2010 Folk Festival Schedule
Entire Lineup | Friday's Lineup | Saturday's Lineup | Sunday's Lineup |
Late Night Shows

Schedule subject to change.

Saturday, September 4

The Infamous Stringdusters

Three‐time International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) award-winning band and Sugar Hill recording artist The Infamous Stringdusters hit the road this summer to deliver their unique bluegrass acoustic show to audiences across the country. Though the band is rooted in the traditions of bluegrass, fans can always expect to hear a mix of country, bluegrass and free form improvisations that help make every show a one‐of‐a‐kind experience. The band performs with such virtuosity and energy that they are equally as comfortable performing in a sit down performing arts center as they are in a standing‐room only rock club, and they relish this diversity in their performances. With a solid repertoire of original songs compiled from their two Sugar Hill albums, plus new songs and a constantly changing set list the band continues to pick up new fans each stop they make.

The Infamous Stringdusters’ genesis can be traced back to 2002, when Andy Hall, Chris Pandolfi, and original guitarist Chris Eldridge met in Boston. They knew they had musical chemistry, but their lives were too out of synch to start a band until they all found themselves in Nashville in 2004. By then, Hall had been in the band of acclaimed bluegrass singer and songwriter Ronnie Bowman, where he met Jeremy Garrett and Jesse Cobb. Together, this newly‐formed alliance of superpickers searched for the right bass player, who wound up being Travis Book, a product of the Colorado jamgrass scene. The departure of Eldridge in 2007 led to the addition of Andy Falco, whose blues‐infused style perfectly complemented the Stringdusters sound. Falco joined the Stringdusters in the late summer, and according to bassist/vocalist Travis Book, “It ended up giving the band a lift I don’t think anybody anticipated. It was almost like the sails finally filled up completely.” That same year the band released their debut album, Fork in the Road, through Sugar Hill Records.

The band’s sophomore release (June 2008) through Sugar Hill Records, self‐titled The Infamous Stringdusters, feels like an introduction of a sort. Whereas Fork in the Road was made during their first potent months together, this album displays the band’s evolution during two years of intense touring, meticulous woodshedding and brotherly jamming. It’s their first record with accomplished guitarist Andy Falco, whose blues‐infused licks and stunning virtuosity has added a new facet to the band’s musical personality. It’s the first producer Tim O’Brien, a Grammy‐winning musician who has pioneered and embodied the progressive school of roots and bluegrass that underlies the Stringdusters sound. It also features nine band originals supplemented by a few carefully chosen tunes from colleagues in the acoustic music community.

The Infamous Stringdusters continue to tear up the road relentlessly, hitting some of the biggest festivals in acoustic music like StageCoach, and jamming on major stages with heroes like David Grisman, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Del McCoury and Jack Black. Catch the spirit and their newest songs at one of these upcoming tour dates.

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John Jorgenson Quintet

The John Jorgenson Quintet features guitarist John Jorgenson, a founding member of the Desert Rose Band, the Hellecasters, and six-year member of Elton John's band. Artists ranging from Barbra Streisand to Bonnie Raitt to Earl Scruggs have sought out Jorgenson's guitar work.  Recently, John Jorgenson was chosen to portray Django Reinhardt in the feature film Head in the Clouds.

John Jorgenson is known as one of the pioneers of the American gypsy jazz movement.  He has performed as a solo artist as well as collaborated with other musicians all over the world.  His articles and lessons on gypsy jazz have appeared in prominent guitar magazines and he has given master classes around the country, and he has performed with some of the most respected European proponents of this style, Bireli Lagrene and Romane.  His playing has been included on a CD with Babik Reinhardt and Jimmy Rosenberg, and on another featuring Angelo Debarre and Moreno.  In 1988 Curb Records released Jorgenson's After You've Gone CD, a collection of Reinhardt- and Goodman-styled 30's swing, featuring guest artists Darol Anger and David Grisman.

At a John Jorgenson Quintet performance, audiences are amazed by John's dazzling guitar work as well as his mastery as a clarinet player and vocalist.  Whether playing his own accessible compositions or classic standards, John and his band make music that is equally romantic and ecstatic, played with virtuosity and soul.

Listen to the John Jorgenson Quintet on MySpace

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Over The Rhine

Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist are the songwriting team that perpetuates Over the Rhine. Linford has always viewed his job description as “creating spaces where good things can happen.” He continues, “Karin and I write songs that allow her voice to bloom, and we find musicians who know how to take what we do and make it spark and breathe, twitch and moan. We try to work with musicians who inspire us, people whose company we enjoy. And we try to write music that in little ways helps to heal the wounds that life has dealt us or the wounds we’ve dealt ourselves. We try to write songs that can hum joyfully at the stars when something good goes down. We try to write tunes capable of whispering to a sleeping child that in spite of everything, somehow, all is well. We try to write words that help us learn to tell the truth to ourselves and others. That’s a big part of all this. Music is a wonderful platform for discovering what we believe is true. But Over the Rhine is ultimately the music that Karin and I find within and without for her to sing.”

Sing, sing, sing. Karin’s voice has wrapped its keen arms around a diverse and continually growing slice of humanity. Those who have ears to hear seem to recognize a part of themselves when Karin sings that previously had no way of speaking. Linford and Karin will continue the conversation, writing music, telling secrets to whoever feels like listening, gathering musicians together that move them, traveling from town square to town square, trying to make sense of this gift of too-large life--they will continue as long as that still small voice compels them from time to time to carry on. Or in the words of a new chorus of a new song:

How long will I write these songs? I’ll write as long as you sing along.

Listen to Over The Rhine on MySpace

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Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder

By age 21, Ricky Skaggs was already considered a recognized master of one of America's most demanding art forms, but his career took him in other directions, catapulting him to popularity and success in the mainstream of country music. Now the road has brought him back to where it all began - bluegrass music.

2010 marks Ricky's 39th year as a professional musician, and this fourteen-time Grammy Award winner continues to do his part to lead the recent roots revival in music. Known affectionately today as bluegrass music's official ambassador, Ricky has brought the genre to greater levels of popularity in the past few years than the father of bluegrass music, the legendary Bill Monroe, could ever have imagined. 

With eight consecutive Grammy-nominated classics behind him, all from his own Skaggs Family Records label (Bluegrass Rules! in 1998, Ancient Tones in 1999, both Soldier of the Cross and Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe in 2000, History of the Future in 2001, Live at the Charleston Music Hall in 2003, Brand New Strings in 2005, and Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder Instrumentals in 2007), bluegrass music is undoubtedly in good hands, with the masterful Skaggs at the helm.

Ricky Skaggs has often said that he is "just trying to make a living" playing the music he loves.  But it's clear that his passion for bluegrass puts him in the position to bring this lively, distinctively American form of music out of isolation and into the ears and hearts of audiences across the country and around the world.  Blessed with a close-knit family, and abundance of talent, a lifetime of musical experience and a crack band behind him, Ricky Skaggs is well on the way to showing the world that "country rocks, but bluegrass rules!"

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Sarah Siskind

Sarah Siskind is seen as one of today's most eclectic songwriters, with songs covered by Alison Krauss, Randy Travis, Bon Iver, the Infamous Stringdusters, April Verch and more. Krauss released two Siskind songs as singles, and in 2008, her rendition of "Simple Love" was nominated for a Grammy.

In 2009, Sarah stepped into the artist spotlight with her own album Say it Louder (Red Request Records/Thirty Tigers). Although she has been making records since the age of 14 (including the 2002 release Covered which featured world-renowned guitarist Bill Frisell), Say it Louder is making the biggest splash among fans and critics alike. Bonnie Raitt calls it "a masterpiece" while "Big Al" Anderson of NRBQ calls it "one of the best records ever made." Bon Iver, the indie-rock sensation who has been covering Siskind's material live, states "Sarah's music changed my life." Bob Boilen of NPR was so crazy about Say it Louder that he featured it on NPR's All Songs Considered, his exclusive video-cast "Tiny Desk Concert" series, and in June, the title track Say it Louder was named NPR's Song of the Day. A fourth NPR showcase was featured in the fall of 2009 when Sarah was interviewed and performed live on World Cafe Live with David Dye.

In October of 2009, Say it Louder was named Americana Album of the Year in the Nashville Music Awards. Armed with her own striking vocal sound and sharp musicianship, the respect Sarah has garnered as a songwriter and an artist in Nashville has quickly spread across the country and beyond.

Listen to Sarah Siskind on MySpace

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Sweet Sunny South

Sweet Sunny South is an acoustic old‐timey string band that plays a unique blend of new and traditional music. Based in Paonia, Colorado, the band has been
making a name for itself at festivals and theaters throughout the region for the past 8 years and received invitations to perform as an official showcase band for both the IBMA and The Folk Alliance in 2006. The group was also featured as one of Colorado’s "Movers and Shakers" in Denver's Westword magazine in 2007 and were selected the winners of the New Belgium Brewery's "What's your Folly?" contest after writing a jingle for the brewery.

Sweet Sunny South represents the traditional music of greats such as The Stanley Brothers and The Carter Family at the same time drawing influences from more contemporary bands such as The Freighthoppers, The Wilders and The Reeltime Travelers.

Banjo and mandolin player Bill Powers writes most of the bands’ songs, which
take the listener on scenic journeys into dusty old American music. Cory Obert
plays a mean old‐time fiddle, sometimes with a Cajun flare and sings a solid high
tenor. Rob Miller also writes songs, plays the D‐28 and sings lead and harmony.
Shelley Gray (a.k.a. “Laura Ingalls Wilder‐n‐Swingin”) plays the ‘ol kay bass, sings, hollers, and puts the "Sweet" in Sweet Sunny South.

Audiences can expect a highly entertaining stage show featuring rollicking fiddle
tunes, soulful ballads, tight vocal harmonies and an exceptional array of original
songs combined with a heavy dose of humor that keeps the crowd smiling. They
have recorded 4 unique and entertaining CDs which are receiving heavy airplay
across the country.

Transport yourself back to the glory days of the Grand Ole Opry and experience Sweet Sunny South dressed to a "T", weaving in and out around a single microphone presenting their style of old time music you won't soon forget!

Listen to Sweet Sunny South on MySpace

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