“Three million years in the making…” Season IV on The Steep Canyon Rangers Winners of the GRAMMY for Best Bluegrass Album (2013) and International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Entertainers of the Year. Collaborations with such artists as Steve Martin, Edie Brickell, the Dixie Chicks and Paul McCartney in such vaunted venues as Carnegie Hall, the PBS extravaganza A Capitol Fourth, and Bonnaroo have both broadened and sharpened this critically acclaimed band’s musical horizons. Jason Isbell Until recently known as a former member of the Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell serves as the point of the Americana spear and one of the country’s absolute best young singer-songwriters. Unrepentantly southern, his carefully crafted songs may feel raw yet are renown for simultaneously inspiring and intimidating musicians and critics alike. An Americana Music Award Winner, Isbell’s new album Southeastern is on NPR radio’s 50 Favorite Albums of 2013, no small feat. Davina & The Vagabonds Swinging through multiple generations and genres of New Orleans grooves, this band is propelled by its frontwoman’s mega-watt personality. Davina’s live perfomance must be seen to be believed. She is the rare dichotomy of the self- professed shy, reserved, and tentative personality juxtoposed with a primal piano prowess and look-at-me brass that embodies the idea of “showmanship.” In her, Mae West meets Bette Midler meets Dr. John… Amazing. www.bluegrassunderground.com Season IV Michael Martin Murphey w/ Pat Flynn A multiple Grammy nominee with six gold albums and a long list of writing & recorded hits with 30+ albums to his credit, Murphey has for four decades stirred up his own particular stew of Folk, Country-Rock, Pop, and Western music. From his acclaimed ‘cosmic cowboy’ debut album, Geronimo’s Cadillac, to wildly popular hits Wildfire and Carolina in the Pines, to recent Grammy nominations for Best Bluegrass Album for his collaboration with former New Grass Revival’s Pat Flynn, Michael Martin Murphey’s talents stretch as wide as the prairie sky. Lucinda Williams Winner of Grammys for Best Country Song and Best Contemporary Folk Album and an enormous presence in the diversified world of deep, literary songwriters, Williams is a groundbreaking, truly unapologetic architect of that simmered blend of Country, Blues, Folk, off-the-shoulder Rock ‘n’ Roll that has been born as the Americana genre. Mainstream Nashville knows her as the writer of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s hit Passionate Kisses, but this highly acclaimed, independent songsmith can—and will—do it all… Her way. Chip Taylor Singer/songwriter/offhand raconteur… Taylor’s songs have been covered by an amazingly eclectic array of Pop/Rock/Country legends: Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Juice Newton, The Troggs, Anne Murray, The Hollies, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Billy Idol, Bruce Springsteen, and so many more. Most famous for the cathartic sing-along Wild Thing (one of Rolling Stone magazines 500 Greatest Songs of all time) and the super hit Angel of the Morning, today Taylor brings a calm and even-voiced veteran’s narrative to 60 years of music we either already do, or will, love. www.bluegrassunderground.com Season IV Shovels & Rope The duo that stole the show at last year’s Americana Music Awards, Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent won Emerging Artist honors, as well as Song of the Year for Birmingham. Featuring gut-sung lyrics hammered out on drums and one guitar like a two-stroke motor, the husband-and- wife duo mix rowdy folk-rock with root-basted ballads, sparking the buzz of the growing wave that is the Americana Roots phenomena. Dave Eggar w/ Amy Lee & Hammerstep One genre-breaking standout performer this season is the ever-amazing virtuoso cellist Dave Eggar. A phenomenal innovator in his own right, Eggar is joined in the Underground by singer Amy Lee (of Multi-platinum selling artists Evanescence fame) and the innovative dance troupe, Hammerstep (American Idol), mixing traditional Irish step dance with hip hop, and tap. The sum is an electrifying, cross-cultural event born in in the crucible of the caverns. David Grisman’s FolkJazz Trio Grisman is absolutely a founder of Newgrass and New Acoustic music. Affectionately nicknamed "Dawg" by his close collaborator, Jerry Garcia, Grisman’s mixture of Bluegrass-centered Django Reinhardt/ Stéphane Grappelli jazz is affectionately known by decades of avid fans as “Dawg Music.” Co-founder of the seminal neo-traditionalist band, Old and in the Way, and now leading his Jazz Trio, Grisman is a permanent and beloved feature on the landscape of American Neo- Traditional culture. www.bluegrassunderground.com Season IV The Gibson Brothers For their amazing harmonies and whipcrack musicianship, this band claimed the International Bluegrass Music Association’s 2013 Entertainer of the Year, Vocal Group, and Song. To top it off, brother Eric was named Songwriter of the Year. The previous year the brothers won the IBMA Entertainer of the Year Award, and the year before that won the prestigious 2011 IBMA Album of the Year Award and Vocal Group of the Year. These seasoned pros’ accolades barely do justice to the Bluegrass sound that is all their own. Keller Williams w/ The Travelin’ McCourys Eclectic jazz, funk, reggae, alt-rock guitar virtuoso and a 'one-man jam-band' for his use of multiple instruments looping—Keller Williams joins the stellar Traveling McCourys (legendary Del McCoury’s sons) in a bold leap of collaboration… Worlds Collide! When the peanut butter hits the chocolate the result is a fearless homage to Bluegrassers testing the boundaries of their genre with a high voltage jolt. Truly a marriage of musicianship and mutual esteem. Hayes Carll This folk-rock troubadour’s work is deeply steeped in the Texas songwriting tradition, infusing sharply written songs with clever humor and improbable romance, all while skewering pomposity, hypocrisy and small-minded thinking. Winner of American Songwriter’s #1 Song, Americana Music Association’s #1 Album, AMA’s Artist of the Year Nominee, and solidly set in the “Best of” lists from Rolling Stone and SPIN as well as a New York Times Critics Choice, Carll is not only one to watch, but one to listen to. www.bluegrassunderground.com Season IV Widespread Panic Filling the footsteps of giants such as The Allman Brothers and Jamband saints, The Grateful Dead, 30-year road veterans Widespread Panic are, unquestionably, one of the most successful Jambands of a generation. Melding Southern Rock, Blues-Rock, Funk and Hard Rock, the band has risen to elite status among American jam bands. Having embarked on The Wood Tour, their first ever completely acoustic shows, WP dropped in Underground. An ‘internet only’ ticket, the Bluegrass Underground website survived 50,000 hits per minute; the show sold out in less than 30-seconds! A rare tour from a top band in a fantastically unique venue promises stellar ‘appointment television.’ The Volcano Room Even with all these wonderful and talented artists for Season IV, it must be said that the studio-like acoustics and the stunning beauty of The Cumberland Caverns make the Volcano Room itself the co-star of the entire season. With visitors from all 50 United States and four continents (so far), Bluegrass Underground is a ‘bucket list’ venue for the millions of fans who have seen the program on PBS or read the dozens of media features celebrating the show from the primordial depths of an ancient cave. www.bluegrassunderground.com .