Past Bluegrass Related Events

Since his Alligator debut 30 years ago, Southern blues-rock guitar wizard, vocalist and songwriter TINSLEY ELLIS has become a bona fide worldwide guitar hero. The Chicago Sun-Times says, “It’s hard to overstate the raw power of his music.” Now, he makes his triumphant return to Alligator Records with a powerful new album, Winning Hand. The old Willie Dixon adage, “blues is truth,” perfectly describes the searing, contemporary blues-rock of world-renowned guitarist and vocalist COCO MONTOYA. Taught by the “Master of the Telecaster,” Albert Collins, but with a hard-edged sound and style all his own, Montoya mixes his forceful, melodic g...

Barnstar! began as the brainchild of Zachariah Hickman (bassist for Josh Ritter, musical director for Ray Lamontagne) for a local bluegrass supergroup featuring some of Boston’s best musicians and songwriters. Using the familiar tools of the genre—guitar (Mark Erelli), fiddle (Jake Armerding), mandolin (Taylor Armerding) and banjo (Charlie Rose)—Barnstar! forges its own brand of song- based bluegrass, gloriously harmonized and raucously played.

Every generation or so a young bluesman bursts onto the scene. Someone who sends a jolt through blues lovers. Someone who has mastered the craft for sure, but who also has the blues deep down in his heart and soul. At the age of 21, bluesman JONTAVIOUS WILLIS may be the one. “That’s my Wonderboy, the Wunderkind,” Taj Mahal said after inviting Jontavious to play on stage in 2015. “He’s a great new voice of the twenty-first century in the acoustic blues. I just love the way he plays.”

Sierra Hull, the singer, mandolinist and former child prodigy who signed with Rounder at age 13 and distinguished herself by becoming the first bluegrass musician to receive a Presidential Scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music, released 'Weighted Mind on January 29, 2016. Though she is best known for her work as a mandolin player, Hull reveals in these songs her abundant gifts as a composer and lyricist.

Dervish have been bringing Irish traditional music to the world for more than 25 years. Described by the BBC as “an icon of Irish music”, the band have played at festivals from Rock in Rio to Glastonbury, toured with the Irish President and struck up tunes on the Great Wall of China. Dervish have a line-up which includes some of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians, fronted by one of the country’s best-known singers, Cathy Jordan.

Nobody really knows who J.P. Cormier is for sure. That’s to be expected, believe me. 36 years later after stepping on stage as professional union musician for the first time at the tender age of 13, JP is still going, and frighteningly, still getting better. 16 albums followed the success of Another Morning, winning 12 more ECMA’s, another Juno nomination, a Canadian Folk Music Award and 5 Music Nova Scotia Awards. Each album was a snapshot of each thing that he can do. There are fiddle albums, Mandolin, Banjo, Guitar, tribute records, songwriting collections, a purely astounding spectrum of talent and musical vision. His catalogue of recordin...

Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductee JD Souther is "one of the most celebrated songwriters of his generation" writes Interview Magazine. Souther has penned countless hits for the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Roy Orbison, James Taylor, Don Henley, George Strait, Trisha Yearwood, Brooks and Dunn, and others; while establishing a cult following as a performer with the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band and as a solo artist.