Learn More About Our Artists!
Our Headliners - Joan Osborne & Robert Randolph
Joan Osborne is an 8-time Grammy nominee and multi-platinum selling recording artist. A native of Kentucky, she moved to NYC to attend NYU Film School, but dropped out after becoming involved in New York’s downtown music scene.
Her 1995 album Relish was a critical and commercial success and spawned the international hit single and video “What If God Was One Of Us“. She directed the video for Relish’s second single St. Teresa and created the artwork for the album’s physical package. She has traveled the U.S. and the world for over twenty-five years performing in clubs, theaters, arenas and stadiums, with her own band and as a featured vocalist.
Robert Randolph, a virtuoso on the pedal steel guitar, he jumped from spiritual to secular music and found an audience among blues fans, roots rock aficionados and jam band followers with his fiery, passionate instrumental work and heartfelt music.
Now a 10-time Grammy nominee, Randolph launched his own group, the Family Band, with opening gigs for a variety of blues, jazz-funk, and jam acts. Headlining and festival appearances followed within months, and Live at the Wetlands (2001) captured their energy in full glory. The group's studio debut, Unclassified, gained a new fan in Eric Clapton, who brought them on tour and featured them at his huge Crossroads Festival.
Randolph has since become a staple at large music fests around the world, with incendiary performances that include bringing audience members on stage to dance, sing and play instruments. It's part tent revival, part rock show, part dance party: you sure wont be able to sit for this one.
Dogs in a Pile
Now emerging into Jam Nation's royalty ranks, the Asbury Park-based Dogs merge funk, jazz, and rock & roll with psychedelia. The quintet presents a completely original vibe built on kaleidoscopic soundscapes eerily reminiscent of the heady days of yesteryear. Catch them now in a club setting after a year of breakthrough festival appearances.
NOTE: this show is in Putnam Place. Demand will likely exceed capacity. While Fest GA badge holders have access to this show, it may involve a wait line for entry. If this is your key show, consider the "guaranteed entry" upgrade option .
Organ Fairchild
Deemed as NY's 'Top Emerging Band' in '21, Rochester's groove masters combine the classic jazz trio vibe with rock, jam and funk spice. Band members combine for a long list of industry hookups, which all leads to this powerhouse original act lighting the Fest ablaze and into a full blown dance party.
Tracy Bonham
Her debut album, The Burdens of Being Upright, was a critical and commercial success and earned her two Grammy nominations and certified Gold by the RIAA. The lead single, "Mother Mother," topped the Billboard Alternative chart, making Ms Bohnam the last female artist to so until Lorde in 2013. It stands as a powerful anthem for disenfranchised youth. She has released subsequent albums to wide acclaim and landed several songs in feature films and popular TV shows.
Toubab Krewe
Asheville's favorite sons lustily swirl together rock, West African traditions, jam sensibilities, international folk and more. While nearly impossible to put into any box, it takes only a few moments to realize that one is face-to-face with true originals that recognizes no borders in a march towards a muscular, original, globally switched-on sound. Toubab carries echoes of African greats like Ali Farka Toure, Orchestra Baobab and Salif Keita. But what truly differentiates them is how they carve out a new trail honoring these originators by making something alive and contemporary.
Ward Hayden & the Outliers
Described as "leading lights that integrates country music’s finest traditions into a sound that is incredibly endearing” and as "Dwight Yoakam meeting Hank Williams on Woody's front porch," Ward & Co have won seven Boston Music Awards (including Act of the Year), Indie Country Artist of the Year and an AMA nomination for Artist of the Year. That distinctive old-timey voice combined with the twangy-twang Telecaster riffs bring something very special to the Fest's Country Room.
GA-20
Considered by many as one of -- if not THE -- best modern blues acts in the East, GA-20 arrives at the Fest riding the Big Mo from a slew of Best Of's, chart-topping success and shout-outs from blues music heavyweights. Here's what the press is saying: “rough and tumble, relentless blues;” “tough, insistent vocals;” “maximum intensity rocking; and "makes a joyful noise.” GA-20 is clearly on to something big: it’s a movement, a traditional blues revival.
