Ruby John is a Traditional Fiddler and a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa Chippewa Indians from Northern Michigan. Ruby learned to fiddle the traditional way by ear, listening to and learning from experienced fiddlers while attending OFMA Jamborees (Old-Time Michigan Fiddlers Association), TC Celtic Sessions, Algomatrad Traditional Music and Dance camp (St. Joseph Island ON), Elder Youth Legacy Métis Collective and Bluegrass Festivals. Ruby has performed her traditional fiddling throughout the US and Canada and looks forward to sharing this music she loves with others.

A music therapist gone rogue, Kyshona wrote her first songs with her patients as an exercise in self reflection. She is known as a strong voice for the underdog. NPR Music is quoted as saying “Wherever she plants her feet she does so with righteous conviction and a strong sense of her own voice.”.

When she’s home, Kyshona devotes her time to helping others write their story through song; working with those experiencing incarceration, homelessness and struggling with mental health through her charitable organization, Your Song. Of her latest project, “Listen”, No Depression says,“This is protest music for a new generation, a musical treatment for social ills, a unique prescription that only works if you listen.”

Some of Kyshona’s latest collaborations on stage and in the studio include; Adia Victoria, Margo Price, Jason Isbell & T-Bone Burnett (You Was Born to Die), Margo Price (Help!, Hey Child) and Allison Russell (Newport Folk Fest: Once & Future Sounds ft. Chaka Khan).

www.kyshona.com

Photographer and bass player, Amanda Kowalski, is a West Virginia native who grew up playing Appalachian roots music. During her career as a touring bassist, Amanda worked with bands including Uncle Earl, Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck, and the Freight Hoppers. Additionally Amanda co-founded the Grammy-nominated band Della Mae with fiddler, Kimber Ludiker.

These days Amanda spends most of her time taking pictures and working on documentary films. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR.org, Discovery, National Geographic Online and others. In 2021 Amanda was a collaborator on the Emmy-winning short "Nightsongs."

When Amanda’s not behind a camera or a bass you can find her on a bike, in the woods, or both.

Photos: www.amandakowalskiphoto.com

Banjo player, singer, songwriter, percussive-dancer, choreographer and square-dance caller, Evie Ladin grew up steeped in traditional folk music/dance, and brings a contemporary vision to her compositions and choreography. Evie’s performances, recordings and teaching reconnect Appalachian music/dance with other African-Diaspora traditions, and have been heard from A Prairie Home Companion to Lincoln Center, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass to Celtic Connections, Brazil to Bali. Based in Oakland, CA, Evie tours with Keith Terry and the Evie Ladin Band; and has produced 9 CDs and two instructional DVDs. In the percussive dance world, she is Executive Director of the International Body Music Festival, directs the moving choir MoToR/dance, does educational outreach with Crosspulse, and is an ace freestyle flatfooter. In the trad world, Evie teaches clawhammer banjo and harmony singing at the infamous Freight & Salvage, online at Peghead Nation and numerous camps and events. She leads rowdy square dance parties, getting every body easily dancing. In the songwriter world, she just writes great songs, subtitling her own band “neo-trad kinetic folk." In 2019 she released two CDs, celebrating both of her musical sides: one totally trad fiddle/banjo duets with 17 different fiddlers, Riding the Rooster, and her fourth of adventurous originals, Caught On A Wire; followed quickly by a 2020 cover songs EP. A highly entertaining performer, Evie enjoys facilitating arts learning in diverse communities. “The best example I have seen of a Neo-Trad band's sound being authentically anchored in old time music but extending it into new and entertaining directions.” —Founder, Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival

www.evieladin.com