Kamerra Franklin (born June 7, 1987), known professionally as Kam Franklin, is an American singer-songwriter, performance artist, activist, writer and orator. She is known as the lead singer for the Houston Soul group, The Suffers. She began her career as a backing vocalist and dancer, and has toured with Jim James and the Very Best. Bio courtesy of Wikipedia

Jackie Venson is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Austin, Texas. She graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2011. Venson has released four studio albums, The Light In Me (2014), Joy (2019), Vintage Machine (2020) and Love Transcends (2021). In addition to four studio albums, Venson has also released 4 live albums, Live at Strange Brew (2016) Live in Texas (2020), Jackie Venson Live at Austin City Limits and Joy Alive (2021). Venson also has a musical DJ alter ego that goes by the name jackie the robot and has released two albums titled jackie the robot vol 1 and jackie the robot vol 2, both records take Jackie Venson's music and remix them to create a psychedelic electronic journey. Venson has many more jackie the robot volumes planned for the future. Bio courtesy of Wikipedia

Jennah Bell is an Oakland-grown singer/songwriter whose ravenous musical curiosities inspired her own creative wonderland; her quirky songwriting and undefinable genre is a direct product of her proud Bay Area roots. As the architect of all aspects of her musical endeavours, Jennah pulls from a colorful palette of Folk, Soul, R&B, Hip‐Hop, and Bluegrass. Jennah was selected by the Grammy Foundation to participate in the summer program under the tutelage of Jimmy Jam, Paul Williams, and David Foster, all of whom embraced her unorthodox writing style. This experience encouraged Jennah to further her studies at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, where she immersed herself in a community of artists, and found much inspiration in her peers and professors. Included in her supporters is the legendary Paul Simon who extended his expertise and mentorship to the burgeoning artist. In 2011, Jennah released her first self-produced EP, the experimental “Early Bird,” and set out for New York City where, she’s been warmly welcomed into NYC’s renowned music scene. Since moving to New York, she has performed at The 2012 BET Awards as a independent artist, CMJ’s Music Marathon, SXSW Music Festival, Blue Note Jazz Festival, the main stage of The Roots Picnic, and the prestigious 2013 North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, where she received a standing ovation. She released a 3‐piece acoustic set “Live at Mother,” EP December of 2012 which was profiled on Okayplayer.com. She has shared the stage with artist such as Hiatus Kaiyote, Cody Chesnutt, Gregory Porter, Alice Smith, KING, and Eric Benet. Bell is currently working on her debut studio album titled, “Anatomy” with contributions from Grammy winning mix engineer and producer, Russell Elevado, Neal Pogue -- and multi‐Grammy winning songwriter, musician and multi‐platinum producer James Poyser. Haunting as the blues, gritty as rap verse, and enchanting as only folk can be, Jennah Bell is the sum of music’s best parts.

Dr. Dom Flemons, is a musician based in the Chicago area and he is famously known as The American Songster® since his repertoire covers over one hundred years of American roots music. Flemons is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music scholar, actor, slam poet, record collector, and the creator, host, producer of American Songster Radio Show on 650 AM WSM in Nashville, TN. He is considered an expert player on the banjo, guitar, harmonica, jug, percussion, quills, fife and rhythm bones. In 2022, he received a degree as a Doctor of Humane Letters from his alma mater Northern Arizona University and was the commencement speaker at the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2022. In 2020, Flemons was selected for the prestigious United States Artists Fellowship Award for the Traditional Arts category which was generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

DENITIA IS A MUSICIAN WHO EXEMPLIFIES AMERICAN CULTURAL ENLIGHTENMENT, a dynamic artist seeking foundation in the roots of history and style in modern conception. As a singer-songwriter based in New York’s Hudson Valley, Denitia’s portfolio spans states, cities and times, her catalog inspired by the lost narratives of her past and contemporary tapestry she’s sown together over time. And her career is only on the rise. Born and raised outside Houston, Denitia’s southern heritage forms a canvas for her evolving musical portrait. She grew up listening to the legends of country and folk, while leading choirs and spiritual awakenings at her local church. By five, she was playing piano. Soon thereafter, she brought out a saxophone and trumpet. When alternative rock hit the airwaves, Denitia picked up a guitar and joined the revolution. There was no challenge too obscure. Denitia’s Christian upbringing opened her ears to harmony, gusto and intention, while the radio brought out something raw, edgy and passionate. From a trailer in the woods, she spent her days studying the art of rock, alt-grunge, and self-revelation, melding it with her baseline in traditional roots music. Self-taught and unafraid, Denitia improvised her newfound language with the guitar and keyboard, and gained confidence performing at praise and worship services. She carried these experiences with her when she moved to Nashville for college, and resurrected them again in the heart of Brooklyn, where she spent 11 years evolving her sound with urban flair, shifting her vision subtly with the skyline.

Celisse is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, performer, and spoken word artist. Her deep and varied career has seen her in concert with many notable musicians such as Mariah Carey, Graham Nash, Melissa Etheridge and is a founding member of Trey Anastasio’s Ghosts of the Forest. In addition to her time on tour, she has performed alongside Kesha at the 60th annual Grammy Awards, Jon Batiste on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series, and played lead guitar for Lizzo on Saturday Night Live. Celisse has also starred in the recent revival of Godspell at Circle in the Square Theater and the Broadway national tour of Wicked. On television, Celisse has appeared on PBS’s The Electric Company, 30 Rock, Rescue Me, The Big C, White Collar and more. But it’s her prodigious talents as a singer-songwriter and musician that have defined Celisse the most as an artist. Her original music, powered by her soulful voice, is hard-rocking and blues-tinged with infectious hooks that stay with you.

A Nashville resident by way of Arizona, Joy Oladokun has been making her own way in Music City. She calls herself the "trap Tracy Chapman" and  Oladokun's sound encompasses her unique experience as a Black, queer, first generation Nigerian-American, folk artist. Oladokun boasts a lengthy discography dating back to 2016. Her most recent singles "Wish You The Best", "Jordan" and "Sorry Isn't Good Enough" were all released in 2021, and she isn't done yet. Another single with Maren Morris is set to release soon. Oladokun's music has been featured on the hit shows "Grey's Anatomy", "This is Us", "The L Word" and "Catfish". She has performed on NBC's "The Tonight Show" and was named a member of the inaugural #YoutubeBlackVoices class of 2021 as well as Vogue's #1 new LGBTQ artists  to listen to.

With a large voice packed into a tiny body, Grace Givertz is a multi-instrumentalist who uses her honest lyrics to bring a refreshing sound to folk. Born and raised in Jupiter, Florida, Grace has been writing songs and performing since she was eleven years old. Performing at well loved Boston venues including Great Scott, Club Passim, ONCE Ballroom, The Red Room and The Burren, Grace Givertz has opened for favorites like Lucy Dacus, Neyla Pekarek (The Lumineers), John Paul White (The Civil Wars), and Erin Rae. Out November 2019, Year of the Horse is Grace Givertz’s debut studio album. Two years after her first EP The Light, Grace has turned her wit to grit to create her most vulnerable release yet. in this independent release, Grace has turned tragedy into a triumphant record. She writes openly about living with chronic illness and how it has affected every aspect of her life. Grace Givertz showcases her multi-instrumentalism on the debut album, playing guitar, banjo, mandolin, and harmonica in addition to vocals. Year of the Horse showcases Grace’s ability to turn lemons in to lemonade. “…The only real option is to smile at how much she packs into a tiny punch of a song,” Nina Corcoran writes in digboston.

Ganessa James got her start in Brooklyn and has over 20 years of experience as a singer/songwriter. "I think I was born loving music," James said. For her, it's not just about the music. She uses it as a vessel for fellowship with other artists and to support her work around social justice. You can often find James working with Toshi Reagon, or with her twin sister Tiffany James on their project Onliest. James has released a solo acoustic EP titled "Believer".

Destinie Lynn is a multi-talented singer/songwriter based in Los Angeles, CA. Destinie’s music works within the American roots tradition, or what she affectionately refers to as “porch music” taking influence from the Delta Blues, Indie Folk, and Americana. Destinie’s voice is a rich, mellifluous tapestry evoking the affecting sensibilities of blues, jazz, and folk singers past, while her lyricism has been described as nuanced and literary-minded. Destinie writes soulful , often haunting songs that dive fearlessly into love, loss, and mortality; songs that highlight the daily struggles of the soul.

Curt Chambers is an American singer, song writer, producer and recording artist who has gained notoriety for his unique fusions of rock, soul, country and hip hop. Often described as refreshing and innovative, the Philadelphia native’s gifts as a musician were cultivated at home and in church where he was raised to appreciate multiple musical genres and was influenced heavily by gospel, soul, blues and country. He was taught to play several instruments including, piano, drums and guitar. It is on the guitar, however, where the essence of Curt Chambers comes to life, captivating all who are fortunate enough to witness. Curt’s immense talent partnered with his wildly diverse blues, country and hip hop power packed performances humbly provided him the opportunity to share stages with a wide array of musical legends such as BB King, and Jerry Douglas as well as rock and hip hop icons Travis Barker, P. Diddy, Dr. Dre, Eminem, the legendary LL Cool J along with Country Stars, Chris Young, Florida Georgia Line, Tyler Rich, Jake Owen, Dustin Lynch and many more. As a graduate of William Patterson University where he majored in Jazz and Performance Studies, Curt further extended his musical palette making him adept and respected in musical composition and direction. He is a 2018 Grammy Award Winner and recipient of multiple notable accolades including 2 Grammy nominations and an ASCAP award for his contribution as songwriter for the hit “Finding My Way Back” performed by R&B recording artist Jaheim. Since then, Curt’s talent for writing partnered with his genius as a multi- instrumentalist continue to elevate him creatively and professionally having written and co-written for the likes of Eminem, Lenny Kravitz, Miguel, and Jamie Foxx and recently with hip hop pioneer Dr. Dre in which Curt received another Grammy nomination for his work on the critically acclaimed album “Compton.” With a sound that is unique, multi dimensional and holds no boundaries, Curt Chambers nurtures his love for musical pluralism as he collaborates with the industry's best pop and country artists building a legacy that continues to cross genres and creates cutting edge musical masterpieces. Curt has been putting down his roots in country music for the past two years, recently signed to WME. His fusion of multiple genres with his country music styling is exciting country music fans, he is truly a Rising Star in Country Music.

There are artists who perform, but Ashlie Amber astonishes; effortlessly injecting country music with unapologetically vivid bravado. She’s shattering derivatives and demolishing partitions and at the pinnacle of her artistry, Ashlie Amber has founded the unconventional, unstoppable sub-genre Country Vogue. Already being praised by Sounds Like Nashville, as one of 2021’s artists to watch, Ashlie Amber is an enigma to some, but magnetic to all. She is her music, and this is only the beginning.

Since his earliest infatuations with guitar, Buffalo Nichols has asked himself the same question: How can I bring the blues of the past into the future? After cutting his teeth between a Baptist church and bars in Milwaukee, it was a globetrotting trip through West Africa and Europe during a creative down period that began to reveal the answer. “Part of my intent, making myself more comfortable with this release, is putting more Black stories into the genres of folk and blues,” guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist Carl “Buffalo” Nichols explains. “Listening to this record, I want more Black people to hear themselves in this music that is truly theirs.” That desire is embodied in his self-titled debut album—Fat Possum’s first solo blues signing in nearly 20 years—composed largely of demos and studio sessions recorded between Wisconsin and Texas. Born in Houston and raised in Milwaukee’s predominantly Black North end, the guitar was Nichols’ saving grace as a young man. The instrument captured his fascination, and provided him with an outlet for self-expression and discovery in isolation. While other children chased stardom on the field, court, or classroom, Nichols took to his mother and siblings’ music collections, searching feverishly for riffs to pick out on his instrument. Sometimes, this dedication meant listening to a song 200 times in order to wrap his mind around a chord; as a teenager, it even routinely meant staying home from school to get extra practice. It would’ve required a more than arduous journey across town to find a secular circle to jam with in a city still reeling from redlining and segregation, so despite a lack of a religious upbringing, Nichols went sacred. A friend invited the teenage guitarist to church for a gig and the opportunity proved to be Nichols’ much-needed breakthrough to music circles in the area. But over the following years, he began to feel overextended, and abandoned the demanding grind of a supporting role in nearly ten Milwaukee scene bands, none of which bore his vision as a lead performer. “I was happy with all the stuff that I was doing, and I was learning, but I wasn’t playing anything that was very creatively fulfilling,” Nichols says. “I needed the time and space. I was overwhelmed.” Stints in college and in the workforce led him overseas, where the appreciation of African-American folkways lit a renewed spark in Nichols. It was the bustling of jazz in places like the working class areas of Ukraine, or in Berlin cafes where expatriate Black Americans routinely treat fans to an enchanting evening of blues, that would lead to his a-ha moment. Nichols returned home to America, meditating on his own place in the music that holds the country’s truest values and rawest emotions between bar and measure. “Before this trip, it was hard for me to find that link between all these blues records I heard and people who are living right now. I figured out it’s not a huge commercial thing, but it still has value. So, I came home and started playing the blues more seriously, doing stuff with just me and my guitar,” Nichols says. Nichols admits that anger and pain are realities that color the conversations and the autobiographical anecdotes behind his observational, narrative-based approach to songwriting. However, with his lyricism on Buffalo Nichols, he intends to provide a perspective that doesn’t lean heavily into stereotypes, generalizations or microaggressions regarding race, class and culture. The album sees Nichols wrestling with prescient topics, such as empathy and forgiveness on the poignant, ever-building melody of “How to Love;” regret and loss on moving, violin-inflected “These Things;” and the pitfalls of lives lived too close to the edge on the smooth, dynamic “Back on Top.” On the tender, aching album opener and lead single “Lost & Lonesome,” he gives listeners what he describes as a “glimpse into the mind of that traveler looking for a friend and a place to call home;” inspired by his years traveling alone, looking for a place for his passions to fit in, even if temporarily, the track is an ode to exploration and the creative ingenuity of isolation. At the forefront of each song is Nichols’ rich voice and evocative, virtuosic guitar-playing, augmented on half of the nine tracks by a simple, cadent drum line. While acknowledging the joy, exuberance and triumph contained in the blues, Nichols looks intently at the genre’s origins, which harken back to complicated and dire circumstances for Black Americans. With this in mind, Nichols says there is a missing link, which he’s often used as a compass: Black stories aren’t being told responsibly in the genre anymore. To begin changing that, Buffalo Nichols gets the chance to tell his own story in the right way.

Kamara Thomas is a singer, songspeller, mythology fanatic and multidisciplinary storyteller based in Durham, NC. She is a Princeton Arts Fellow and has commissioned work for Duke University, the University of North Carolina and Cassilhaus. Kamara's storytelling is collaborative and multi-faceted– weaving together musical and theater performance, community art-making, ritual, and visual elements including film, masks, archival material and photography. Currently, she is developing “Tularosa: An American Dreamtime'' in collaboration with Boulder, CO-based theater company Band of Toughs. Based on her 2022 eponymous album and song-cycle, the storywork interrogates the mythology of the American West as it seeks to excavate, reinvent and heal the American mythologies that underpin collective cultural identity. The storywork will be the final, integrative installment of a series of experimental, multidisciplinary works including #9 - a pandemic performance for nine social-distancers (2020), the videos Good Luck America (2018) and Oh Gallows (2016), and Soapbox (2018), a community-based agitprop performance that traveled throughout public spaces in downtown Durham. Kamara also spearheads Country Soul Songbook, an artist-driven and -focused media platform and production team rooted in the mission to amplify historically marginalized voices (BIPOC/LGBTQIA+) in Country, Americana and American roots music.

Jackson Snelling is a 20 yrs old accomplished singer songwriter and pianist from Austin, Indiana. Jackson is a 2021 American Idol contestant who went before the judges on national television in March. He was awarded the 2021 Josie Music Awards "Entertainer Of The Year Fan Choice Award ", and 2020 JMA'S video of the year for his original "If I Only Knew " in Nashville, Tennessee. Since Jackson's American idol audition, he has been traveling to perform in several states throughout this past summer. He currently has an album out across all platforms "Storyteller ", and currently working on releasing his second EP.

“Come and listen to a story ‘bout a man named Prince…” If the cat who penned the familiar theme song to the TV classic “The Beverly Hillbillies” set his sights on the Americana phenomenon known as The Ebony Hillbillies – aka the last African-American String Band in America - he’d start the narrative there, with Harlem born, Queens, NY raised violinist and vocalist Henrique Prince and his once in a lifetime musical mission. With his formal West Coast musical education, Henrique might have become a member of a symphony orchestra. Instead, he got wind of the popular 1930s guitar-fiddle group The Mississippi Sheiks and The Altamont Recordings of Black Stringband Music from The Library of Congress featuring links to ghosts of String Bands past like Murph Gribble, Nathan Frazier and Frank Patterson. Then he met the man who would become his partner in infectious, polyrhythmic crime - banjo, mountain dulcimer, guitar and vocal ace Norris Washington Bennett - after an audition for an NYC bluegrass band. Prior to their divine musical appointment, the Florida bred Bennett was a full time “busker” in Europe and had even released two solo albums in Germany. On a lark one day, he and Henrique played “Shenandoah” at Grand Central Station and realized the organic yet danceable joy they could create bringing to the 21st Century a string band tradition that pre-dates jazz and audio recording and was written about even before the Declaration of Independence was signed. Keeping these essential traditions alive while bringing fresh musical and philosophical urgency to the genre, the ensemble has grown and evolved to include multi-talented musical vets Gloria Thomas Gassaway (on vocals and bones), acoustic bassist William “Salty Bill” Salter (Multiple Grammy winning co-writer of legendary pop hits like “Where is the Love” and “Just The Two of Us”), Allanah Salter (shaker percussion, vocals), Newman Taylor Baker (washboard percussion) and A.R. (Ali Rahman) on “cowboy” percussion. Together they create an untamed and joyful, heartfelt and toe=tapping vibe that captures elements of pop, country, bluegrass, folk, rock and jazz - echoing across the generations while transcending racial and cultural boundaries. The Ebony Hillbillies’ latest full length album finds them Five Miles From Town, a soulful, gritty and alternately funky, romantic and socially conscious place where toes are always tapping, percussion is slapping, fiddles are jamming, front porch chairs are rocking, banjos are plucking and voices are raised in determination and triumph. Mixing lively instrumentals and vocals over the course of 11 tracks and 3 alternately playful and hard-hitting snippets/skits, the group performs everything from a down home fiddle jam (the opening track “Hog-Eyed Man”), the gentle romantic cautionary tale “Fork in the Road” and an intimate cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” to the incisive social commentaries “Another Man Done Gone (Hands Up Don’t Shoot)” (about black men and police shootings) and “I’m on My Way To Brooklyn,” which rolls as a lighthearted NYC inspired spiritual until the end…and three gunshots. The Ebony Hillbillies started out as an NYC street corner phenomenon, but their vibe and influence has extended over the years to acclaimed live performances at legendary venues like Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center; appearances on the BBC, Good Morning America, NBC, CBS, etc., international music workshops and festivals, visual artist collaborations at museums (including The Whitney with phenom Kara Walker and The Smithsonian Museum), guest school programs, foot stomping and hand-clapping dance parties and more. While formed in the digital era, they have sold thousands of hard copies of their four CDs - Sabrina’s Holiday (2004), I Thought You Knew (2005), Barefoot and Flying (2005) and Slappin’ A Rabbit – Live! (2015) – at their shows and via their globally popular website. The Ebony Hillbillies are currently in the studio working on their next project. “Norris and I started with this simple idea of joining the fiddle and drums and have enjoyed the way The Ebony Hillbillies has grown as we learned how great we could sound with all these other musicians and sonic textures,” says Henrique. “Over the years, as the repertoire and sense of spontaneity and improvisation evolved, those things became part of the magic. It’s a uniquely American art form that is rooted in history but stands on its own two feet as a contemporary force. Now that we’re aware of our full capabilities to educate and inspire, we also see just how much fun it is to transport people with our style of music. We’re all very accomplished musicians with long professional resumes. Yet something about the music we make as the Ebony Hillbillies makes our collective experiences run richer and deeper into our lives than all the other things we have had the opportunity to accomplish.” For the uninitiated, Henrique likes to introduce The Ebony Hillbillies by saying that it’s a dance band that has “magically put together music that covers centuries, that’s modern and ancient at the same time.” One of the fascinating ironies about String Band music is that while the music is born of deprivation, disenfranchisement and disappointment, it’s still leaping with joy even if it’s just as often weeping with melancholy. African American string bands were an essential part of daily life throughout the 18th and 19th Century. Its practitioners played for pleasure, for church, to relieve the enormous stresses of life on the plantation – and, as any of the thousands of lucky folks who have seen the Ebony Hillbillies in action can tell you, for dances. Say that word “dancing,” and Gloria Thomas Gassaway becomes all aglow, saying, “When I dance, I make everyone else dance. Everyone at a Hillbillies show has to dance, and we love to inspire people to get up and dance. The key is to get them to enjoy themselves. The worst thing someone can say after going out to a concert is, ‘That band was really nice.’ When you see the Ebony Hillbillies, you go home and say, ‘Damn, I had a ball, I got down with them, I had a workout!’ That’s what it’s all about – making sure every single person in our audience goes home with a smile on their face saying what a great time they had. No way you see us and stay seated the whole time!” Cause honey, “Ain’t No Party Like A Hillbilly Party!” One of the ways The Ebony Hillbillies helps people connect the history of String Bands with their powerhouse presentation is through their educational outreach, specifically via the EH Kids Program presented by The EH Music Foundation, which they’ve spread all throughout the U.S. and as far East as Bulgaria. The New York Times has said of the program, “What a Wonderful Connection to all our humanity.” The Ebony Hillbillies have spent years delighting audiences, educators and students of all ages with their unique combination of interactive storytelling and exciting musical performances. They introduce students to sounds that highlight the nearly forgotten American legacy of String Bands, while encouraging students to grab their noisemakers and throw on their dancing shoes. While performing and encouraging immersive student participation, they teach how String Bands served as an early melting pot – perhaps the first in American history – for musical and creative integration of Africans, African-Americans and Native Americans, with influences by Scottish, Irish and other European immigrants. The way the band explains it, “It’s the sound of America and a significant factor in the birth of the pop century. String band music offers a glimpse at the flesh and bones behind everything you hear on the radio today and everything you’ve ever danced to.” Through deeper exploration, students gain a sense of the human experience of that period through the eyes of musicians that capture that era in sound. Billed as a “spectacular program where music and history collide,” the experience culminates with students sharing or showcasing what they have heard, experienced and learned.

Darius Rucker first achieved multi-Platinum status in the music industry as lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the GRAMMY Award-winning band Hootie & the Blowfish, who have sold more than 25 million albums worldwide including their Diamond-certified debut Cracked Rear View, which remains among the Top 10 best-selling studio albums of all time. Since releasing his first Country album in 2008, Rucker has earned a whole new legion of fans with four No. 1 albums on the Billboard Country chart, including RIAA Platinum-certified Learn to Live and True Believers, plus 10 No. 1 singles at Country radio and 11 Gold, Platinum or multi-Platinum certified hits. Rucker was inducted as a Grand Ole Opry member in 2012 and in 2014 he won his third career GRAMMY Award for Best Solo Country Performance with his 9x Platinum version of Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel,” one of the top five best-selling Country songs of all time. He co-hosted the 54th annual CMA Awards in 2020 and topped the charts at Country radio once again with “Beers And Sunshine” in 2021. Follow up single “My Masterpiece” is available everywhere now as Rucker puts the finishing touches on a forthcoming album. As a lifelong philanthropist, Rucker supports the MUSC Children's Hospital in his hometown of Charleston, South Carolina and has also raised millions of dollars for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital through his annual Darius & Friends benefit concert and golf tournament. Rucker has also advocated for over 200 charitable causes supporting public education and junior golf programs in South Carolina through the Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation and serves as a National Chair for the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville.

Chris Pierce gained national prominence with “We Can Always Come Back To This”. His hit co-write aired on 3 episodes of the #1 NBC primetime series ‘THIS IS US’, then went on to #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart. Pierce has done worldwide headlining tours and has performed with: Allison Russell, B.B. King, Seal, Al Green, Colbie Caillat, Rodrigo y Gabriella, Keb’Mo’, Blind Boys of Alabama, Aaron Neville & others. His recent album, 'AMERICAN SILENCE' garnered critical acclaim from NPR, Rolling Stone, NoDepression, SiriusXM, The Bluegrass Situation, AmericanaUK, Acoustic Guitar and others. PopMatters named ‘AMERICAN SILENCE’ THE #1 Best Folk Album of 2021. ​At age 15, Pierce developed a rare hearing disorder called Otosclerosis that led to the loss of hearing in one ear and partial deafness in the other, a setback that would deter many young musicians forever. The reality, however, fueled Chris’ passion and determination all the more, forcing him to re-learn almost everything he had known prior to his condition. To Chris, music was, and still is, an unconditional companion. 2022 highlights included a solo concert at The Kennedy Center, a duet with Sara Bareilles, a Super Bowl commercial with Miley Cyrus & Dolly Parton, a sold- out Troubadour show with Allison Russell, and performance/interviews on both NPR’s WORLD CAFE and MOUNTAIN STAGE broadcast to 300 NPR affiliates. Stellar performances at Newport Folk, Folk Alliance, Four Corners Fest, Kerrville Folk, & NC Folk Festivals brought further acclaim. Chris Pierce also records and performs with Americana/Folk/Soul sensation War & Pierce with Sunny War, and with the Americana/Roots band Leon Creek, as well as frequent live guest appearances with The Black Opry Revue. Pierce is slated to release a full band studio album this summer (2023) with the first Americana/Roots/Blues single “45 Jukebox” out now.

The Mississippi Hill Country blues guitarist and singer/songwriter contains within him the legacy and future of the region’s prescient sound stories. At once African and American and southern and Mississippian, these stories tell about love, hurt, connection, and redemption in the South. His newest contribution to this tradition is I Be Trying, a 13-track album treatise on life’s challenges, pleasures, and beauty. “Life can go any kind of way,” Burnside says. With almost 30 years of performing and living blues in him, he would know. Burnside’s blues inheritance, the North Mississippi Hill Country blues, is distinct from its Delta or Texas counterparts in its commitment to polyrhythmic percussion and its refusal of familiar blues chord progressions. Often, and especially in Burnside’s care, it leads with extended riffs that become sentences or pleas or exclamations, rendering the guitar like its West African antecedent, the talking drum. Riffs disappear behind and become one with the singer’s voice, like the convergence of hill and horizon in the distance. Sometimes they become the only voice, saying what the singer cannot conjure the words for. Across some nine individual and collaborative album projects, Burnside’s voice eases seamlessly into, through, and behind the riffs spirit gifts him, carrying listeners to a deep Mississippi well. There is mirror there in the water of that well, in Burnside’s music, that shows us who and what we have been, who we are, and what we might be if we look and heed. The 42-year-old Burnside was born in the blues as much as he was in funk, rock, soul, and hip-hop. These latter sensibilities are reflected across his work, as he drives Hill Country blues into grooves that lend themselves readily to an urgent, modern moment. But he is also keenly his grandfather’s grandson, who he studied so carefully over a decade playing with him that he came to know him better than his own self. The elder Burnside blues man, the hill country blues luminary RL Burnside, and his wife Alice Mae wrapped their Holly Springs land and family in warmth, joy, and music. RL Burnside, alongside collaborators and contemporaries from David “Junior” Kimbrough to Jessie Mae Hemphill and Otha Turner, cultivated the sound and feeling of Black North Mississippi life and offered it up to the world. Cedric observed and absorbed this art world intently and with wonder as a child, declaring to himself, this is the music I want to play and I want to do that for the rest of my life. Moreover, this was the offering he, too, wanted to make, and the life of service to the spirit through blues that he wanted to live. By age 13, he was on the road with his “Big Daddy” Burnside, playing drums, being raised up by the music and the road, and developing the next, electric generation of the Hill Country calling and sound. Burnside’s two Grammy-nominated album projects— the 2015 Descendants of Hill Country and 2018’s Benton County Relic—were both capstone statements for a lifetime of musical labor channeling the blues spirit on drums, guitar, and vocals in the North Mississippi Hill Country tradition. I Be Trying, Burnside’s second release with Alabama’s Single Lock Records, is another unfolding of his influence and voice as an architect of the second generation of Hill Country blues. This album pushes just beyond his long-time roles as Hill Country blues collaborator, torchbearer, and innovator into the rooms of the artist’s inner life. Written in reflection on and off the road in 2018, the album responds to the confusion and anger he felt in the years after a series of deaths in the family and a host of other interpersonal hurts, some he dished out and some he took. The album opens with an acoustic lament, “The World Can Be So Cold,” that encapsulates the tenderness of this pain and then quickly rallies and pleads with the Lord for help on the rousing second track and the album’s first single, “Step In.” The title track, on which Burnside is accompanied on background vocals by his youngest daughter Portrika, is a plea for grace and forgiveness from a man “still learning and trying to be the best me.” Burnside’s signature approach and contribution to the Hill Country genre—electricity, intention, and timeless timbre—is seamlessly complemented here by star collaborators Alabama Shakes bassist Zac Cockrell, North Mississippi Allstars guitarist Luther Dickinson, and principal collaborator Reed Watson on drums. With lessons to impart, Burnside strips down the sound with precision so there can be no misunderstanding, allowing for space and breath where otherwise chords and reverb might be present. This portion of the offering is a guidebook for life’s dark times, set to mostly minor riffs and pulsing bass and percussion rhythms that immediately set in the soul like the gospel. If you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, “Ask the Lord for revelation/so [you] can see clearer” and “keep on pushing as hard as [you] can,” he advises to a march on “Keep On Pushing”; “Be careful who you talk to/ain’t no telling what they might do” he warns on “Gotta Look Out” over a menacing bass eighth-note couplet on the one and three. Recorded over a few sessions at Royal Studios in Memphis with lifelong friend and fellow North Mississippi descendant Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell, I Be Trying is Burnside boiled down by a fiery blue anger from descendant to relic to human. What is left, and this is everything, is a resonant kind of love. Buoyed by his readings of Lao Tzu and rumination on his own life choices and hurts, Burnside says he is “trying his best to implement love” in his life and in relationships with others. “There’s not enough love shown in the world. People have a lot of regret. The world needs more love.” In the places where love glistens on the album’s surface, like in the harmonies on the anthem groove “Love Is the Key” or in the smooth, purposeful falsetto sliding over the strings on the final track, “Love You Forever,” Burnside’s desire for us all to “really just try to come closer” is palpable. But this is the blues, so love is necessarily double-edged. On two covers, one of RL Burnside’s “Bird Without a Feather” and another of Junior Kimbrough’s “Keep Your Hands Off Her,” which Burnside titles by its signature opening threat, “Hands Off That Girl,” there is hurt and fear, quiet menace and outright threat. “Dark,” he admits, “but what people go through.” Flashing this side of love’s sword, Burnside reminds us of the complex, raw, blues people legacy that undergirds his art. Still, he says on the soaring “Love Is Key,” which is his thesis as of late, “a life filled with love is the key/yes it is.” Blues is an embodied practice that frequently crosses the boundaries of reality and fiction, and as such, Burnside appears as himself in Bill Bennett’s Tempted (2001), a New Orleans-set thriller; Arliss Howard’s Mississippi-based romantic comedy Big Bad Love; and Craig Brewer’s Tennessee-based drama Black Snake Moan (2006). He also can become something other than himself. In 2021, Burnside played the title character in Don Simonton and Travis Mills’ story of Texas Red, a Franklin County, Mississippi juke joint owner who, after defending himself from an attack, was hunted by a mob for a month and eventually caught and killed. Burnside brings a bluesman’s haunted gravitas to the role, balanced about life and death and freedom even in the most unspeakable moments. Like his music, this role is ancestral blues work that honors the dead and their legacies to teach and heal new generations. Burnside recalls chopping wood and hauling water as a child, and these days he is in his garden growing food and contemplating getting some chickens. This penchant for cultivation and innovation that has always characterized his music spills over to the land, and especially in this moment of shift wrought by pandemic life. On a hunting trip to Montana, Burnside connected to nature, as well as his interior life, in a new way. This feeling, one of opening, was a revelation to him. It underscores his love strivings and, along with his studies of the Dao, even changes how he structures and writes songs. It is a process of “realizing what was already there,” he says, of remembering. Love is key, and love is work. Burnside’s turn inward has him considering his place in the family legacy of professional blues musicians. He is a proud father of three daughters, ages 22, 18, and 15, all of whom can play drums and guitar, and is looking forward to more collaborations like the one with the youngest Burnside daughter on “I Be Trying.” Striving for transparency with his children about his own life, he lets them know not to be too hard on themselves. He says Big Daddy always took care of his family, including his 13 children and several grandchildren and great grandchildren. Despite his touring schedule, Burnside is deeply grateful for his capacity to support and be present for his own children. About this, he says, “I have been there, and I will be there.” That’s for certain about the past, present, and future of the North Mississippi Hill Country blues, too.