Kristin Andreassen has songwriting credits on two albums with 2024 GRAMMY nominations – Mighty Poplar’s self-titled debut (up for Best Bluegrass Album) and Andrew & Polly’s Ahhhh! (Kristin co-wrote the title track on this candidate for Best Children’s Album). Her own most recent release was The Bright Siders’ A Mind of Your Own (Smithsonian Folkways), which is for kids, about emotions, and was created and co-produced with psychiatrist Dr. Kari Groff and Chris Eldridge (Punch Brothers). Chosen as one of 2020’s top three children’s releases by the American Library Association, this album followed up on Kristin’s first #1 kids’ radio hit – a song called “Crayola Doesn’t Make a Color for Your Eyes.” In the world of “grown-up music”, Kristin has toured and recorded with the stringband Uncle Earl, the vocal trio Sometymes Why, the percussive dance company Footworks (as a clogger), and with NYC’s anti-folk superhero Jeffrey Lewis. She’s had the honor of recording with producers John Paul Jones, Dirk Powell, Mark Schatz, José Ayerve, Robin MacMillan, and Shane Leonard (coming soon, I promise!). One favorite MoM-inspired collaboration is this video — created by Anna Roberts-Gevalt — which uses shadow puppets and body percussion to illustrate “How the Water Walks.” Kristin studied community development at Montreal’s McGill University and in rural Canada, and she’s noticed herself thinking about that learning a lot in her current work at Miles of Music. She lives in Nashville.

www.kristinandreassen.com

Clara Baker is an audio engineer/producer/musician from Portland, OR. She records, produces, and mixes music at several full-service recording studios in the Portland area as well as her home studio, The Bakery. Clara is passionate about helping songwriters and musicians record their music in a unique and authentic way that captures the emotional essence of each song. As both a singer-songwriter and an audio professional, Clara brings a unique perspective to the recording process. She is a member of The Recording Academy, SoundGirls, and Omni Sound Project. This will be her sixth year on the island!

www.clarabakermusic.com

Lauren Balthrop is a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter born and raised in Alabama where her family gatherings always included sing-alongs of the Everly Brothers, the Andrew Sisters, the Louvin Brothers, and the Beatles. After 10 years making her way in NYC, she heard the siren call of Nashville where she now calls home. Lauren released her 2nd album Things Will Be Different in August of 2022 on Olivia Records. She is also the director of the Nashville branch of Blue Balloon Songwriting School, the NYC originated music school that teaches kids and adults instrument instruction through songwriting. Her big folk-rock band and "small town" with her brother called Balthrop, Alabama toured all across the states to a cultish following. Her 60's inspired girl group, The Bandana Splits, has released two records with songs landing on shows such as HBO's 'Bored to Death' and the re-boot of ‘Magnum P.I.’ She's also toured extensively as a multi-instrumentalist for Elizabeth & the Catapult, Kevin Morby, Michaela Anne and Ximena Sariñana. Lauren is a knitter and tap dancer too. She’s currently working on songs for her 3rd album.

www.laurenbalthrop.com

Thomas Brown b.1976 Muscle Shoals, AL is a mixed-media artist from Louisville, KY. His stone and wood sculptures can be found in a number of private collections. After an experimental segue into ice sculpture he officially moved to New York in 2008 to work with Okamoto Studio where he was a principal sculptor. Brown has merged his interests in experimental music, performance and art in his works as an ice sculptor and ephemeral artist.

Creating opportunity in the face of the pandemic, Brown founded a small business carving animal portraits and miniature sculptures from avocado seeds.

In 2022, he competed in a televised sand sculpture contest airing on Canada's CBC Network this summer and has since participated in large scale sculpting projects across the US, the Netherlands, and the Ice Hotel in Quebec City.

Isa Burke is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and producer based in Portland, Maine. Whether singing harmony vocals, playing traditional fiddle tunes, or crafting spiky yet atmospheric electric guitar sounds, she brings a voracious musical appetite and a spirit of collaboration to a vast array of projects. Raised in a musical family in Maine, Isa soon found her way to Boston, where she studied fiddle and songwriting at Berklee College of Music and dove headfirst into the area's thriving music scene. In 2014 she co-founded the indie-folk band Lula Wiles, which released three albums on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and toured internationally until 2021. Isa has spent recent years building a reputation as a versatile and in-demand collaborator, a musical Swiss Army knife at home in many styles and contexts. She has been touring with Aoife O'Donovan since fall 2021 (earning a nomination for Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2023 Americana Music Awards), and recently became the newest touring member of cult-favorite indie band the Mountain Goats. She has toured and recorded with many other artists including Jake Blount, Darlingside, Mipso, Rosier, the Brother Brothers, Laura Cortese, Kris Delmhorst, Session Americana, Sam Moss, and Liv Greene (whose debut album Isa produced). Isa is also an experienced and devoted music educator, and a longtime member of the Miles of Music community.

http://isaburke.com

Besides being the off-season manager of Three Mile Island, Dinty Child is a longtime member of the Boston roots/folk scene. A fearless multi-instrumentalist he can most often be seen with the band Session Americana, as well as the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, the unapologetically loud and grimy Catbirds, as sensitive side man to any number of singer/songwriters, including Rose Cousins and Kris Delmhorst, and even fronting the 15 piece party band, the Funky White Honkies. In 2020, he released his first solo album!

www.sessionamericana.com

Allie Chip is a Brooklyn-based folk singer-songwriter, cofounder of the Imperfectionist Song Society (ISS), and a registered vinyasa yoga teacher. She loves oat milk matchas, comedy, wildflowers, and making up silly songs with her friends. Poses are cool, but Allie's real intention is to help you laugh, take deep breaths, and love on yourself during yoga class... no matter what your body's doing. Allie teaches from a warm, relatable place and welcomes folks of all levels. Yoga will be real, chill, explorative, and fun. Come hang!

Abigale "Abby" Clapham has been a part of the Miles of Music Croo since 2019, but is a life-long "islander". She has been coming to Three Mile Island during the regular summer season since her childhood, later working on the summer Croo from 2012-2015. Originally from West Virginia, she currently resides in the piedmont of South Carolina as a healthcare professional by day and artist by night. Abby is inspired by her time living in Appalachia and her summers on Lake Winnipesaukee. She works in several types of mediums , but fell in love with watercolors the summer of 2020. She is drawn to their vibrancy, immediacy, and ephemeral nature. 

Among other things, she is known for doodling on the dock and leading paper crafts during the Holiday Art Shares. This will be her first time teaching at Miles of Music Camp!

These days Neil Cleary works primarily as a music supervisor, radio host and live DJ called Tad Cautious, but has a dark and confusing past as an internationally touring singer-songwriter / multi-instrumentalist sideman. He's done a handful of notable things just one time, like writing a song for Nickelodeon's "Blaze and the Monster Machines," playing Bonnaroo with Phish's Mike Gordon, and backing a drag queen at CBGB's. Recently he produced a string of singles for cartoonist and inveterate weirdo James Kochalka Superstar which have included contributions from Jello Biafra, Frankie Cosmos, and Moby. He lives in Burlington VT, is fond of the comedy "rule of three," and shows no signs of stopping.

Evan Diem is a mixed-race Syracuse-based multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter hyphen-fan with a double-barreled last name. He specializes in using creative, contemplative, characteristic and compelling writing to compose catchy songs as well as craft clever one-liners. He was half-jokingly named eventual successor to the throne of hosting Entertain Us! by previous host Nelson Williams and in just his second year on the island he has ascended to that rank. Last year he proved he can perform his jokes, now he must prove he can perform as host. He does not know how to end a bio.

As a member of Punch Brothers since the band's inception, guitarist Chris Eldridge has been at the vanguard of acoustic music for much of the past decade. Although initially drawn to the electric guitar, by his mid-teens Chris Eldridge had developed a deep love for acoustic music, thanks in part to his father, a banjo player and founding member of the seminal bluegrass group The Seldom Scene. Eldridge later gained in-depth exposure to a variety of different musical styles while studying at Oberlin Conservatory, where he earned a degree in music performance in 2004. During his time at Oberlin, Eldridge studied with legendary guitarist Tony Rice. After graduating he joined the Seldom Scene with whom he received a Grammy nomination in 2007. In 2005 he founded the critically acclaimed bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters. At the 2007 International Bluegrass Music Association awards Eldridge and his Stringdusters bandmates won Emerging artist of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year for their debut album, Fork in the Road. Meanwhile, in 2005 he had caught the attention of mandolinist Chris Thile, who enlisted him, along with banjoist Noam Pikelny, violinist Gabe Witcher, and bassist Greg Garrison to start working on an ambitious side project. Soon after they decided to focus all of their collective energies into band and Punch Brothers was born. The band has since released 6 critically acclaimed albums, received 6 Grammy nominations and toured around the world. www.chriseldridge.net

Wila Frank makes music that’s searching, cinematic, and introspective with scalpel-like precision. Her songs can clear the air, putting to music emotions that are deeply felt but only rarely spoken. With her debut album Black Cloud, the Nashville-based songwriter immediately sets a mesmerizing mood that showcases her evocative lyricism as well as her tasteful ear as a multi-instrumentalist and producer.

Frank was raised on a farm in a rural bohemian community near the Oregon coast, where she formed a passion for classical and folk music. She is a talented multi-instrumentalist trained on the violin, piano, mandolin, cello, and guitar.

https://wilafrank.com/

Jefferson Hamer is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Brooklyn, New York. He has toured and recorded albums with Anais Mitchell (Child Ballads, winner of a BBC2 Folk Award), Sarah Jarosz (as guitarist and harmony singer on her Grammy-nominated Blue Heron Suite), and Session Americana. The Murphy Beds, his long-running traditional folk duo with Eamon O’Leary, has released two self-produced albums, about which the Huffington Post wrote, “[the album] bears repeated listening from start to finish, with ten beautiful, crystalline songs.” His original songs and lead guitar work are featured on Alameda, an acoustic and electric collaboration with bassist Jeff Picker and drummer John Fatum, featuring special guests from the NYC folk community and beyond.

www.jeffersonhamer.com

Amy Helfand is a visual artist and convener who grew up collecting beach glass on the shores of Lake Michigan. Her work has always been rooted in the study of landscape(s) and an effort to create a sense of place, whether through sculpture and installation, drawing, ceramics, or textiles. She is a collector at heart; of images, forms, and colors, as well as rocks, sticks, and other ephemera.

Amy has her hands in many things other than clay and dirt, including the non-profit arts and food justice worlds. She lives at the House of Love, in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and has hosted concerts in the living room, often featuring MoM friends, since her first year at camp in 2012.

@amyhelfandstudio
amyhelfand.com

Zachariah Hickman is a double bassist, multi-instrumentalist and producer based out of Boston, MA. Originally from Lynchburg, VA, he received his formal training in jazz performance and composition from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. For most of his adult life he has toured with singer-songwriter Josh Ritter, traveling all over the world and recording 9 full-length albums. Currently, he is performing as bassist and musical director for Ray Lamontagne. He has performed at many notable venues and festivals, including Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Red Rocks, Bonnaroo, Dublin Castle, The Fillmore, and the Royal Albert Hall. With Josh Ritter, he has also performed with the Boston Pops in Symphony Hall, the New York Pops in Central Park, and many other orchestras in Europe and the United States. Television appearances include five David Letterman appearances, Conan O’Brien, Ellen Degeneres, and Late Night with Jools Holland for the BBC. As a producer, Zachariah as made records with a number of talented singers, including Rose Cousins (for which he won a Canadian JUNO award), Mark Erelli, Laura Cortese, Miss Tess, and his own bluegrass band Barnstar! He has also produced and ring-mastered his own circus, released his own brand of mustache wax, and runs a vaudeville style variety show, Zack Hickman’s House of Ill Repute.

Lauren Horbal is a singer/ songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in Nashville, TN. She is the drummer and music director for 6 piece queer indie pop band Fame & Fiction. She relocated to Nashville from Connecticut in 2012 and has since had the privilege of working with incredible artists such as Bakithi Kumalo (Paul Simon), Morgan Jahnig (Old Crow Medicine Show), Tania Elizabeth (The Avett Brothers), Jobi Riccio, Rachel Baiman, and Liv Greene. Lauren has been teaching private drum lessons since 2003.

Because of her background as not only a drummer but a songwriter and guitar player as well, Horbal’s approach to teaching drums is from a songwriting and song building perspective. Lauren’s mission as a creator, performer, and teacher is to inspire women and girls to start drumming and to empower them to succeed in a male dominated industry.

www.laurenhorbal.com

Brad Kolodner is a Baltimore-based clawhammer banjoist and community builder who wears many hats as a performer, teacher, broadcaster, festival producer and ambassador for Old-Time and Bluegrass music. Regarded for his delicate touch, expressive style, and original compositions, Kolodner has rapidly gained national attention for his unique approach to clawhammer banjo. He regularly performs across the country with his father Ken Kolodner, a renowned hammered dulcimer player, and with the acoustic roots quartet Charm City Junction which blends Bluegrass, Old Time and Irish music. Behind the mic, Brad is an award-winning radio broadcaster for Folk Alley and Bluegrass Country Radio. For over a decade, he been a driving force behind Baltimore’s bustling Old Time music scene. He runs a bi-weekly Old Time Jam, monthly square dance, house concert series and directs the annual Baltimore Old Time Music Festival. He serves on the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Board of Directors. When he’s not playing banjo, on the air or organizing community events, you can find Brad rock climbing, playing soccer, hiking or tending to his veggie garden in the backyard of his Baltimore rowhouse.

bradkolodner.com 

Tom Krueger is a dancer and Fiddler and lover of life. He first discovered partner dancing about 20 years ago on a trip to Buenos Aires. Tango, of course. And once he caught the dancing bug, there was no turning back. Tango lead to two-stepping, lead to swing dance, which led to cajun and salsa, and on and on… And now it’s just a mash up of all of it. While he is perfectly capable of teaching the specifics of each style, he prefers to focus on the whatever is the most fun and works with the music.

Shane Leonard is a record producer, musician, mix engineer, and songwriter who lives in Eau Claire, WI. Equally at home in an indie rock band as he is in an old time stringband, those who work with Shane (Mipso, Field Report, Rose Cousins, Stray Birds, Larry Campbell) know him as a studio/live swiss army knife, helping their sound to evolve past previous benchmarks. NPR and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) have praised his production with descriptors like "goosebumps inducing" (NPR Music), "a monster musician" (Justin Vernon) and "exquisite" (Paste Magazine). Anna Tivel, Humbird, J.E. Sunde and others have entrusted multiple albums to his care; they reside alongside multiple releases of his own music - the most recent being Strange Forms (2019).

www.shaneleonardmusic.com