Madison is the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Dane County. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840 which made it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-largest in the U.S. The city forms the core of the Madison Metropolitan Area which includes Dane County and neighboring Iowa, Green, and Columbia counties for a population of 680,796. Madison is named for American Founding Father and President James Madison. The city is located on the traditional land of the Ho-Chunk, and the Madison area is known as Dejope, meaning "four lakes", or Taychopera, meaning "land of the four lakes", in the Ho-Chunk language.
A Prairie Home Companion is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed Live from Here and ran until 2020. A Prairie Home Companion aired on Saturdays from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota; it was also frequently heard on tours to New York City and other U.S. cities. The show is known for its musical guests, especially folk and traditional musicians, tongue-in-cheek radio drama, and relaxed humor. Keillor's wry storytelling segment, "News from Lake Wobegon," was the show's best-known feature during his long tenure.
Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson was an American guitarist, songwriter, and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. Watson won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's fingerstyle and flatpicking skills, as well as his knowledge of traditional American music, were highly regarded. Blind from a young age, he performed publicly both in a dance band and solo, as well as for over 15 years with his son, guitarist Merle Watson, until Merle's death in 1985 in an accident on the family farm.
James Edward Burton is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001, Burton has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. Critic Mark Deming writes that "Burton has a well-deserved reputation as one of the finest guitar pickers in either country or rock ... Burton is one of the best guitar players to ever touch a fretboard." He is ranked number 19 in Rolling Stone list of 100 Greatest Guitarists.
Sun Prairie is a city in Dane County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. A suburb of Madison, it is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 35,967 at the 2020 U.S. Census. It is the second-most populous city in Dane County after Madison.
Middleton is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States, and a suburb of the state capital, Madison. Middleton's motto is "The Good Neighbor City." The population was 21,827 at the 2020 census.
Sara Ullrika Watkins is an American singer-songwriter and fiddler. Watkins debuted in 1989 as the fiddler of Nickel Creek, the progressive bluegrass group she formed with her brother Sean and mandolinist Chris Thile. In addition to singing and fiddling, Watkins also plays the ukulele and the guitar, and also played percussion while touring with the Decemberists. In 2012, she and her brother played with Jackson Browne during his "I'll Do Anything" acoustic tour.
The Nightwatchman is the solo project of American musician Tom Morello. Morello began performing as the Nightwatchman in 2003 as an outlet for his political views while he was playing apolitical music with Audioslave.
The Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra, also known as The Bonne Amie Musical Circle, is a mandolin ensemble which was established in 1900 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They are the oldest ensemble of their kind in the United States.
Elana James is an American songwriter, Western swing, folk and jazz violinist, vocalist, and a founding member of the band Hot Club of Cowtown.
Patrick Donohue is an American fingerstyle guitarist born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a Grammy nominated, National Fingerpicking Guitar Champion songwriter. Donohue has several albums to his credit and his songs have been recorded by Chet Atkins, Suzy Bogguss, and Kenny Rogers. He has performed on A Prairie Home Companion for many years.
Ernie Hawkins is an American acoustic blues guitar player, singer, songwriter, recording artist, and educator.
Tallan Noble Latz is an American blues rock musician, who began performing professionally at age 6 and in the following 9 years, he has made recordings, appeared on multiple television shows and festivals and performed with many other blues and other music artists.
Rafe Stefanini is an old-time banjo player, fiddler, guitarist, singer, teacher, violin maker, and restorer.
Michael Bell is an American sociologist, author, and musician. He is currently Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Community and Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is Chair of the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology. In addition, Bell served as Director of UW-Madison's Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS) from 2011 to 2019. Created in 1989, CIAS is a research center for sustainable agriculture programs that respond to the needs of farmers and citizens.
Ralph Oliver Patt was an American jazz guitarist who introduced major-thirds tuning. Patt's tuning simplified the learning of the fretboard and chords by beginners and improvisation by advanced guitarists. He invented major-thirds tuning under the inspiration of first the atonal music of Arnold Schoenberg and second the jazz of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman.
Natty Nation is an American rock and reggae band from Madison, Wisconsin. Founded in 1995, as of April 20, 2017, the lineup included Demetrius "Jah Boogie" Wainwright, Aaron Konkol AKA Eyes of Moses, Anthony Paul Willis (drums), & Nick Czarnecki (guitar). The group has released several studio albums since their 1996 debut The Journey Has Just Begun..., in 2010 Isthmus (newspaper) named their 1998 release Earth Citizen one of the "top 25 Madison pop albums of all time," writing that "Natty Nation's mix of roots reggae and hard rock proved unique and gained a following that remains today," and their 2016 release, Divine Spark debuted at #3 on the Billboard (magazine) Reggae Chart.
Mike Dowling is an American roots music guitarist and songwriter who is best known for his solo arrangements on the Grammy Award-winning composition CD Henry Mancini: Pink Guitar. In 2005, Dowling was ranked as one of the twelve best fingerstyle guitarists in the United States.
Paul Filipowicz is an American Chicago blues musician. He is a singer, guitarist, and harmonica player, who writes some of his own material. To date, Filipowicz has released eight albums. Filipowicz has fronted his own band for over forty years and played across most of the United States. His friend, Luther Allison, once told Filipowicz "I know you're a bluesman and you know you're a bluesman and every time you take the stage you got to prove it!"
Bruce Goldish is an American acoustic folk musician and ICU nurse, known for regularly busking with his classical guitar on the second level of "Parking Lot 9" in Santa Barbara, California along Lower State Street since early 2005. Due to the acoustics of the garage, his music can be heard for several blocks nearby. He was the subject of the 2020 Michael James Love documentary short film State Street Serenade, which premiered at the 2020 Santa Barbara International Film Festival and was also featured at the 2020 Ojai Film Festival. He was briefly banned from playing in the parking structure in 2016 before being issued a special permit by the city to play any night between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. Goldish also suffered an attack in April 2021 outside the Arlington Theatre resulting in a fractured wrist and a lacerated hand.
