The Artists

Sister Sadie

Leading Ladies of Bluegrass Photos by Jon Roncolato Sister Sadie made bluegrass music history last year when they became the first all-female group to win the IBMA’s “Entertainer of the Year” award. The ladies in the quintet were astounded with the prestigious honor. “I never in a million years saw that coming,” said Deanie Richardson, who…

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Sav Sankaran

Photo by Sandlin Gaither A resident of Asheville, North Carolina, Sav Sankaran is an upright bass player and vocalist with the bluegrass band Unspoken Tradition.  Previously, he toured with the Dixie Bee-Liners, Kristy Cox and other North Carolina bands.  He is a first-generation American of Indian descent who points to Bob Paisley & Southern Grass…

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Mackenzie Bell

Photo by Arnold Flenor Mackenzie Bell is a 15-year-old fiddle player who was born in Guatemala, adopted at the age of seven months, and has grown up just 10 miles from Bill Monroe’s hometown of Rosine, Kentucky.  When she was 7-years-old she heard a friend play the fiddle and thought that this was something that…

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The Ultimate Road Dog

Photo by Daniel Coston For nearly half a century, fiddling ace Mike Hartgrove of the Lonesome River Band has been traveling highways across America playing bluegrass and country music.  “Mike is a road pro,” says Lonesome River Band leader Sammy Shelor. “The guy has been on the road since he was 17 years old, about…

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Ashley posing with her banjo for a photo.

Bringing the Banjo Beyond the Bluegrass

Photos by Sheri Oneal lthough Ashley Campbell carries the DNA of one of the most talented singers and instrumentalists in the history of American music, she did not aspire to be a musician when she was young.  The youngest daughter of country music legend Glen Campbell said, “My brothers Cal and Shannon where more into…

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Carl Jackson

Born Over A Bluegrass Bandstand Photo by Sheri Oneal In awkward adolescent script scrawled in his high school yearbook, amidst the well wishes and inside jokes from his buddies, one theme appears several times: “See you on the Glen Campbell Show.” “I look back, and I wonder how they knew that,” says the yearbook’s owner,…

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