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After five years spent rising through the ranks of Nashville’s thriving americana scene, Roanoke has grown from their folksy roots into a seasoned, road-tested rock outfit, retaining an affinity for storytelling and rich vocal harmony that has won over audiences time and again. Roanoke’s robust touring schedule has sharpened the skills with which this quintet crafts their songs, a sound at once timeless and youthful, seamlessly blending a 70’s aesthetic with modern sensibility.

No Depression describes Roanoke’s music as, “… ageless and expressive… so strikingly effusive it practically demands attention,” and Paste magazine ranked their EP ‘Where I Roam’ as one of the Top 10 EPs of 2018. Recent Roanoke highlights include a stint as Nashville independent radio station Lightning 100’s Artist of the Week, in addition to headlining the station’s weekly program Nashville Sunday Night, broadcast live from the stage at the venerable 3rd and Lindsley.

From MerleFest to SunFest, from New York’s Mercury Lounge to Nashville’s historic Exit/In, Roanoke continues to thrill audiences with their captivating live show. Their latest release, “Live at The Amber Sound,” is streaming now, look to see Roanoke on a stage near you.

Brent Cobb didn't set out to write an album that feels and sounds like the place he grew up. But now that the grooves have been cut in his debut LP, Shine on Rainy Day, there's no denying the people, the places and the vibe of his southcentral Georgia home infuse almost every song.

"It just is Georgia," Brent says in his musical drawl. "It's just that rural, easy-going way it feels down there on a nice spring evening when the wind's blowing warm and you smell wisteria, you know?"

It's quiet down there where he's from in Ellaville -- "population 1,609" -- laid back and forgotten in the shadow of Atlanta and Savannah. The people have blue-collar values and believe in treating your neighbor like you want to be treated. They believe in curses and the dark finger of Fate and wield a sharp, dark sense of humor that sustains them through the hardest of times. Distant radio stations, roadside honkytonks made of cinderblock and back-porch picking sessions heavy on the backbeat predominate under Spanish moss-strewn live oaks and loblolly pines.

It was the perfect place to grow up.

"Lord, when I die, let's make a deal," Brent sings on the album's swirling thesis statement, "South of Atlanta," "lay me down in that town where time stands still."

Shine on Rainy Day is an album Brent's been trying to make for a decade, enlisting his cousin and fellow Georgian, Dave Cobb, the Grammy Award-winning producer whose Elektra Records imprint Low Country Sound is home to the album.

Brent wanted to record an album that felt Southern, though not the kind of Southern you might expect. Neither Southern rock nor mainstream country, the sound sits somewhere on the wide bandwidth that exists between the two. Cousin Dave helped him find the right vibe, full of blue-eyed soul, country funk and the kind of swamp boogie sounds that predominated pop in the 1960s and early 1970s. There's a reason Georgia was always on Ray Charles' mind, after all.

"I don't mean to get weird and be into, like, deep shit, but it really has got to be blood," Brent said. "When I write songs, it's almost like I didn't write them. You know it's just like this is happening right now and it just comes out. He's the same way in the studio. He's like, 'Put this right here and play it like this,' and you're like why? And he's like, 'I don't know, it's just the way it's supposed to go.' That's exactly how I write songs."

Brent finds it a strange sensation to be so closely linked to someone. Though cousins, the Cobbs didn't know each other growing up. Dave's a little bit older than 29-year-old Brent and his father was the one brother who left the area and moved away -- to an island off the coast from Savannah. So when they first met -- as adults at an aunt's funeral -- Brent was wary. And a little bit of an ass.

"We're standing around outside and I was like, 'Man, we hear you're producing in L.A. What you produced?' just kind of like a jerk, really," Brent said with a laugh. "He told me Shooter Jennings' 'Put the O Back in Country,' and that floored me, man. Because me and my buddies working at a tree service, we'd get off work, somebody would get a 12 pack, we'd get stoned and listen to 'Put the O Back in Country,' man. We knew it was the cool country. We knew it was for real. Man, I mean it was the shit."

Brent's dad shamelessly slipped Dave a disc of six acoustic songs Brent recorded as he left town. Dave didn't really want to listen to it, but his wife, Lydia, convinced him to stick it in the car's player on the way to the airport. Not long after Jennings called and invited Brent out to Los Angeles.

He spent four months there, but after living through an earthquake, a drought, a near car-jacking and a drive-by shooting he returned home where he lived for about four months before an old acquaintance from the area, Luke Bryan, called out of the blue. Bryan invited Brent to stay with him and his wife for a week to write and get to know Nashville.

Not long after he returned for good and recorded a well-received EP that led to 3½ years on the road, touring with a band and opening for every big player in country. He decided that wasn't what he was looking for either, and began to focus more deeply on songwriting. He landed several cuts -- most notably Miranda Lambert's "Old Shit," Kenny Chesney's "Don't It" and Bryan's "Tailgate Blues"- while working on his own songs and searching for a direction for his long-delayed debut.

Meanwhile, Dave left L.A. for Nashville and began building a reputation as one of music's most exciting producers for his work with Chris Stapleton, Jamey Johnson, Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell. As part of his deal with Elektra, he conceived of a concept album called Southern Family and thought it only right his "bitch ass little cousin" have a part. "So I was like, 'I'll be there,'" Brent said. He contributed "Down Home" to the album and also mentioned the project to Lambert, who wanted in and sang the Brent-written "Sweet By & By," a standout on an album full of them.

It was during these sessions that the Cobbs began to notice a real connection in the way they would approach songs during the recording process. "It just felt like home, you know?" Brent said. "I made the comment, 'Dude, let's just do it.' So we did."

From the Nashville slice-of-life narrative of "Solving Problems" to the delicate and powerful interplay of acoustic and electric guitars on the stunning closer "Black Crow," the album feels like the people, places and sounds of Brent's life.

The album carries something of a Southern Gothic narrative, alternating between dark visions and self-deprecating scenes of black humor that bubble up in laugh-or-cry moments. He chose the album's title after a friend heard "Shine on Rainy Day" following a family tragedy and mentioned how powerful it was to him.

"When you have a bad storm that hits, the next day the trees are in full bloom and the grass is greener and lightning cleans the air up," Brent said. "My friend called me up out of the blue and said that song hit him so hard. It's talking about a rainy day, they're going through a real life rainy day."

Like "Shine on Rainy Day," the album alternates between light and dark. In "Black Crow," a doomed soul argues with a laughing crow sitting on a fencepost, "Black crow, I ain't a joke no more!," before earning a prison sentence in a corner store robbery. "Lord," he sings, "I can feel those spirits carrying me down" before Jason Isbell unleashes a devilish slide guitar line that feels like a Neil Young guitar solo.

The deliciously self-deprecating "Diggin' Holes" has that giddy AM radio/Gram Parsons feel with dancing music accompanied by dark lyrics that are both funny and painful. "I ought to be workin' in a coal mine/Lord knows I'm good at diggin' holes."

"Down in the Gulley" is a sour mash-flavored short story with a first line worthy of Faulkner or O'Connor: "My granddaddy was a good man -- no matter what the papers said." The dread-filled "Let the Rain Come Down" opens with visions of doom, a rattlesnake strung from a tree and a witch's curse: "She put a curse on me/Another on the river/And now my crops won't grow no more."

"Solving Problems" was written sitting on a balcony overlooking an especially historic corner of historic Music Row while thinking about Kris Kristofferson's "To Beat the Devil," which has a spoken word section that feels lifted right from the Row.

"The energy just feels crazy around here," Brent said. "I loved how Kristofferson would capture the present moment of his Nashville during that time. Nobody does that anymore."

"Country Bound" is the only song on the album not written or co-written by Brent. Instead, the song was written by his father and uncle in a far-off place called Cleveland.

"It was the first song I ever witnessed being written in my life," Brent said. "I was 5 years old and it was the first time I ever saw snow, too. We were up in Cleveland for Christmas. My uncle had been through this breakup and he was wanting to get the hell out of Cleveland and go to Georgia."

Brent knows the feeling, and after listening to Shine on Rainy Day, he hopes you get it, too. He has never been more proud of his work. After 10 years of searching and struggle, the LP sounds and feels exactly how he wants it to. Like home.

"It's not as good as it's going to get," Brent said. "But if it's the last thing that I ever do, if I died the day after it came out, then thank God I was able to record it because the songs and the production, it was everything I wanted to say. Finally."

Former Bass/Lead Vocals Eddy Sill (Originally from Pittsburgh, PA) of the infamous Los Angeles band "The Mutts" has suddenly stumbled upon a few other "fellow fun-seekers" to surprisingly form this frolicking band with California twang in the heart of Santa Monica, CA. The Popravinas specialize in extremely catchy songs and follow through with melody after melody. John Adair (Guitar, Harmonica, Mandolin, Vocals (Originally from Albany, NY), Dean Lyons (Rhythm Guitar, Back up Vocals) and David Rodgers (Drums) comprise "The Popravinas!" The "funnest" party you ever went to---The party after the party! That would quickly describe "The Popravinas" who are known to combine lyrics & sounds that are reminiscent of The Replacements, evolving guitar nuances in the vein of The Rolling Stones, and interesting touches of artists such as Whiskeytown, Wilco & The Old 97's. When you mix it all up...you come out with "The Popravinas." Already known for their fun live shows....The band has recently released their third CD "Willy Nilly" which is quickly becoming an international ear-shaker on many radio (and internet radio) programs. Their first CD "Everybody's Fault But Ours" and second "California Sonic" are still popular choices. Both are available at: CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon, etc. If you wanna experience a good time and hear some memorable tunes...You're in the right place!....You're in "Popravinaburgh!"

Eliot Chang has recorded 2 Comedy Central Half Hour specials, and is known for his outrageous videos where he destroys hecklers. No stranger to TV, he has also been on E!'s Chelsea Lately, AXS TV’s Gotham Comedy Live, and has appeared on both Showtime and HBO.

Eliot has toured his stand-up across America, Europe, and Asia. His Youtube channel, “EliotChangOfficial,” has millions of views and has spawned multiple viral videos.

Based in Los Angeles but originally from New York City, he studied improv at UCB in NY and at the Magnet Theater with the legendary Armando Diaz.

Connecticut rapper, Witt Lowry, may have graduated with a degree in graphic design, but it wasn't until he decided to rap for a career that he found his true passion. Naturally, his rhymes convey a quick wit and clever phrases (as he wanted his moniker to suggest). With gritty, urgent, and powerfully confessional rhymes, Lowry breathlessly spat cutting lines aimed at spreading hope to his fans, therapy for himself, and some sophomoric boasting for good measure. After two mixtapes, Witt's last project, "I Could Not Plan This" released September 2017 and hit the #1 spot on iTunes Hip Hop in all major markets around the world, as well as hitting the Billboard Top 200, Heatseekers, Independent Albums, Digital Albums & Top Album Sales Charts. He then completed a headline, 34 date US tour and 13 date international tour late 2017 into early 2018.

Witt is currently gearing up to release his next album "Nevers Road" Late-Summer 2019.

Pierce Edens:
As those who have seen him live can attest, Pierce Edens absorbed the songwriting, storytelling and musical styling of the surrounding Appalachian Mountains, where he spent his childhood. This history takes the form of old time, folk and bluegrass music as well as spoken words of storytellers from his North Carolina home; this has earned him the moniker of “Appalachicana.”

Over the last ten years, Edens has been drawing on those roots and blending them with the grungy rock and roll sounds that took him in his teenage years. The result is a haunting and fiery mixture that is notoriously hard to pin down. Allmusic.com classifies Edens as both “Folk-Rock” and “psychedelic-grunge,” and No Depression writer Bill Kopp says “[He] could just as easily- and accurately- be tagged with the singer/songwriter label; He’s a gritty troubadour who takes what he needs from each style, blending and bending it to suit the needs of his songs.”

Through relentless touring, independently producing 4 albums (with one on the way), one full length concert film, and sharing the stage with musical heroes such as: Jim Lauderdale, Todd Snider, Will Kimbrough, and Sturgill Simpson, Edens has garnered a dedicated following of fans across the nation. And as Fred Mills of Blurt magazine says… “Edens is the R.F.D. (Real effin’ Deal), and when he and his band have their collective back against the wall, there’s trouble in store.”

A true “chameleon of song”, Michael blends genres and creates something uniquely his own.

Few songwriters can say they have had a $1.5 million showroom built for their music. Michael’s Wyoming based band has packed the house every Tuesday night in Jackson Hole’s Historic Silver Dollar Bar for over 10 years and the owners enthusiastically accommodated the demand. Fewer songwriters can say they have dedicated 15 years of their life to serving at-risk youth in a Wilderness Therapeutic Program. Mix this all in with the landscape of Wyoming’s western Mountains and you get a snapshot of Michael’s unique muse.

Sometimes people have an obvious purpose in life that is pursued even as a youth. Michael Batdorf received his first guitar at age 12 and started, immediately, writing his own songs. After a few years, he began recording his creations in his own little studio, which had a huge impact on his craft in allowing him to explore the depths of a song beyond just a guitar and a voice. Even before he acquired any musical equipment, Michael had taken an interest in lyrical study and writing. His interest in poetry through early childhood led him to write words for his own songs.

As a young man growing up in the Midwest United States, Batdorf listened to Rock and Roll. WIth an analytical and inquisitive nature, he traced the roots of this music he came to admire. Michael discovered a world and history of American Folk Music. (Blues, Bluegrass, Jazz, etc.) A deeper study would reveal a world history and evolution of music. (West African, Irish Celtic, Native American, etc.) Of course, as Michael discovered, one can’t study a music without understanding the people from which it comes. (History, Philosophy, Stories, etc.) This is quite an endeavor and mixing these genres and experiences to form one’s own style has become Batdorf’s life work.

Finding new musical direction, something that hasn’t been done, is not an easy task. Michael studied music recording and music business at Middle Tennessee State University. After leaving the Nashville area, he settled into the Tetons of western Wyoming and has committed to his songwriting craft. He has released over a half dozen solo albums and several albums with other musicians. Again, attaching himself to the stories of the people and the land around him, he has found a voice that is uniquely his own. Add civic aim, philosophy, and environmentalism to a deep understanding of roots music and you come close the the experience of listening to one of Michael Batdorf’s songs.

Michael currently plays with 3 different bands that continually push him as a songwriter. One Ton Pig, is a Bluegrass-Rock 6 piece based out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming and can be seen Tuesday nights at the Historic Wort Hotel Silverdollar Showroom. Brother Wolf is Michael’s answer to his deep love for Jimi Hendrix and is a Blues-Rock Power-Quartet that plays through the inner Mountain West. Easy Chair Trio is a Folk-World Sound trio that is based out of Southeast Ohio.

Hosted by Lilth Deville. With Special Guests Josalynn Lark, Bebe Beretta & Rose Maywood.

Smooth Hound Smith is a foot stompin' American roots and rock band founded by Zack Smith (guitars/vocals/foot drums/harmonicas/banjo) and Caitlin Doyle-Smith (vocals/percussion). Established in 2012, and based in East Nashville, TN, they record and perform a varied and unique style of folky, garage-infused rhythm & blues. Using primal foot percussion, complex, fuzzed-out, finger-picked guitar patterns, warbled harmonicas, tasty harmonies and syncopated tambourine, they are able to create something rugged and visceral: a modern interpretation of early blues, soul, and rock 'n' roll music that harkens back to the traditions of hazy front porch folk songs as well as raucous back-alley juke joints.

SHS has traveled over 150,000 road miles, playing over 800 shows in their tenure, across America, Europe, and Canada, all in the last five years. In addition to their own headlining shows, they have toured as support for bands such as the Dixie Chicks (25 dates in the US and Canada in 2016/2017), The Record Company, The Secret Sisters, Lindi Ortega, Anders Osborne, and Jamestown Revival.

Their eponymous debut album garnered attention from media outlets such as Nashville's independent radio, WRLT Lightning 100, as well as publications like American Songwriter and RELIX Magazine. They were also selected over thousands of other bands to perform at the 2015 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, TN. In addition, the music of Smooth Hound Smith has been featured on CMT’s Nashville, MTV’s The Real World and the Esquire Network.

Smooth Hound Smith's second full-length album, Sweet Tennessee Honey, was released in 2016, and features appearances by Natalie Maines (Dixie Chicks), Sarah Jarosz, and Jano Rix (The Wood Brothers). They continue to tour heavily while working on new material for a third full-length album, to be released in 2019.

“…you’re a huntress and a healer and a holder of hands and your heart is the Avalon that I seek for my end.”
—David Lamb, 1977-2014

When, a week before her 28th birthday, MorganEve Swain lost her husband and musical partner, Dave Lamb, to leukemia, the world did not stand still. April continued into May, breath continued its rhythm through the bodies of the living and in their studio in Warren, Rhode Island, MorganEve continued to record bass, strings and vocals into a laptop because it’s what she’d always done.
For the previous six years, she and Lamb had existed professionally as the duo Brown Bird, gaining a loyal international following through intensive touring and the original music they created, praised for its honesty and expression of the human condition. Without Dave, and in honor of him, MorganEve became The Huntress and Holder of Hands: a young widow pursuing the white stag of grief through a foreign wilderness, intent on maintaining the sense of wonder and compassion with which her partner lived his life.
In 2016, with the ambition to perform live, The Huntress and Holder of Hands expanded into a 5-musician entity, employing cello, bowed string bass, electric bass and drums with MorganEve primarily on five-string viola and guitar. As a band, The Huntress and Holder of Hands builds harmony, strings and bass-driven pieces influenced by Post-Metal, Blues and Americana and offers an intense musical and lyrical experience that explores love, loss, power and strength.
MorganEve self-released The Water Street Demos EP in November 2015. The band’s first full-length album, Avalon, was released on September 15 2017. The Huntress and Holder of Hands will be touring in the approaching new year, and plans on releasing their second full-length album in 2019.

Like only the most insightful songwriters, Austin Plaine draws intense emotion from the subtlest moments. On his sophomore album Stratford, the Minnesota-bred, Nashville based musician shapes his lyrical storytelling with both precision and pure feeling, capturing every nuance of lost love and longing and fractured innocence. And while Stratford is steeped in a warm nostalgia, Plaine instills each song with a quiet optimism that speaks to bravely moving forward, even in troubled times.

Produced by Jay Foote and mixed by Steve Vealey (M. Ward, Phoenix, Hurray for the Riff Raff) at the legendary Electric Lady Studios, Stratford arrives as the follow-up to Plaine’s self-titled debut—a 2015 release that earned comparisons to Bob Dylan and Conor Oberst from Baeble Music. In a departure from that more stripped-down effort, Plaine assembled a full-fledged band who recorded in an apartment in Brooklyn, infusing Stratford with a homegrown feel and loose yet kinetic energy.

Taking its title from the Flatbush street where the album came to life, Stratford offers a classically arranged take on folk-rock that illuminates the intimacy of Plaine’s vocal work and the graceful candor of his lyrics. From track to track, the 27-year-old singer/guitarist reveals a refined sense of songcraft that he partly credits to moving to Nashville from his hometown of Minneapolis in early 2017. “Being part of a whole community of songwriters, you realize there’s a lot of different directions you can take a song,” he says. “It’s really opened me up as a writer, and it’s also helped me to hone in on every word of every line that I write.”

With its abundance of indelible images—night trains and the Northern Lights, backyard camping and drive-in romance—Stratford also bears a richness of detail that hints at the literary and cinematic influence behind Plaine’s songwriting. “People tend to think my songs are personal because I sing in the first person, but often it’s very observational for me,” says Plaine, who names Alexandre Dumas and Henry Miller among his inspirations. “I’m learning to understand new philosophies of life, love, and death”, attributing his passion for reading has helped him attain a better sense of his surroundings.

Proving the emotional depth of Plaine’s artistry, Stratford opens with the wistful reminiscence of “Something More” (a steel-guitar-laced track “like a movie I’ve seen before / way back when / we were something more” sings Plaine in the chorus), then slips into the bittersweet, burned-but-not-broken ache of “What Kind of Fool” (a rollicking, country-tinged number co-written with Sixpence None the Richer’s Leigh Nash and Stephen Wilson). Later, on “Lucky Ones”, Plaine presents a more hopeful portrait unconditional love, with singer/songwriter Soren Bryce lending her vocals to the chorus’s bright and beautiful harmonies.

While there’s no shortage of delicately rendered love songs on Stratford, Plaine also brings social commentary to tracks like “Rise Above It” (a soulfully understated anthem woven with intricate guitar lines, dreamy mellotron tones, and luminous organ melodies). And on “If Tomorrow Never Comes,” Stratford closes out with a powerful missive featuring the album’s most urgent vocal delivery (sample lyric: “I wake up every morning and I see the reddest sun/They’re shooting guns and sending bombs in a war that isn’t won/And through the lies I do disguise my heart inside my lungs/I live life today as if tomorrow never comes”). “That song is me showing my frustration with this modern world, and how we’re so consumed with social media that we tune out what’s happening right in front of us,” says Plaine. “We get so lost on the screens of our phones instead of seeing the world for what it is. I’m guilty. I love my iPhone”

Born in Fargo and raised in Minnesota, Plaine had his first foray into making music upon finding an old guitar of his grandfather’s in a family closet. By high school he’d started writing songs, tapping into the timeless sensibilities that still inform in his music today. “My first influences were anything my dad was playing in the pickup truck when I’d go out on rides with him,” he says. “He’d play Bruce Springsteen and Van Morrison and Neil Young, and that’s what I dug into. Then highschool came and Bright Eyes changed my life.” During his junior year at the University of Minnesota, Plaine began dedicating himself more fully to songwriting and playing guitar. After posting several of his songs online, he headed down to Nashville to record a few tracks with Jordan Schmidt (a producer/songwriter/engineer known for his work with Florida Georgia Line and Motion City Soundtrack). A major creative turning point for Plaine, his time in Nashville led to the making of his debut album and release of “Never Come Back Again”—a breakthrough single that’s now amassed over 10 million streams on Spotify.

Although Plaine notes that gaining more life experience in recent years has shifted his songwriting perspective, his music maintains an unaffected quality that’s deeply refreshing. “I try really hard not to force songs” he says. “But I am always songbanking and hopefully one finds the finish line”. As a result of that instinct-driven approach, Stratford emerges as an emotionally raw album that’s cathartic for both listener and artist. “It will always be therapy for me,” Plaine points out. “If I get through a whole day without singing or playing guitar, the day just feels really strange. I don’t think that will ever change for me.”

Operators is a Montreal based project created by Daniel Boeckner, (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Divine Fits), Devojka, and Sam Brown (Divine Fits, New Bomb Turks) in 2014. The band released an EP (EP1) in 2014 and released their first LP (Blue Wave) in 2016, via Last Gang Records. Operators supported these releases with a series of international tours across North America, and Europe. Like Handsome Furs, Operators’ music has resonated particularly well with Eastern European audiences. The band has been well received across clubs and premier festivals, such as Primavera (where they were asked to play two years in a row - something that is usually unheard of).

While recording their sophomore LP, the members of the band kept busy with a series of other endeavours, including the promotional cycle around Wolf Parade’s Cry Cry Cry LP, a series of performances in which Operators played material from the Handsome Furs catalog (which all sold out in less than six hours), and Boeckner’s original song for the critically acclaimed 2018 film Mandy.

Radiant Dawn will be released in May 2019 via Last Gang Records. The album's nine tracks meld raw analog hardware with Boeckner's distinct voice to create an immersive cinematic sound. Interspersed between the tracks are instrumental intertitles that amplify the album’s 1970s sci-fi dystopian feel. For fans of Boeckner’s catalogue, Radiant Dawn feels like the next logical step in the artist’s two-decade career, while maintaining a completely fresh energy.

Radiant Dawn was written and recorded throughout 2018 and early 2019 in Montreal and Vancouver Island. Arcade Fire’s Tim Kingsbury played bass on the album’s closing track. The album was mixed by Wolf Parade's Arlen Thompson, as well as up and coming Montreal engineer Napster Vertigo (who also produced the album). The album was mastered by the Lodge’s Emily Lazar (on the heels of her 2019 Grammy award win).

Jennifer Knapp is a Grammy-nominated songwriter, author, and advocate. Her impressive history includes selling over one million albums with her first three releases Kansas (debut 1998, Gold-certified), Lay It Down (2000), and The Way I Am (2001). She has earned four Dove Awards and two Grammy nominations. The Kansas-born musician has toured the globe with artists such as Jars of Clay and was featured on the Lilith Fair Tour in 1999 and again in 2010. Knapp has received critical acclaim for her human approach to the divine, with The Los Angeles Times calling her "a rising star" and People Magazine describing her as "an uncommonly literate songwriter."

With a considerable fan base and critical and commercial successes, Knapp walked away from music in 2002 at the height of her career. After a seven-year hiatus, she returned in 2010 with a renewed passion for music showcased in her album Letting Go, which debuted at No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 200 Chart. Set Me Free followed in 2014 on Righteous Babe Records in conjunction with a memoir, Facing the Music: My Story, on Howard Books/Simon & Schuster. Her 2017 album Love Comes Back Around, produced by Viktor Krauss, pairs her fearless songwriting and strong, expressive voice with rootsy arrangements.

As the first major artist from the Christian music world to speak openly about LGBTQ identity, her unique position has created opportunities for dialogue at churches and universities through her organization Inside Out Faith and on the TEDx stage at the University of Nevada.

A true Renaissance woman, Knapp recently completed a master’s degree in theological studies from Vanderbilt Divinity School.

Mark your calendars, Harp Lovers, for Harptoberfest 2019!
This popular event, sponsored by the Blues Society of Western Pennsylvania, returns for its fourth year and promises an evening packed full of great Harmonica-Driven Blues performed by some of this area's best Harp Players!
Three great harp slingers will each bring a set of their best stuff to the stage at Club Cafe, backed by the Jimmy Adler Blues Band, before joining forces for an action packed finale!
Your MC for the evening will be Charlie Barath.

Performing to critical acclaim for over 20 years and over 2800 shows, Dark Star Orchestra continues the Grateful Dead live concert experience. Their shows are built off the Dead's extensive catalog and the talent of these seven fine musicians. On any given night, the band will perform a show based on a set list from the Grateful Dead's 30 years of extensive touring or use their catalog to program a unique set list for the show. This allows fans both young and old to share in the experience. By recreating set lists from the past, and by developing their own sets of Dead songs, Dark Star Orchestra offers a continually evolving artistic outlet within this musical canon. Honoring both the band and the fans, Dark Star Orchestra's members seek out the unique style and sound of each era while simultaneously offering their own informed improvisations.

Dark Star Orchestra offers much more than the sound of the Grateful Dead, they truly encapsulate the energy and the experience. It's about a sense of familiarity. It's about a feeling that grabs listeners and takes over. It's about that contagious energy...in short, it's about the complete experience and consistent quality show that the fan receives when attending a Dark Star Orchestra show.

Dark Star Orchestra has performed throughout the entire United States, including a sold out debut at Colorado’s Red Rocks Park & Amphitheater, plus shows in Europe and the Caribbean with the band touching down in seven different countries. DSO continues to grow its fan base by playing at larger venues for two and even three-night stands, as well as performing at major music festivals including Bonnaroo, Milwaukee's SummerFest, The Peach Music Festival, Jam Cruise, Wanee Festival, SweetWater 420 Festival, Mountain Jam, and many more.

In addition to appearing at some of the nation's top festival, Dark Star Orchestra hosts its own annual music festival and campaign gathering, titled the "Dark Star Jubilee", currently in its eighth year where DSO headline all three nights and are joined by a mix of established and up and coming national touring acts. Beyond the shores of the United States, DSO has taken its internationally-acclaimed Grateful Dead tribute to the beaches of Jamaica in the dead of winter for the past six years, with their event appropriately titled 'Jam in the Sand'. Featuring an ocean-side stage, DSO sets up camp to perform shows for four nights along the tropical sands of an all-inclusive resort, selling out the event each year for hundreds of lucky attendees.

Fans and critics haven't been the only people caught up in the spirit of a Dark Star show. The band has featured guest performances from six original Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, Vince Welnick, Tom Constanten and even toured with longtime Dead soundman, Dan Healy. Other notable guests have included Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman of Phish, Keller Williams, Warren Haynes, Steve Kimock, Peter Rowan, Ramblin' Jack Elliot and many more.

"For us it's a chance to recreate some of the magic that was created for us over the years," keyboardist and vocalist Rob Barraco explains. "We offer a sort of a historical perspective at what it might have been like to go to a show in 1985, 1978 or whenever. Even for Deadheads who can say they've been to a hundred shows in the 90s, we offer something they never got to see live."