2023 SCHEDULE

Grammy-nominated, all-women string band Della Mae have traveled to over 30 countries so far, spreading peace and understanding through music. The band—founder and fiddle player Kimber Ludiker, lead vocalist/guitarist Celia Woodsmith, guitarist Avril Smith, bassist Vickie Vaughn, and mandolinist Maddie Witler—released its debut album, Headlight, in 2020, but the pandemic prevented their touring. However, they’ve continued to play and record together, releasing Family Reunion in August 2021. Their mission as a band is to showcase top female musicians, and to improve opportunities for women and girls through advocacy, mentorship, programming, and performance.

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Carrie Rodriguez, a singer/songwriter from Austin, Texas, finds beauty in the cross-pollination of diverse traditions. A passionate performer, she effortlessly melds fiery fiddle playing, electrifying vocals and a fresh interpretation of new and classic songs with an “Ameri-Chicana” attitude. Her newest project, ¡Americano!, found her switching roles from performer to composer/lyricist of an original musical that follows the true story and journey of Tony Valdovinos, born in Colima, Mexico and brought to the U.S. when he was two years old. The musical, which ended its 27-show debut at The Phoenix Theatre Company at the end of February of 2020 with 10 consecutive sellout performances, casts a profoundly human light on what it means to be a DREAMer.

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Grammy Award-winner and six-time Grammy nominee, Peter Rowan is a bluegrass singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades. From his early years playing under the tutelage of bluegrass patriarch Bill Monroe, and following his stint in Old & In the Way with Jerry Garcia and subsequent breakout as both a solo performer and bandleader, Rowan has built a devoted, international fan base through his continuous stream of original recordings, collaborative projects, and constant touring.

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Formed in 2002, Vetiver is an American indie-folk band led by singer-songwriter Andy Cabic, hailing from San Francisco. Cabic studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, where he met Devendra Banhart and began playing shows together along with a host of other musicians, creating an eclectic mix of instruments and influences.

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Renowned for his eloquent Americana style, engaging live shows, and off-the-cuff clever observations, John Craigie carries on the legacy of classic singer/songwriters, while blazing a trail of his own. Recently, that trail twisted and turned into new territory for the Portland, Oregon performer who The Stranger appropriately dubbed “the lovechild of John Prine and Mitch Hedberg.” His music speaks loud to both audiences and fellow artists. Todd Snider notably hand-delivered a gift on-stage, and Chuck Norris has sent fan mail. His fifth full-length album, No Rain, No Rose, boasted two collaborations with Gregory Alan Isakov, namely “Highway Blood” and “I Am California.” Both quickly cracked 1 million Spotify streams and counting, as his knack for a captivating narrative and rustic aural palettes powered the 13-track offering.

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Texas Gentleman Shakey Graves (born Alejandro Rose-Garcia) is an American Americana musician from Austin, Texas. Since his 2011 self-released debut Roll the Bones, he’s worked on many recording and touring projects, many of which feature his distinctive one-man-band solo performance style. Of his latest EP, Look Alive, he says, “This record is the most I’ve ever intentionally worked on a project, musically speaking, in terms of the scope of it and how much thought went into it. It’s a dense album; there’s a lot of information going on.”

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Lucero is an alt-country/punk rock band from Memphis, Tennessee. Formed in 1998, the six-piece has built its reputation on writing sing-along songs about small town life and love, putting a modern edge on classic Americana subjects. The members may look like tattooed tough guys, but they write resonant songs that tug the heartstrings of even the most hardened rock fan.

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A self-described “American rock ’n’ roll band,” Dawes represent everything pure and true about that fundamental delineation, four talented friends making music together, united by a shared belief in the power of their songs.

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The legendary Rickie Lee Jones will be joining us for the first time in 2023. With a career spanning decades and genres ranging from singer-songwriter to pop, rock & jazz, we look forward to welcoming her to the park.

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Dry Branch Fire Squad has been a staple in the traditional bluegrass world for over 40 years now, with singer/songwriter/instrumentalist/comedian Ron Thomason leading the way. The band provides thoughtful harmony lines that give expression to the soulfulness and meaning of bluegrass and old-time music. Ron Thomason’s professional music career started when he was just 13, and he has collaborated with the likes of The Clinch Mountain Boys, Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley. He started Dry Branch Fire Squad in 1976 and is known to enjoy music–making more now than ever.

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Grammy Award-winning musician Laurie Lewis is internationally renowned as a singer, songwriter, fiddler, bandleader, producer, and educator. She was a founding member of the Good Ol’ Persons and the Grant Street String Band and has performed and recorded since 1986 with her musical partner, mandolinist Tom Rozum. Laurie has twice been voted “Female Vocalist of the Year” by the International Bluegrass Music Association and has won the respect and admiration of her peers. “I’ve always thought that bluegrass was basically a singer-songwriter with string band,” Lewis says. “I like to think that I fit that description and trajectory of the music rather well.”

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Jimmie Dale Gilmore is an American music icon, a singer whose high lonesome voice mirrors the desolate beauty of his native Texas Panhandle, and a poetic interpreter of song.

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The legendary Rickie Lee Jones will be joining us for the first time in 2023. With a career spanning decades and genres ranging from singer-songwriter to pop, rock & jazz, we look forward to welcoming her to the park.

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“You can’t begin communicating with people unless you understand the texture of their lives, the realities that provide significance to their days,” says Steve Earle. ”That is the entire point of Ghosts of West Virginia.” Ghosts, his latest album with longtime band The Dukes, delivers raw, powerful, evocative songs about the catastrophic explosion in the Upper Big Branch coal mine, which killed 29 men in 2010. One of the most acclaimed singer/songwriters of his generation, Earle has distinguished himself as a master storyteller, and his songs have been recorded by a vast array of artists, including Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, the Pretenders, and more.

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The Go To Hell Man Band features the daughters, son, grandchildren, sister, friends and band mates of the late, great Warren Hellman. The band was formed so that his family could create and carry forward their own expression of roots and Americana music, which he loved and worked to bring to larger audiences. “We think Dad is up there playing the heck out of his Whyte Laydie, but at HSB he will be playing with us in spirit,” says son Mick Hellman, who is also the band’s drummer. “He would love playing with his grandkids, who have become accomplished songwriters and musicians.”

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Irma Thomas is “The Soul Queen of New Orleans.” She remains one of America’s most distinctive and classic singers, a treasure from the golden age of soul music that is as compelling and powerful as ever. Once you hear her sing, whether the song is pop or gospel or R&B, you never forget the warmth and power of her honey-and-butter voice.

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Back in 2013, L.A.newcomer and aspiring screenwriter Z. Lupetin grew dissatisfied with his career in advertising and decided to start a band. He put an ad on Craigslist. Dustbowl Revival was born, driven by a love of roots music, heartfelt Americana, and a raft of other influences as founding members Lupetin, Josh Heffernan, and Ulf Bjorlin have been joined by a multi-talented roster of musicians over the years. After getting audiences around the world up and dancing on tour, they released their self-titled 2017 album to wide appreciation and acclaim. Following a pandemic-induced hiatus, they’re back on the road in support of their latest, Is It You, Is It Me, with dynamic new lead vocalist Lashon Halley. Says Lupetin, “Music elevates us, lifts us up, makes us change our minds, takes us out of our comfort zones. If just one person can be moved by just one song, that’s enough.”

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The Lone Bellow burst onto the scene with their self-titled debut in 2013. The Brooklyn-based band quickly became known for their transcendent harmonies, serious musicianship and raucous live performance—a reputation that earned them their rabid fan base. The band’s second release, Then Came the Morning, produced by Aaron Dessner, was nominated for an Americana Music Award. The band has since left Brooklyn and moved to Nashville. Their third release, Walk Into A Storm, produced by legendary Dave Cobb, was recorded in seven days.

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Lila Blue is a singer-songwriter from New York City who moved to San Francisco in 2011. At just 17 years old, Lila Blue proved herself to be an accomplished recording artist, theatrical composer, and multi-instrumentalist. Her songs seem to flow from some deep and ageless source. Her vocal phrasing still carries the sweetness of youth, but the lyrics resonate with the shadows and complexity of an older soul. This is poetry wed to music.

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City Lights has published some of the world’s best known writers and thinkers. We are thrilled they are bringing several poets to help us initiate the new Horseshoe Hill stage in McLaren Pass.

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Sierra Hull’s stellar career started early. She had her Grand Ole Opry debut at age 10. She played Carnegie Hall at 12. At age 13 she signed with Rounder Records, then issued her debut, Secrets. Later that year she garnered the first of many nominations for Mandolin Player of the Year. She played the Kennedy Center at 16, and the White House at 20. Currently in the midst of work for the follow-up to her Grammy-nominated album, Weighted Mind, her next release will consist of all original songs.

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The McCoury brothers — Ronnie (mandolin) and Rob (banjo) — were born into the bluegrass tradition. Their father, Del McCoury, 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 the brothers’ 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 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. Their self-titled debut garnered a Grammy Award in 2019 for Best Bluegrass Album.

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A 14-time Grammy winner and Billboard Century Award recipient, Emmylou Harris’ contribution as a singer and songwriter spans 40 years. She has recorded more than 25 albums and has lent her talents to countless fellow artists’ recordings. In recognition of her remarkable career, Harris was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008 and earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. Few artists have achieved such honesty or have revealed such maturity in their writing. Four decades into her career, Harris continues to share the hard-earned wisdom that — hopefully if not inevitably — comes with getting older, though she’s never stopped looking ahead.

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Eilen Jewell is the queen of the minor key. Sad songs are her wealth and finery. The Idaho native’s unique originals feature a blend of influences from early blues, rockabilly and surf-noir, to 1960s era rock and roll.

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Chuck Prophet has been playing music and touring around the world for decades and has released over 10 LPs on a variety of labels. He describes his latest disc, BOBBY FULLER DIED FOR YOUR SINS, as “California Noir.” He says, “the state has always represented the Golden Dream, and it’s the tension between romance and reality that lurks underneath the surface in all noir films and paperbacks, and that connects these songs. Doomed love, inconsolable loneliness, rags to riches to rags again, and fast-paced violence are always on the menu on the Left Coast.”

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M. Ward has returned with his stunning new album More Rain. Ward has released a string of acclaimed solo albums over the past several years, along with five LPs with Zooey Deschanel as She & Him, and a 2009 collaborative album with My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis under the moniker Monsters of Folk. In addition to his celebrated work as a musician, Ward is an accomplished producer, handling those duties for such luminaries as Mavis Staples, Jenny Lewis, and Carlos Forster as well as his own musical projects.

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Over his diverse career, John Doe has embodied punk rock with the seminal band X in the late ‘70s, embraced writing, acting, and film while developing a devoted following for his rootsy, country-rock sound. He has recorded numerous solo records and acted in over 50 films and television productions. He’s also known for his many musical side projects, including work with the Knitters, Jill Sobule and The Sadies.

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Growing up with strong influences in gospel, R&B, and soul music in Tennessee, Valerie June first began performing in Memphis in 2000 as part of the duo Bella Sun before launching her solo career exploring what she called “organic moonshine roots music.” Her 2013 label debut Pushin’ Against a Stone, co-produced by Dan Auerbach, and including “Working Woman Blues,” co-written with Booker T. Jones, garnered worldwide acclaim. Recorded during the pandemic, The Moon and the Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers was released in 2021.

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Jerry Douglas is to the resonator guitar what Jimi Hendrix was to the electric guitar: elevating, transforming, and reinventing the instrument in countless ways. In addition to being widely recognized as the foremost master of the Dobro, Jerry Douglas is a freewheeling, forward-thinking recording artist whose output incorporates elements of bluegrass, country, rock, jazz, blues and Celtic into his distinctive musical vision.

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Kurt Vile is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer from Philadelphia. He is known for his solo work and as the former lead guitarist of rock band The War on Drugs. Both in the studio and during live performances, Vile is accompanied by his backing band, The Violators.

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After spending six years with Southern rock outfit Drive-By Truckers, Alabama
singer/guitarist Jason Isbell left the band to pursue a solo career. He has honed his songwriting skills and funneled his talents in recent years, creating a bluesy, punk-infused lesson in guitar tones and Southern swagger as well as melancholic country ballads and a familiar Muscle Shoals sound.

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While growing up, the sibling quartet of Judith (keys, hand percussion), Tricia (guitar, banjo), Frances (vocals) and Mick (Marco) Hellman (drums) played the original call-and-response game after which their band is named. Their music ranges from blues and rock covers to Americana-tinged originals. They are joined by fingerstyle guitarist Stevie Coyle (The Waybacks), Joshua Zucker (The Jones Gang, Rowan Brothers, Poor Man’s Whiskey) on bass, and Austin deLone (Eggs Over Easy, Elvis Costello) on keys.

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Please join us in wishing Doc Watson a very happy 100th birthday. Featuring Mitch Greenhill & Jack Lawrence, Nora Brown & Stephanie Coleman, plus some special guests.

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