Hailed by The Washington Post as “one of Nashville’s finest song interpreters,” Kathy Mattea has enjoyed the kind of success many artists only dream of: two Grammy wins, four CMA Awards, five gold albums and a platinum collection of her greatest hits. The West Virginia native signed her first record deal in 1983, and over the next three decades, she would record nearly a dozen more albums exploring country, folk, Celtic and gospel music. The dream almost ended, though, when Mattea entered her fifties and began to find her voice changing. She was faced with only two options: re-learning to sing, or walking away from the stage forever. Mattea persevered, undergoing intensive vocal training and, with the help of longtime friend and musician/songwriter/producer Tim O’Brien, emerged the most poignant album of her career, Pretty Bird.

 

A gifted multi-instrumentalist and award-winning songwriter with a distinctive voice, Molly Tuttle rose from playing in her father’s bluegrass band to becoming one of the leading lights of acoustic music before she reached her mid-twenties. In her late teens, Tuttle was recognized as a rising star, being named Best Female Vocalist and Best Guitar Player by the Northern California Bluegrass Society, appearing on A Prairie Home Companion, and participating in SMF’s Acoustic Music Seminar in 2012 and 2013. The first woman to win the IBMA Guitar Player of the Year award in 2017, Tuttle followed up with a consecutive win in 2018. She is joined by Duncan Wickel on fiddle and mandolin, Max Johnson on bass and Sean Trischka on drums.