IBMA award winner for her work with the Daughters of Bluegrass, and a two time SPBGMA female vocalist of the year nominee, Heather has been gifted with a mountain clear voice.

Tony Mabe, husband to Heather Berry Mabe, began playing music at the age of 6. Over the years he’s played with several well known bluegrass bands including, The James King Band, The Jeanette Williams Band, Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass, Bobby Atkins & The Countrymen, and Travers Chandler & Avery County. He has won and placed numerous times at fiddlers conventions with his banjo.

Curt Love was first introduced to bluegrass music at 3 years old, but it wasn’t until much later he turned his love for bluegrass into a profession. The Junior Sisk Band is Curt’s first professional music job. A long time fan of Junior’s and familiar with his music for years, Curt was a great fit for the bass.

With the combined vocalists and instrumentalists currently in The Junior Sisk Band, a new level of good, traditional bluegrass is reached every time they take the stage or record a new album together.

Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands

For nearly four decades, Laurie Lewis has gathered fans and honors for her powerful and emotive voice and her versatile, dynamic songwriting. She is a sought-after recording producer and an equally skilled teacher and mentor.

And she is an inspiration and a ground-breaker – across genres, across geography and across gender barriers.

Laurie has shown us how a woman can blend into any part of the classic bluegrass singing trio, and she showed us how a great voice could move fluidly between bluegrass and other types of music. She showed us how a female fiddler could emulate the strength and grit of the early bluegrass musicians. She has shown how a Californian can appeal to traditional bluegrass audiences, as well as winning acclaim in the worlds of Americana and folk music.

She has shown us how to lead bands of talented musicians – learning from them while helping them make their best music. And she has shown us how to thrive in a constantly changing musical environment – without ever sacrificing her art.

Good Ol’ Persons
Kathy Kallick, John Reischman, Sally Van Meter, Paul Shelasky, and Bethany Raine Sorkey

This reunion of this beloved Bay Area band is a chance for Kathy, John, Sally, Paul, and Bethany to revisit some of their favorite music from days gone by. Expect performances that go far beyond nostalgia, as these musicians have continued to evolve; their music is filled with dazzling playing, passionate singing, inclusive humor, and some really good ol’ songs.

The Good Ol’ Persons were formed in 1975 as a result of the success of five women performing at a Freight & Salvage open mic. The name filled a spur-of-the-moment need and provided a wry comment on the dominant bluegrass culture of the era. It didn’t take long for a band to form, for men to infiltrate — and for the music to become more important than a gimmicky name.

The Good Ol’ Persons were among the first bluegrass bands to feature the songwriting, lead playing, and vocal harmonies of women, and went on to be trendsetters in the incorporation of Latin, swing, folk, Cajun, and other musical genres into their bluegrass. The band released several albums, toured throughout the US (including Bill Monroe’s Beanblossom Festival) and Europe, and had a profound influence on several generations of bluegrassers.

Since 1995, members of the band have continued to enjoy successful musical careers (as well as occasional GOP reunions). Kathy, Sally, and John are Grammy and IBMA award winners; Kathy, John, and Paul were awarded Lifetime Memberships by the California Bluegrass Association; all are outstanding performers, composers, producers, bandleaders, and teachers.

Laurie Lewis and Kathy Kallick
50 YEARS OF TOGETHERNESS

As Randy Pitts noted, “Before Laurie Lewis and Kathy Kallick became the highly respected and successful singers, songwriters, and bluegrass bandleaders they are today, they were founding members of the groundbreaking and influential band, the Good Ol’ Persons. Although Laurie remained in that group for only a short while before moving on to lead her own bands, she and Kathy forged a lifelong personal and professional friendship that endures to this day.”

Kathy and Laurie have been guest performers on many of each other’s albums, and they’ve released two collaborative projects: 1991’s Together, and the 2014 tribute to their mentors, Vern Williams and Ray Park, Laurie & Kathy Sing the Songs Of Vern & Ray.

Both Laurie and Kathy have won a Grammy and two International Bluegrass Music
Association awards for their contributions to True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe, both have released some two dozen albums with bands and/or under their own names, and both have received Lifetime Member Awards from the California Bluegrass Association. Laurie has twice won the IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year award, and all the Kathy Kallick Band albums have charted in the Top 10 of both the National Bluegrass Survey and Folk Alliance International charts.

Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band

Widely recognized as one of the most exciting young bands in acoustic music, Crying Uncle Bluegrass plays a unique mix of bluegrass, Dawg (David Grisman music), jazz, and modern originals. Brothers Miles and Teo Quale are joined by bassist Andrew Osborn and 2023 National Flat Pick Guitar Champion Ian Ly, all outstanding young musicians of the vibrant California bluegrass scene. Founded in 2016 as a Duo band, Miles and Teo formed the bluegrass band in 2017 and since then, they have continued to make waves in the world of bluegrass and acoustic music. The bluegrass band was the recipient of the 2023 International Bluegrass Music Association’s Momentum Band of the Year award. The band was also honored to perform for the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame’s induction of their hero, David Grisman.

Based in Northern California, Crying Uncle Bluegrass has opened for prestigious bands, including Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives and David Grisman Bluegrass Experience. The band has played at venues such as IBMA’s World of Bluegrass Festival, CBA’s Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival, Strawberry Music Festival, SF’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Delfest, and Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival. Internationally, the band toured in Japan in 2023 and in 2022, they headlined at Bluegrass in La Roche, France. In 2019, they toured throughout Finland, culminating at Kaustinen Folk Music Festival. In 2018, the band was featured on a TEDTalk by Nashville-based singer/songwriter Phoebe Hunt. Miles was also a proud recipient of the Whippoorwill Arts Fellowship in 2022.

The band released their eponymous album, Crying Uncle, in 2018. And in 2020, they released their sophomore album, Monroe Bridge, which features guest artists, fiddler Chad Manning and mandolinist Sharon Gilchrist and produced by banjoist Keith Little. In 2021, the bluegrass band came out with an EP of mostly self-written tunes, Till I Dance Again with You, inspired by a year of “isolating” during the pandemic. Most recently (2022), they released their newest album, The Thing of Dreams, which highlights their originals. Crying Uncle Bluegrass is proud to be a Fishman artist and an Ear Trumpet Labs artist.

The Alum Ridge Boys & Ashlee

Mining the fertile common ground between bluegrass, early country music, and traditional mountain music, The Alum Ridge Boys & Ashlee are Virginia’s torchbearers of the old time sound. Featuring the classic quintet of fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, and bass, the band comprises five masterful musicians and singers who have immersed themselves in the dance music traditions of the Blue Ridge region and developed a deeply rooted old time bluegrass sound. Deep appreciation for Country and “Hillbilly” music of the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s enables the band to craft tasteful original songs and instrumentals that blend seamlessly alongside the classics.

Their powerful harmony singing and energetic instrumentals have captivated audiences around the globe and helped the band to win many awards including first prize in the old time band contest at the 85th Annual Old Fiddlers’ Convention in Galax, Virginia and the bluegrass band contest at the 51st Mount Airy Fiddlers’ Convention in North Carolina. Band members have also won a slew of individual awards including first place bluegrass banjo at Galax, first place old time fiddle at the Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, WV, and first prize in the 29th Annual MerleFest Chris Austin Songwriting Contest. The Alum Ridge Boys & Ashlee cut no corners when it comes to real, hard hitting, old time country music – an approach that is quickly gaining them loyal followers far beyond the reaches of their Virginia mountain home.

Clinton Davis String Band

Clinton Davis is an old time folk musician currently based in San Diego, California. A fifth-generation Kentuckian, Davis grew up in rural Carroll County. His repertoire spans fiddle and banjo music native to his family home, the exuberant ragtime piano and guitar of early 20th-century New Orleans, and ballad songs and dance music of the Southwest.

Davis’ prowess across instruments and traditional American styles has gained notice from the standard-bearers of previous generations, and earned him a place amongst a new generation of American folk musicians. Stefan Grossman, renowned authority of American roots guitar, has called him “a master…carrying on the traditional music torch of Mike Seeger.” No Depression has called his work “a joyous and soulful restoration of one of the lost treasures of American musical tradition.” Deering Banjos has called his playing “simply sublime.”

In 2021, Davis released his first full-length solo album, ‘If I Live and I Don’t Get Killed,’ on Tiki Parlour Recordings. In 2025 he will release TWO follow-up albums

Mission Blue

Mission Blue delivers straight-ahead bluegrass, featuring our unique brand of family harmony singing and heartfelt storytelling. Led by the father-daughter duo, Dana and Avram (AJ) Frankel, Mission Blue has been performing since 2017. Drawing from a deep well of traditional bluegrass, you can expect songs from Larry Sparks, The Stanley Brothers, Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Mac Martin, and Red Allen, as well as bluegrass innovators like J.D. Crowe and The New South, Hot Rize, Southern Blend, and The Johnson Mountain Boys. In addition, Mission Blue enhances each set with reinterpretations of older folk tunes, ballads, and original material. Our traditional five-piece format features Dana Frankel on fiddle, AJ Frankel on guitar, Sam Reed on banjo, David Thiessen on mandolin, and Tom Sours on bass.

The Canote Brothers

Early country music was a simple style with sparse instrumentation. The first commercial country music recordings in 1922 and 1923 by Eck Robertson and Fiddlin’ John Carson were either solo or duo recordings by fiddlers. Duo acts performing old-time country music were common, often featuring the uniquely blended harmony singing of two brothers were a common combination. One of these early acts, the Monroe Brothers, included the future “father of Bluegrass Music,” Bill Monroe. The Delmore Brothers, the McGee Brothers, and the Blue Sky Boys (Bill and Earl Bolick) were other popular brother duets performing and recording country music in the 1930s.

The twin brothers Jere and Greg Canote from Seattle continue that tradition. As they describe their music: “We are proud to think of ourselves as links in the chain of musical brother duets like the Stanley Brothers, the Blue Sky boys, Sam and Kirk Magee or the Everlys. But we are always amazed by the possibilities of a fiddle and a guitar, (and those genetically matched voices). While we have one foot firmly planted in the traditions of American Roots music, we certainly have an ear tuned to the novel and the quirky.”

They have taken advantage of their genetics for as long as they remember; starting as Christmas elves tap dancing their way around the wishing well in the first grade. They have played an important role in the active old-time music scene on the West Coast through a string band class they have been teaching for more than 30 years. And apparently they still have fun with it: “We love the beautiful old fiddle tunes and the hypnotic ‘in the moment’ experience of playing this American Old Time music. We wish everybody could join us!”

The Gibson Brothers

There’s a reason why Ricky Skaggs pulled Eric and Leigh Gibson off the stage at the Ryman two decades ago and offered to produce their debut record. The same thing that led David Ferguson and GrammyAward winning producer and Black Keys frontman DanAuerbach to co-write and produce their 14th album “Mockingbird” (2018) and release it on his own label Easy Eye Sound alongside cultural icons such as HankWilliams Jr. and Dr. John, the Gibson Brothers are the real deal. They can pick. They can sing. And they can write a damn good country song. They’ve won about every bluegrass award you can name and released albums on almost every premier Americana label you can think of including Sugar Hill and Rounder, and, if that’s not enough, their songs have been recorded by bluegrass legends no less than Del McCoury. It’s a resume almost anybody in country music would be proud to have. But despite all of this, the Gibson Brothers are not yet household names. Their latest album, “Darkest Hour,” produced by dobro master Jerry Douglas might just change that.

As soon as you hear Leigh singing with Alison Krauss [“I FeelThe SameWayAsYou”] on the new project you realize that his voice is as good as anyone in music today. Add the brother harmony to that and they have something truly unique. While “Mockingbird” featured gorgeous production, recreating the sound on stage was difficult. “We put together a little band to go out and try to recreate it,” Eric told me, but we couldn’t. We would have to have such a huge band to try to recreate that record, but we did the best we could.”

Douglas—who has won 14 Grammy awards and backed up everyone from Ray Charles to PaulSimon and George Jones—wanted to make a record they could actually play on the road. So he picked the best songs (out of dozens) and squirreled them away in Sound Emporium’s Studio B. But then the pandemic hit. “We did our last shows in March of 2020,” Eric told me. “We were in Nashville the week everything was shutting down. It was surreal, but Jerry was like, ‘Guys, the world’s going crazy. Let’s let this be our little cocoon.’And we did. We cut all of the acoustic stuff and then went home and didn’t play any more gigs until things started opening. Then we went back and finished the record with Jerry in February of 2021.”

The result is arguably the strongest record The Gibson Brothers have ever made. The songs recorded in the first recording period featured Mike Barber (bass), Justin Moses (mandolin),Eamon McGloughlin (fiddle), and of course, Jerry Douglas, adding in John Gardner (drums), Guthrie Trapp (electric guitar), andTodd Parks (bass) for the final tracks, “Darkest Hour”showcases just how easily Eric and Leigh move from what DanAuerbach dubbed “country soul”(“I Go Driving”) to high octane bluegrass (“What a Difference A Day Makes” and “Dust”) with Douglas always keeping the spotlight on the songs themselves. “That’s what I love about those guys,” Douglas told me, “they are just great songwriters.”

Growing up on a dairy farm in northern New York and then traveling around the world in a bluegrass band has given them a unique vantage point on life, and the songs on “Darkest Hour” are a testament to that. “Jerry wanted to hear everything we’d written,” Eric told me, “so we just sent him songs: brand new songs, old songs, there’s stuff on that record 20 years old that we never recorded. We wanted to see what he would do with us as a singer-songwriter. We respect him that much. Some of my favorite records are Jerry Douglas-produced records. He didn’t disappoint.”

If the Gibson Brothers had stayed in Nashville in 1999 they might possibly be Grand Ole Opry members by now. At the very least they would be hit songwriters on Music Row. But, just like their buddy Del McCoury, they chose family over success (McCoury was in his 50s when he moved to Nashville and didn’t really see major success until he was approaching 60). All they need is someone to shine a light on them. Their talent level is well-established, the only producers they have ever worked with are Ricky Skaggs, DanAuerbach, David Ferguson, and Jerry Douglas. I dare say not many musicians can stack up a list of producers that strong. For the Gibson Brothers though, they just want to keep writing, singing, and standing on a stage.

The Travelin’ McCourys

From a source deep, abundant, and pure the river flows. It’s there on the map, marking place and time. Yet, the river changes as it remains a constant, carving away at the edges, making new pathways, gaining strength as it progresses forward. The Travelin’ McCourys are that river.

The McCoury brothers- Ronnie (mandolin) and Rob (banjo) – were born into the bluegrass tradition. Talk about a source abundant and pure: their father, Del, is among the most influential and successful musicians in the history of the genre. Years on the road with Dad in the Del McCoury Band honed their knife-edge chops, and encouraged the duo to imagine how traditional bluegrass could cut innovative pathways into 21st century music.

“If you put your mind, your skills, and your ability to it, I think you can make just about anything work on bluegrass instruments,” says Ronnie. “That’s a really fun part of this- figuring the new stuff out and surprising the audience.”

With fiddler Jason Carter, bassist Alan Bartram, and latest recruit Cody Kilby on guitar, they assembled a group that could take what they had in their DNA, take what traditions they learned and heard, and push the music forward. In fact, the band became the only group to have each of its members recognized with an International Bluegrass Music Association Award for their instrument at least once. There were peers, too, that could see bluegrass as both historic and progressive. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Allman Brothers Band, improv-rock kings Phish, and jamband contemporary Keller Williams were just a few that formed a mutual admiration society with the ensemble.

The band played the Allman’s Wanee Festival, and guitarist Warren Haynes’ Christmas jam- an annual holiday homecoming of Southern music. An early-years jam with the Lee Boys was hailed by many as the highlight of the evening, and with the video catching fire online, earned a legion of new, young fans of their supercharged combination of sacred steel, R&B, and bluegrass. There were unforgettable collaborations with country smash Dierks Bentley, and onstage magic, jamming with titans String Cheese Incident and Phish, cutting an album with Keller (Pick), and creating the Grateful Ball- a tribute concert-turned-tour bridging bluegrass with the iconic music of the Grateful Dead.

“That’s something that’s part of us being who we are,” says Ronnie. “It comes, too, with us plugging in. It gets louder, for sure. We can’t be another version of our dad’s band. It wouldn’t make any sense for us to do that.”

Their concerts became can’t-miss events, whether headlining historic venues or as festival favorites, drawing the love and respect of a growing fanbase craving their eclectic repertoire. At the 2016 edition of DelFest, an annual gathering of the genre’s best aptly named for the McCoury patriarch, the band delivered the take-away highlight. Rolling Stone called it “a sublime combination of rock and bluegrass, contemporary and classic, old and young. The best set of the festival…” The river was going new places, getting stronger. It was time to re-draw the map.

“We’ve tried to pick songs we think people are going to enjoy,” says Ronnie. “Something we learned from our dad is that a good song is a good song. It can be done in any way.”

So arrives the long-awaited, self-titled debut album from the quintet. A brilliantly executed set overflowing with inventive style, stellar musicianship, and, of course, plenty of burnin’ grass, the 14-song collection is a true culmination of their decades-long journey. From the headwaters of Bill Monroe and the waves of Jerry Garcia to a sound both rooted and revolutionary, soulful and transcending that belongs only to the Travelin’ McCourys.

“The album definitely shows what we’ve evolved into as a band. And, it’s a pretty good representation of what’s happening with the whole genre,” says Rob. “The old bluegrass material is something I love but it’s been done many times. We’re forging ahead with our own sound. That’s what you have to do to make it all work.”

Windy Hill

Formed in 2008 by a couple of high school friends from the Bay Area, Windy Hill has covered a lot of ground in 16 years, performing all over the western states and recording four albums.

​While the band is steeped in the traditional style, they’ve cultivated their own distinct bluegrass sound. The balance between their love for classic bluegrass and keenness to explore fresh musical ideas defines their style and approach, and makes them a fan-favorite for music lovers of all types.

​Three-part harmony, lonesome duets, banjo breakdowns, honky-tonk sorrow, blues mandolin, and original material all combine to create their vision for bluegrass music and its future.

They’ve won numerous awards, performed at festivals, venues, and bars across the west coast, and released four albums:

Live from the Ratz Nest | 2018
Bluegrass Sounds from California | 2017
The Lonesome Garbage Man | 2013
Let’s Go To The Fair | 2011

The Town Howlers

The Town Howlers play traditional, straight ahead, bluegrass music, with some occasional originals and often pulling material from neighboring genres like old time and country. They take their inspiration from the classic singers and instrumentalists of the golden era of bluegrass, such as Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers, Vern Williams, and Jimmy Martin, as well as lesser known artists like Buzz Busby, Connie & Babe, Charlie Moore, and Mac Martin. The Town Howlers put heavy emphasis on overall band presence, opting to fill the air with the sound their instruments create rather than letting microphones do all the work for them.

John Mckelvy (guitar), Rowan McCallister (mandolin), and Michael Small (banjo) started the band more than 10 years ago, in 2014, soon pulling in Matt Crimp on fiddle, and eventually Jimmy Touzel on Bass. In 2018 they released their debut album “Alright Everybody! It’s The Town Howlers,” recording 16 tracks straight to tape, all live with no overdubs. Since the departure of fiddler Matt Crimp who still comes down from Washington to join them for occasional performances, The Town Howlers are joined by a rotating cast of California’s best fiddlers, including Chad Manning, Andy Lentz, Amy Kassir, & Dana Frankel.

Having played all over California from festival stages like The Sonoma County Bluegrass & Folk Festival, The Hoes Down Harvest Festival, and numerous appearances on Grass Valley’s Vern’s stage, to weddings and private events in the various nooks and crannies of the state, The Town Howlers are always ready to gather around the single mic and play some bluegrass music.

The Bearcat Stringband

The Bearcat Stringband – hailing from Oakland, California – play old time music that drives hard. Influenced largely by southern style old time square dance music, they know how to hold the groove and throw a party.

Equally comfortable when playing raging dance tunes, quirky rags, or “old time does country” honky tonk numbers, the Bearcat Stringband is excited to represent the vibrant and thriving California old time music scene at the 50th Father’s Day Festival.

The Bearcat Stringband features Bay Area traditional music compatriots Robin Fischer on fiddle (also doubles as square dance caller – but not at the same time as when she is fiddling!); Rowan McCallister on banjo and mandolin (you might recognize him from bluegrass bands the Town Howlers, and Hey Lonesome, besides being a sought-after sideman); Katy Hill Harris on guitar (the Barn Owls, KC and the MoOnshine Band); and Allegra Thompson on bass (Thompsonia, Skillet Licorice). Everybody sings.

The Bearcat Stringband has appeared at the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention, the Los Angeles Old Time Social, and has held down a monthly residency at Cato’s Alehouse in Oakland for over ten years. The last time the Bearcat Stringband played the Father’s Day festival it was 2015!