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Dr. Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys 
"Although he needs no introduction, we'll go ahead and give him one anyway. Ralph was born in Dickenson County, Virginia, where he still resides when he's not on the road. After 55 years in the business, he's still the best banjo picker and tenor singer in bluegrass music. As a recording artist, he has performed on more than 170 albums, tapes, and CDs. He's also written many songs himself and with his brother, the late Carter Stanley. Ralph's played throughout the United States and in many foreign lands, too, including several tours of Japan. In addition to the many honors Ralph has received as a bluegrass musician, including membership on the Grand Ole Opry, he is also a Shriner, a member of the Primitive Baptist Universalist Church, and active in his local community, having served on the Dickenson County School Board. Ralph is married to Jimmi Stanley, and they have two daughters, Lisa and Tonya, and, of course, one son, Ralph II.
The Clinch Mountain Boys currently live in scattered communities in the mountains of Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. They meet up in Coeburn, where their tour bus is parked and head out on the road. Their typical work week starts on Wednesday or Thursday and wraps up on Sunday, when they normally head in home for a couple days of well-deserved rest before starting out all over again."
[Bio courtesy: www.drralphstanley.com ]
"Nashville, Tennessee is a nexus – a point where tradition and innovation intersect, where commerce collides with art. It may be the only town around where salaried songwriters and full-time session musicians are as common as accountants and schoolteachers. Music is the product, and the factories line the street, from the swank Music Row mini-high-rises to the low-slung Sylvain Park bungalows. And only Nashville could give birth to a band like the SteelDrivers: a group of seasoned veterans – each distinguished in his or her own right, each valued in the town’s commercial community – who are seizing an opportunity to follow their hearts to their souls’ reward. In doing so, they are braiding their bluegrass roots with new threads of their own design, bringing together country, soul, and other contemporary influences to create an unapologetic hybrid that is old as the hills but fresh as the morning dew. This is new music with the old feeling. SteelDrivers fan Vince Gill describes the band’s fusion as simply “an incredible combination.”
The Steeldrivers are: Richard Bailey (banjo), Mike Fleming (bass/vocals), Mike Henderson (mandolin/vocals), Tammy Rogers (fiddle/vocals) and Chris Stapleton (guitar/vocals).
[Bio courtesy: www.steeldrivers.net ]
"The Carolina Chocolate Drops are a group of young African-American stringband musicians that have come to together to play the rich tradition of fiddle and banjo music in Carolinas’ piedmont. Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson both hail from the green hills of the North Carolina Piedmont while Dom Flemons is native to sunny Arizona.
Although we have diverse musical backgrounds, we draw our musical heritage from the foothills of the North and South Carolina. We have been under the tutelage of Joe Thompson, said to be the last black traditional string band player, of Mebane, NC and we strive to carry on the long standing traditional music of the black and white communities."
[Bio courtesy: www.carolinachocolatedrops.com ]
"Inspired by the people and place that surrounds them, CMSB is connected by a common vein that injects a high level of energy into each song. “Folks often ask us to describe the kind of music we play and I guess from a commercial stand point you can call it ‘old time’ or ‘string band’ music, but to us it’s just music,” says Ratliff. Melody lines are played out on the fiddle with accompaniment from the “knock down” banjo and pushed by the vigorous rhythms of the guitar and doghouse, known as “Rowan County Rhythm.” Their vocal harmonies are also very distinct and tend to blend seamlessly not only with each other but also with the music. The tunes come from oral transmission, intense listening (thanks to the archives at the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music), hours upon hours of jamming with all of their old time peers, and original compositions. Clack Mountain String Band is vastly influenced by the mountains and rolling hills of East Kentucky and people like Lee Sexton, George Gibson, and their dear friend Art Stamper, whom we all miss very much. On the forefront of a diverse and blossoming music scene in Morehead, Kentucky, CMSB consists of four core members; Karly Higgins, Jesse Wells, J.T. Cure and Brett Ratliff."
