2026 ARTIST LINEUP
Alice Gerrard
In a career spanning more than 50 years, Alice Gerrard has known, learned from, and performed with many of the old-time and bluegrass greats and has in turn earned worldwide respect for her own important contributions to the music. Her groundbreaking collaboration with Appalachian singer Hazel Dickens during the 1960s and ’70s, Hazel and Alice, produced four classic LPs and influenced scores of young women singers. The duo was inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2017. Gerrard founded and edited the Old-Time Herald and is the subject of the documentary You Gave Me a Song.
Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves
Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves are an old-time banjo and fiddle duo that respects the past while propelling the pairing into the future. At times, their songs purposefully fly off the rails into noise, spacey bridges, and ripping hoedowns, bow strokes and frailing giving way to scratches and honks, wails and trills. It’s old-time and it’s jamgrass, it’s rehearsed and it’s improvised, it’s electric and goosebump-raising. It’s also tight, tidy, and professional and while demanding that you remain on the absolute edge of your seat.
Asheville Mountain Boys
The Asheville Mountain Boys are on a mission to capture not just the style but the spirit of traditional bluegrass. A group that firmly stakes its claim to the tradition of the music from the area, the Asheville Mountain Boys spring onto the scene with a thought, ”What happened to bluegrass?” It’s not a disparaging one that condemns current styles in the genre but rather asks, “Why do we love this music in the first place” and answers with an approach that is true to the originators of the genre in the sense of both style and philosophy. Bluegrass is raw emotion, excitement, drive, and authenticity. It is not sanitized or compromised but a reflection of the lives of those who play it. It’s storytelling that follows a throughline of tradition.
The Blue Ridge Girls
The Blue Ridge Girls, comprised of Jamie Collins, Martha Spencer, and Brett Morris, is a trio with deep roots in Appalachian folk music, a sound they are bringing into the 21st century kicking and clogging. Showcasing skillful musicianship and honey-sweet vocal harmonies, they perform a mix of standards and originals.
Brek
Brek plays original folk music with influences from various directions, seeking to create their own soundscape and break down barriers between musical styles. They connect Icelandic folk music with other types of folk music. Brek won Icelandic Music Awards honors for Album of the Year in Folk and World Music.
Caleb Caudle
Singer-songwriter Caleb Caudle’s body of work is shaped from the ground up. His artistry has emerged through endurance and the steady momentum of a life in motion, carrying him from small stages in the North Carolina foothills he calls home all the way to the Grand Ole Opry. On his new album, Heavy Thrill, he takes full creative control, releasing via his own label, Handplow Records, and self-producing for the first time while recording at the storied Cash Cabin in Hendersonville, Tenn., where reverence for tradition meets his singular artistic vision.
Carolina Bluegrass Band (UNC)
The Carolina Bluegrass Band performs traditional and contemporary bluegrass, steeped in local tradition. The band debuted in November 2016, opening for the Grammy-winning Steep Canyon Rangers in Memorial Hall. The band enrolls 10 to 20 UNC-Chapel Hill students by audition.
Earl White Stringband
Earl White has been a mainstay in the old-time, folk and dance community for more 45 years. An original and founding member of the famed Green Grass Cloggers, Earl is one of few Black Americans preserving and playing Appalachian style old-time music. Old-time music was once an intricate part of Black communities and formed the foundation of American music of today. Earl has played in numerous old-time string bands, and he currently leads the Earl White String Band, which has emerged as a favored dance band for both square and contra dances. The band performs at festivals and instructional music camp throughout the US and abroad.
The Fairfield Four
The story of the Fairfield Four is one of survival and soul. The Fairfield Four was first organized as an a cappella gospel ensemble of young African American men in Nashville in the early 1920s. The group weathered decades of personnel changes and financial challenges until 1960, but revived in the 1980s to continue its tradition of gospel quartet singing. Since then, they’ve been designated National Heritage Fellows, won three Grammy Awards, and were featured on the soundtrack for the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Gospel Jubilators
This Piedmont area a cappella group has been singing together since 1972. The group sings in the traditional jubilee style which dates back to the 19th century. Groups like the Fisk University Jubilee Singers brought the style to a broader audience.
The Gospel Jubilators opened PineCone’s 2024 Down Home Concert Season at the AJ Fletcher Theater. Chester Mayfield, Danny Massenburg, Don Adair, Fred Tyson and Fulton Waddell received a standing ovation from the sold out audience. “The guys enjoy what they do,” said bass singer Fred Tyson. “It’s been a rewarding experience.”
PineCone is proud to present this artist in collaboration with the North Carolina Folklife Institute with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council.
Honey Dewdrops
Throughout their two-decade partnership, the Honey Dewdrops’ Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish have highlighted the power and intimacy of two voices and two instruments in both live performances and recordings. Virginia natives Laura and Kagey constantly push the boundaries of their experimental folk sound — blending electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin and clawhammer banjo — while weaving in tight vocal harmonies. They remain committed to deepening their understanding of the world through songwriting and music.
Hubby Jenkins
Hubby Jenkins is a talented multi-instrumentalist who endeavors to share his love and knowledge of old-time American music. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he delved into his Southern roots, following the thread of African American history that wove itself through America’s traditional music forms. As an integral member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and later Rhiannon Giddens’ band, Hubby has performed at festivals and venues around the world, earning himself both Grammy and Americana award nominations. Today he spreads his knowledge and love of old-time American music through his dynamic solo performances and engaging workshops.
Jacob Sharp
Jacob Sharp grew up in a small town in the mountains of North Carolina, surrounded by music and obsessed with bands. He was mandolin player, singer, songwriter, and founding member of genre-bending stringband Mipso, and he’s continuing the tradition of making music with friends in his solo career. His solo debut album, Middle Kid, celebrates the musical community Sharp made while living in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, and more recently as he’s returned to living in North Carolina. The indie-folk songs are full of the emotional directness and pop hooks that have become the calling cards of Jacob’s writing and songs.
Jerron Paxton
Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, blues singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jerron Paxton’s music is steeped in the rich cultural heritage of the Great Migration. His family’s journey from Shreveport, Louisiana, to the Athens neighborhood of South LA in the 1950s laid the foundation for his appreciation of Southern Black culture.
Joe Troop’s Truth Machine
Over the years, North Carolina native Joe Troop has carved himself a niche as an “artivist,” entwining music and social justice. He recruited some of his favorite festival friends from the old-time and bluegrass scene to form a political protest powerhouse, the Truth Machine.
Joseph Terrell
Joseph Terrell grew up in a big Quaker family in the North Carolina Piedmont and, with friends at the University of North Carolina, formed and toured the world with folk band Mipso. Now a solo artists, Terrell has gained a large social media following with fiery, timely songs that address the modern world in the tradition of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.
Larry & Joe
Larry Bellorín hails from Monagas, Venezuela, and is a legend of Llanera music. Joe Troop is from North Carolina and is a Grammy-nominated bluegrass and old-time musician. Both are versatile multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters on a mission to show that music has no borders. As a duo they perform a fusion of Venezuelan and Appalachian folk music on harp, banjo, cuatro, fiddle, maracas, guitar, upright bass, and whatever else they decide to throw in the van.
Luke & the Cool Hands
A skilled multi-instrumentalist, Luke is also a composer and songwriter whose work reflects his deep roots in bluegrass tradition while embracing a personal and evolving artistic voice.
Mattie & Debbie
Mattie & Debbie is a duo comprised of two of the most unique talents to come out of the acoustic music scene: drummer/singer Sean Trischka and bluegrass guitarist/singer Stash Wyslouch. And together they’re a whole greater than the sum of their parts. Their debut album, Satan’s Junction, released earlier this year, weaves intimate space and luscious harmonies with bluegrass pickin’, top-40 hooks, and a slew of powerful anthems to get the whole family singing.
The Onlies
The Onlies are a longstanding collective of young friends defining a powerful new generation of stringband music. Described as “the best old-time stringband out there” (Songlines), they “make old-time music sound fuller and richer and more dense than most bands of a similar ilk” (Bandcamp Daily). Their music moves with a pulsating drive, sharp arrangements, and rich vibration — it resounds with the present.
Phil Jamison
Phil Jamison is nationally-known as a dance caller, old-time musician, and flatfoot dancer. He has called dances, performed, and taught at music festivals and dance events throughout the U.S. and overseas since the early 1970s, including over forty years as a member of the Green Grass Cloggers. His flatfoot dancing was featured in the film Songcatcher for which he also served as Traditional Dance consultant. Over the last thirty years, Phil has done extensive research in the area of Appalachian dance, and his book Hoedowns, Reels and Frolics: Roots and Branches of Southern Appalachian Dance (University of Illinois Press, 2015) tells the story behind the square dances, step dances, reels, and other forms of dance practiced in southern Appalachia.
The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys
In more than a decade as a band, the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys have covered a lot of miles sharing their love of bluegrass with audiences drawn to their hard-charging, true-blue sound. “We live what we play and sing about,” says bandleader C.J. Lewandowski. Indeed, hard work and deep feeling are baked into their songs, which have been celebrated with a Grammy nomination and International Bluegrass Music Association recognition ranging from the Emerging Artist of the Year award to a nomination for Entertainer of the Year. Now the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys are barreling into their second decade with renewed energy. You can see it onstage and feel it in their recordings. And sooner or later, it’s coming your way. “We take bluegrass and put it where bluegrass isn’t,” says Lewandowski. “It’s not about putting music that is different into bluegrass music to attract more people.”
Redbud
Redbud is a bluegrass band based in Boone, NC, honoring traditional bluegrass while blending in a fresh, modern style. As a group of young musicians, they create a warm, inviting sound that reflects both their deep respect for the genre’s roots and their passion for innovation.
Shinyribs
Shinyribs defies genres as a sonic melting pot of Texas Blues, New Orleans R&B funk, horn- driven Memphis Soul, country twang, border music, big band swing, and roots-rock. The Austin-based nine-piece (sometimes 10-piece) supergroup is led by Kevin Russell, the charismatic frontman with colorful suits and extravagant shoes who continuously swaps out an electric guitar for a ukulele and never falls short of creating a cinematic experience with on- stage antics that often include him donning a light-up cloak or leading a conga line through the crowd.
Skyrie
Skyrie, based in Fife, Scotland, is an electrifying contemporary Celtic music trio renowned for their dynamic performances and innovative sound. Their music blends traditional Scottish and Irish tunes, poignant original songs, tunes, and soundscapes with modern influences from rock to funk.
Tony Trischka’s EarlJam: A Tribute to Earl Scruggs
Banjo master Tony Trischka is a pioneering force in progressive bluegrass and an essential link between generations of players. His EarlJam project stems from a thumbdrive he received during COVID lockdown of recordings of Earl Scruggs and John Hartford jamming at Scruggs’ house from the 1980s and ‘90s. Trischka set out to transcribe Scruggs’ solos note-for-note and to find a way for the larger community to hear them, with new recordings in collaboration with some of current bluegrass’s greatest pickers. It’s a continuation of what Trischka has become known for in his six-decade career: collaborating with artists across the musical spectrum, teaching countless students, and challenging himself creatively while honoring the tradition that continues to shape his musical path.
Trio Huasteco
Trio Huasteco 2020 are from North Carolina and play music with roots in Hidalgo, Mexico. They’re part of a long tradition of son huasteco, a stringband style known for soaring fiddle parts, infectious rhythms, and rich vocal harmonies. The trio features Alejandro Sanchez on fiddle, jarana player Migues Alacron, and huapanguera player Magdaleno “Santana” Ramirez.
Viv & Riley
Viv & Riley’s sound is old-soul roots music to its core, elegantly combining a traditional backbone with the fresh iconic melodies of future-leaning indie-folk, and the tightly wound vocal harmonies of the old-time and classic country music they came from. Although they grew up on opposite sides of the country, Riley Calcagno in Seattle, Washington, and Vivian Leva in Lexington, Virginia, the two had an instant musical connection upon meeting in 2018 and since have played hundreds of shows across the US, UK, and Canada.
