Don Barry was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and he grew up in a musical family, (Dad the tenor, Mom the piano player, and Grandpa, banjo, guitar and mandolin,) to become to their dismay, a rock bass player in the early 1970s. After playing for several years in several locally popular rock cover bands, he spent a summer working in the house band in a Catskills NY resort hotel, where he developed an appreciation for blues and jazz and honed his chops on the upright bass. The blues led him to tour with Lonesome Dave Clark, and Chicago Bob, ex Muddy Waters player. Gigs with Luther Johnson down at the old Highland Tap in Boston, Bunratty's, and Central Square's Speakeasy kept him working, and playing with many of Boston's bluesmen. More recently, Don has revived his early Bluegrass and Country interests, performing with singer/songwriter Dawn Kenney, and playing bass on her new CD "Feel That Light". Don appeared with Dawn at her Falcon Ridge Folk Festival emerging artist spotlight.

Andru Bemis lives in South Haven, Michigan, but spends much of his time wandering North America by passenger train with his banjo and guitar (and occasional fiddle or banjo-ukulele), performing almost nightly in cities and towns along the way. While Andru's travels and lifestyle earn him frequent comparisons to Carl Sandburg, John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie, it's his unmistakeable voice, inventive self-taught banjo and guitar styles and exquisitely crafted tunes of travel, love and longing which have brought him respect throughout the US and Canada. Critics and audiences alike comment on Bemis' remarkable ability to craft timeless-sounding lyrics and tunes and to perform the songs of others – including Don Gibson, Tom Paxton, Greg Brown and Stephen Foster— as if he'd written them himself.

A founding member of such diverse musical combinations as "The Four Jovial Butchers,"
"The New Viper Revue" and "The Reprobates," Jim is widely respected as a master of several stringed instruments and a terrific teacher of guitar styles, especially in Newport, RI, where he's made his home for the past 35 years. An exquisite accompaniest, Jim is also a treasure house of wild and wonderful songs from the bags of arcana, wit and nostalgia.

Carl Bissonette started playing guitar at the age of 13 (60 years ago!) and has been entertaining people ever since. “Hank Williams was the man that I listened to most of the time. I played country most of my life, except some rock and roll in the late 60s and into the 70s. I also wandered into Bluegrass music, playing the mandolin for about 4 years,” says Carl. Since then he’s gone back to good old classical Country music, playing in bars, coffee houses, Grange halls and festivals – in fact anywhere folks will appreciate the honesty and depth of early country.

Now living in Memphis, Andy Cohen has been playing one kind of old time music or another since he was barely tall enough to reach the piano keys. His best-known virtuosity is in the blues, the good old, honest, down-to-earth, licks-filled acoustic blues. He is lucky (and old) enough to have learned directly from some of the greats, including Jim Brewer, Pink Andersen, Honeyboy Edwards, Rev. Dan Smith, Daniel Womack, and many more. He is a scholar of the works of Rev. Gary Davis, and comes just about as close as anyone can to replicating Rev. Davis' intricate style of guitar playing.

"Truck" has been playing and singing a variety of traditional styles for more than 30 years. He enjoys a reputation as one of the tastiest back-up guitar, mandolin, and bouzouki players in the Northeast, but is also a strong solo performer in his own right. A founding member of the seven-member a capella singing group Calaban, he has taught traditional singing workshops at the New England Conservatory of  Music and performed with the Chamber Singers at Jordan Hall. He was one of the original Erinoids along with Jimmy Devine, Pete Farley and Mark Roberts. His recording credits include work on Jim McGrath’s newest album, “Red Right Returning,” Rare Air’s last CD,  and "Empty Pockets," with the late Johnny Cunningham, Jerry O'Sullivan, Skip Healy and Dave Paton among others, which was nominated for a Grammy. He has also served on the Eisteddfod advisory board.

Sherman Lee Dillon was born in Meadville, Mississippi (pop 451) in 1951. Cousin Geraldene had a piano, so whenever he'd walk to her house, she'd give him lessons. Uncle Erastus taught the old time shaped note singing schools and made sure his nephews carried on the tradition. At age 12, Sherman began playing the guitar, at 14 the harmonica, at 15 the banjo and steel guitar (not to mention playing trumpet and baritone in the school band and teaching his brother the tenor sax). Since 1992, he has organized Mississippi's longest running annual Earth Day event. In 2004, he ran for Governor of Mississippi on the Green Party ticket. Two of Sherman Lee's children, Andrew and Anna Lee, make up the Dillonaires. Performances include songs by The Carter Family, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Johnson, some fiddlin' tunes, some banjo pickin', some old time Shape Note singing, and some originals. Sherman Lee plays the banjo, harmonica, and guitar, Anna plays guitar and Andrew plays the fiddle. They all sing, taking turns singing melody and harmony.

Truly a national treasure, for nearly 40 years Geremia has been surviving solely by the fruit of his musical labors. He has performed all over the USA and is just as well known in Europe, Canada and England. Paul is quite possibly the greatest living performer of the East Coast and Texas finger-picking and slide styles on six- and twelve-string guitars. Covers of Blind Willie McTell, Tampa Red, Lemon Jefferson, and Blind Blake (to name just a few) will raise the hair on your neck, and he also boasts one of the most expressive voices in the kingdom of the blues.

Dale Robin Lockman is a song hunter, always in search of songs from a variety of ethnic, geographical and thematic genres. With a rich, sweet voice and a quick humor, Dale Robin's performances are dotted with love songs, songs of work, hard times and the struggles of the working class, old time blues, songs of optimism and thoughtful intent and an occasional sing-along. She arrives at a show with a carful of instruments - guitar, banjo, Appalachian dulcimer, acoustic bass guitar and spoons - and along with those instruments, she brings her energy and her love for the music to the stage. Her audiences will laugh, sing and possibly yodel along. Her optimism and warmth shine through her music and are present in her anecdotes about her life growing up in Brooklyn, living with comedically aging parents and raising hilariously offbeat children.

Born and raised in the Virginia/Tennessee-straddling city of Bristol, David above all shares a wild and wonderful personal history that David with his listeners. "Basically, I tell true stories about friends and family," he says. "Basically true . . . or," he adds after a pause and a smile, "stories I made up about friends and family." As distinctive a performer as he is a writer, David Massengill accompanies himself mainly on the Appalachian dulcimer, which he slings over his shoulder like an electric guitar. Massengill's songs are rich with insight and poetic imagery, they're upbeat and engaging but full of subtle complexities; this Appalachian dulcimer player with the soft-edged vocal style and offhand stage presence is acknowledged to be one of America's finest songwriters.

A saloon singer extraordinaire, evoking an almost forgotten era when the fellow playing and crooning in the corner of your local pub was the only (and best) entertainment you'd find. In these more complicated and noise-infused times, Jim stands out amid the karaoke and the juke boxes and the 54-inch plasma screen TVs and flat-out enchants his audiences, whether longtime fans or brand-new acquaintances. Three songs into a Jim McGrath set and you feel you've known him for years, and you want to know him and his musical stories even better. His recent CD, "Red Right Returning," was recently selected by the National Maritime Heritage Foundation as a "CD of the month."

Russ Mello, a native of New Bedford is a performer who plays country blues music of the 1920's & 1930's. Russ has been playing finger style and bottleneck blues guitar for nearly 20 years studying the great masters such as, Blind Blake, Big Bill Broonzy, Robert Johnson, Skip James, Charlie Patton, and Blind Boy Fuller to name a few. He has studied and performed with the great country blues player, Paul Geremia. Russ strives to keep his playing true to the originals yet his unique style still shines through.

The husband and wife team of Jay and Abby Michaels have been performing Celtic and Renaissance music together since 2002. Jay plays the both the nylon and wire-strung Celtic harps, guitar and he sings. Abby sings, plays flutes, recorders, pennywhistles, guitar, harp and bowed psaltery. Together they perform traditional and popular music from the Celtic lands and beyond, Renaissance and Baroque tunes, and original compositions.

2006 Memphis Blues Challenge Finalist, Berkshire-based, Robin O’Herin plays both original and traditional American music using bottleneck and fingerstyle guitar and mountain dulcimer. Her music is distinguished by her pounding rhythm and authentic style. Robin specializes in historically rich, often interactive concerts that include original and traditional American music, for schools, libraries and small listening rooms. Her concerts are warm, affirming experiences she shares with the audience."I closed my eyes and thought I was in the Mississippi Delta"—fan at recent concert.

Award-winning storyteller Maggi Peirce grew up in Belfast, Ireland surrounded by songs, skipping rhymes, and Victorian parlor recitations. Years later, Peirce draws on those memories as she pulls listeners into her past; suddenly audiences are on the streets of Belfast, the hills of Ulster, and sipping strong tea in the parlor of her Belfast home. With Peirce's grand stories, pithy asides, and occasional "rude" drinking songs, the hour goes fast and the pleasure is deep and genuine.

Aquinnah Wampanoag Jonathan Perry is dedicated to continuing the lifeways of Northeastern Native peoples. Jonathan is a founding member of the Iron River Singers. The group has traveled extensively for the past 18 years, performing Northern Traditional and Eastern Traditional music and dance at festivals and educational events. In addition to being adept with the Northern drum and Water drum, he learned to make cedar flutes from his father and has played for several years. A champion dancer who has competed in the categories of Grass Dance, and Eastern and Northern Traditional, in 2005 he won the world championship for Eastern Traditional Dance at the Pequot Nations Green Corn Festival.

Ronald Perry grew up in the North end of New Bedford, MA, and showed an interest in music at a young age. He studied flute, guitar and piano, playing rock and roll tunes from Traffic, Cream and Vanilla Fudge at night clubs as a teen. In his early twenties he married a Wampanoag woman, had two kids, worked as an industrial engineer and continued to play rock. The music changed; now he played the Moog synthesizer for songs from Chicago, the Eagles and Moody Blues. In his early thirties, his tastes changed and he was looking for something new. That something was Native American flute. He aquired his first flute from the Wandering Bull and began to play in the woods around his home in Dartmouth, MA, then at area festivals and Powows throughout New England. An Ojibwa friend gave him the nickname KokaPerry, after the hunchbacked fluteplayer of Navajo story. Soon he was fashioning his own instruments, focusing on traditional cedar, then experimenting with black walnut and holly. Ron Perry is of Portugese and Hawaiian ancestry.

Jack has been performing traditional jazz and country blues for more than 40 years. He is a master of traditional country blues and stride piano, and a powerful singer/songwriter, as well. He was a fixture on the coffeehouse circuit in the late '60s and early '70s. His major early musical partnership was with Georgia country blues guitarist and singer Larry Johnson, in 1968-1970. He has listened carefully to and learned well from the playing of Albert Ammons, Champion Jack Dupree, James P. Johnson, Eubie Blake, Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson. His own unique style embraces and honors the tradition while exploring new ways to express old musical themes with enthusiasm and humor.

Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Harvey Reid has honed his craft over the last 30 years in countless clubs, festivals, streetcorners, cafes, schools and concert halls across the nation. He has been called a "giant of the steel strings" and "one of the true treasures of American acoustic music." He has absorbed a vast repertoire of American contemporary and roots music and woven it into his own colorful, personal and distinctive style. He is also responsible for most of what is known about the partial capo, developed all of the popular partial-capo configurations in use today (including the Esus), and was the first to record and publish music for partial capo. In 1980 he co-founded the Third Hand Capo Co. Also in 1980 he wrote the first college textbook for folk guitar, titled Modern Folk Guitar, it was published by Random House.

The music of William Chico Schwall reflects the Midwestern landscape and blue collar family in which he grew up and shares a uniquely rich palette of musical colors drawn from an extensive musical career. Self taught on guitar, Chico absorbed blues and folk, slide guitar and finger picking. He discovered the mandolin, banjo, fiddle and flute and expanded his horizons to include Celtic, Klezmer and World music. Chico has performed and arranged traditional music for theatre productions including "Under Milk Wood" with the British Theatre Company and Northwest Touring Theatre, performed with the Eugene Symphony and Oregon Festival of American Music orchestras and actively played on the Contra Dance circuit.

Peter Siegel is not your run of the mill guitar strummer. Playing the blues, swing, hip hop, traditional fiddle tunes on guitar, banjo, mandolin, bodhran, and his own two clogging feet, his songwriting and performances are what can only be categorized as "Space Age Vaudeville". Originally from the suburbs of NYC, he was positively inspired by the likes of his parents, his politically active grandparents, Phil Ochs, Run DMC, Pete Seeger, Miles Davis, The Beatles, Looney Tunes, Led Zeppelin, old time music, and some TV theme songs. Later on he was known around the Hudson Valley as a member of the trio The Harmonious Hogchokers, singing original and traditional songs of the region of political and environmental significance. Peter has also sung the praises of the Hudson River in many a River Fest with Clearwater's Hudson River Sloop Singers.

Mark T. Small has been playing music for more than 30 years. Hooked on the blues at the age of 12, Mark became a student of the blues, listening to such greats as Lightnin Hopkins, Fred McDowell, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and many others. Over the years Mark has traveled with a variety of bands, playing music ranging from Bluegrass to Chicago style blues. Today his solo show includes many traditional blues numbers with a Chicago slant that transforms each tune into a "tour de force." Included are the blazing flatpicking techniques from Mark's bluegrass days, the hot slide guitar playing that creates a mood and timbre change in each set, and the showmanship that was developed from years of experience as a band front man. The result is a night of acoustic blues and boogie woogie that can't be beat.

Tesseract is a Southeast Massachusetts-based trio consisting of Joan Akin, Joanne Doherty, and Mary Beth Soares. Known for their rich vocal harmonies, they cover a wide range of music that includes traditional, contemporary, nostalgia and a few originals. Sometimes accompanied by guitar, sometimes by ukulele, and sometimes singing a cappella, Tesseract's close harmonies and animated delivery have been delighting festival and coffee house audiences for more than 10 years.

Michael Troy was born and raised in Fall River, Mass. In many ways, his life reflects the lives of the hard-working people who populate this part of New England.  Having spent parts of his own life as a mill worker, fisherman, laborer and carpenter, and most of his adult years as a husband and father, Michael has traveled many paths, and the experience and wisdom he's gleaned along the way echoes through his music.  He is an adept picker, an astute observer and an acute emotional antenna.  Michael has won numerous awards for his music, most recently winning the 2007 New England Songwriting Contest at the Ossipee Valley Bluegrass Festival.

With warmth, humor and understated scholarship, Jeff Warner connects 21st century audiences with the music and everyday lives of 19th century people. He presents musical traditions from the Outer Banks fishing villages of North Carolina, to the lumber camps of the Adirondack Mountains and the whaling ports of New England. Warner is a Folklorist and Community Scholar for the New Hampshire Council on the Arts, has been named an Arts Council Fellow for 2007, and is on the Speaker's Roster for the New Hampshire Humanities Council. He has toured nationally for the Smithsonian Institution and has recorded for Flying Fish/Rounder and other labels. His 1995 recording Two Little Boys: More Old Time Songs for Kids received a Parents' Choice Award.