Jason Isbell is an alt-country singer /songwriter /guitarist from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Best known for his years with the Drive-By Truckers where he played with his then wife, bassist Shonna Tucker. Isbell - who joined the Truckers in 2001 - left the band in early 2007 around the same time as his divorce from Tucker was finalized. In addition to being a gifted songwriter, Isbell is regarded as an exceptional guitar player.
Sam Amidon (real name Samuel Tear) was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, on June 3, 1981. His parents are Peter Amidon and Mary Alice Amidon, both well established folk musicians. Folk music runs freely throughout the New England heartland of Vermont, and the Amidon family are a strong lifeline in that movement’s heritage. Both Sam’s parents, Peter and Mary are performers and teachers of music. Growing up in this solid environment with strong family ties most certainly set the scene for Sam’s musical trajectory. His little brother is the great Stefan Amidon, who is a drummer.
The Felice Brothers are a folk rock/country rock band from upstate New York founded in 2006. It is comprised of the five main members Ian Felice (lead vocals, guitar, piano), David Turbeville (drums, vocals), James Felice (accordion, piano, organ), and Christmas (bass), previously a traveling dice player. They have been joined by Farley, a washboard player and fiddler, and others who at times had a horn section to the band. The brothers are from the Catskill Mountains of New York. They hail from Palenville, NY, twenty minutes from Woodstock.
A.A. Bondy is an abbreviation of Auguste Arthur Bondy (aka Scott Bondy), the former lead singer of Birmingham, AL's Southern grunge darlings Verbena. After Verbena broke up in 2003, Bondy retreated to a Catskills home in Palenville in upstate New York and in time began writing songs again, emerging with a stripped-down indie folk sound. He recorded and mixed his debut album, "American Hearts", at a barn near his home, releasing the project in 2007 on the Superphonic imprint. The album was picked up by Fat Possum and re-released early in 2008.
Fairfield, a street musician who plays banjo, fiddle, and guitar and sings traditional folk songs as you would imagine they were sung when they were first written, is only just getting used to the idea of playing music venues alongside rock musicians. He is also an avid collector of 78 rpm recordings of American folk and mountain music and is working on plans to build his own spring motor gramophones.
The day before his senior year as a playwright student at the University of North Carolina, Joe Pug sat down for a cup of coffee and had the clearest thought of his life: I am profoundly unhappy here. Then came the second clearest. Pug packed up his belongings and drove the longest route possible to Chicago. Working as a carpenter by day, the 23 year-old Pug spent nights playing the guitar he hadn't picked up since his teenage years.