Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and guitarist. Her eponymous debut album was released in 1988 and became an underground success. It peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard 200 and its lead single, "Bring Me Some Water", garnered Etheridge her first Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female in 1989. Her second album, Brave and Crazy, appeared that same year and earned Etheridge two more Grammy nominations. In 1992, Etheridge released her third album, Never Enough, and its lead single, "Ain't It Heavy", won Etheridge her first Grammy Award.
Albert Laurence Di Meola is an American guitarist. Known for his works in jazz fusion and world music, he began his career as guitarist with the group Return to Forever in 1974. From 1976 to 1978 he played with Stomu Yamashta in the supergroup Go on three records. The 1970s and 1980s saw albums such as Land of the Midnight Sun, Elegant Gypsy, Casino and Friday Night in San Francisco earn him both critical and commercial success.
Kevin Roosevelt Moore, known as Keb' Mo', is an American blues musician and eight-time Grammy Award winner. He is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, living in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been described as "a living link to the seminal Delta blues that travelled up the Mississippi River and across the expanse of America." His post-modern blues style is influenced by many eras and genres, including folk, rock, jazz, pop and country. The moniker "Keb Mo" was coined by his original drummer, Quentin Dennard, and picked up by his record label as a "street talk" abbreviation of his given name.
Mindi Abair is an American saxophonist, vocalist, author, and National Trustee for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the organization that puts on the Grammy Awards show.
Patrice Louise Rushen is an American jazz pianist and R&B singer. She is also a composer, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and music director.
Joyful Noise Recordings is an independent record label with headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. The label was founded in 2003 in Bloomington, Indiana by Karl Hofstetter, who also played drums on many of the label's first releases. Joyful Noise maintains an active roster of over 30 bands playing various musical styles, though according to the label, each artist "in one way or another bridges the gap between pop and noise."
The Door is a studio album by Delta blues artist Keb' Mo', released in 2000.
Donald John Sebesky was an American composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz trombonist. He was a multi-instrumentalist and could play a number of other instruments: keyboards, electric piano, organ, accordion, and clavinet.
John Frederick Robinson, known professionally as JR, is an American drummer and session musician who has been called "one of the most recorded drummers in history". He is known for his work with producer Quincy Jones, including Michael Jackson's multi-platinum Off the Wall album and the charity single "We Are the World".
Thomas Jay Hambridge is an American rock, country, and blues, producer, songwriter, musician and vocalist. Hambridge has received two Grammy Awards, an ASCAP award, seven Grammy nominations, seven Boston Music Awards, and has been inducted into the Buffalo Hall of Fame. In December 2015, Hambridge was given the key to his hometown of Buffalo, New York with Mayor Byron Brown declaring December 28 "Tom Hambridge Day." Hambridge's songs have been recorded by several notable artists and have been featured in movie productions, commercials and television programs. He has been referred to as "The White Willie Dixon" by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Buddy Guy and Susan Tedeschi's "Secret Weapon".
Kaoru Ishibashi, who performs as Kishi Bashi, is an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter currently based in Athens, Georgia. He was a founding member of Jupiter One and, for a few years, was a member of the band of Montreal. He embarked on his career as a solo artist in 2011, releasing his debut album 151a at Joyful Noise Recordings in 2012 to immediate fanfare and critical acclaim.
The Reflection is eleventh studio album by Keb' Mo'. It was released on August 2, 2011, through Yolabelle International and distributed through Rykodisc. It was his first full-length studio album since the release of Suitcase in 2006 and featured guest performances by Vince Gill, Dave Koz and India Arie. After the termination of his contract with Sony, Moore 'took the time to get my family started and study the record business as it is now and where it’s going'. This album differs stylistically from his past record, and was describes as having an 'adult-contemporary' vibe. It includes renditions of "One of These Nights" by The Eagles and "Crush on You" by Kevin So.
The Living Room Sessions (2013) is B.J. Thomas' first "unplugged" album, celebrating fifty years in the recording industry and forty-seven years since his first Gold record. The Living Room Sessions offers many of Thomas' most recognizable hits, the album was produced to instill the atmosphere of an intimate setting and includes duet performances from some of Thomas' favorite artists.
Harlequin is a collaborative studio album by American pianist Dave Grusin and American guitarist Lee Ritenour, released in 1985 through GRP Records. The album reached No. 2 on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz chart, and earned a 1986 Grammy Award for Best Arrangement on an Instrumental for "Early A.M. Attitude". Harlequin also earned Grammy nominations for Best Engineered Recording, Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals, and Best Pop Instrumental Performance. In 1988, Perri sisters sampled Grusin's “The Bird” into their track called “The Flight”, from their album “The Flight” under Zebra Records, that song was produced by Michael J. Powell.
You Gotta Love The Life is an album by the Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Melissa Manchester in 2015. Her 20th studio album, and her first since When I Look Down That Road (2004), the fourteen-track album is primarily written by Melissa, with four tracks being covers of well-known standards, and includes a longer version of the 2013, single release of, "Be My Baby", celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Ronettes' release of the song.
Sara Caswell is an American violinist who has worked with 9 Horses, Esperanza Spalding, and David Krakauer.
Rafiq Bhatia is an American musician, composer, guitarist, and producer. He is the guitarist and fellow producer of the American experimental rock band Son Lux, having been a touring member prior.
Oklahoma is the fourteenth studio album by American musician Keb' Mo' and was released on June 14, 2019 by Concord Records label. The album featured guest contributions from Rosanne Cash, Jaci Velasquez, Robert Randolph, Taj Mahal and a duet with Robbie Brooks Moore. The album also produced two singles: "Put a Woman in Charge" released on September 28, 2018, and "Don't Throw it Away" released on June 12, 2019. The album was produced by Colin Linden and co-produced by Keb’ Mo’.
Chad Lawson is an American pianist and composer. After performing as a member of the Summit Records act Chad Lawson Trio from 1997 to 2004, Lawson performed as a member of Julio Iglesias' tour band, which inspired him to release his debut studio album Set on a Hill (2009). Lawson's fifth studio album The Chopin Variations (2014), a collaboration with violinist Judy Kang and cellist Rubin Kodheli, reached number one on the Billboard Top Classical Albums chart. He debuted as a major label musician through Decca Records in 2020, with the extended play Stay. Lawson is known as the composer of the podcasts Lore and Unobscured, both works created by Aaron Mahnke.
Moonlight, Mistletoe & You is a studio album by American blues musician Keb' Mo' and was released on October 18, 2019, by Concord Records label. The album contains a collection of 10 Christmas songs. Guest musicians include Gerald Albright (saxophone) on "Moonlight, Mistletoe and You" and Melissa Manchester (vocals) on "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm".
