John McLaughlin, also known as Mahavishnu, is an English guitarist, bandleader, and composer. A pioneer of jazz fusion, his music combines elements of jazz with rock, world music, Western classical music, flamenco, and blues. After contributing to several key British groups of the early 1960s, McLaughlin made Extrapolation, his first album as a bandleader, in 1969. He then moved to the U.S., where he played with drummer Tony Williams's group Lifetime and then with Miles Davis on his electric jazz fusion albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, Live-Evil, and On the Corner. His 1970s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, performed a technically virtuosic and complex style of music that fused electric jazz and rock with Indian influences.
A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm section is often contrasted with the roles of other musicians in the band, such as the lead guitarist or lead vocals whose primary job is to carry the melody.
Peter Knight is an English folk musician, a former member of British folk rock group Steeleye Span. Born in London, Knight learnt to play the violin and mandolin as a child before going to the Royal Academy of Music from 1960 to 1964. The recordings of the Irish fiddler Michael Coleman inspired him to take part in Irish pub sessions. He teamed up with guitarist and singer Bob Johnson until 1970 when he joined Steeleye Span. The parting was short-lived, as Johnson himself also joined Steeleye Span in 1972. Since 2016, he has performed as a duo with Bellowhead founder and melodeon player, John Spiers.
Phil Beer is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and one half of English acoustic roots duo Show of Hands.
Andy Cutting is an English folk musician and composer. He plays melodeon and is best known for writing and performing traditional English folk and his own original compositions which combine English and French traditions with wider influences. He is three times winner of the Folk Musician of the Year award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and has appeared on around 50 albums, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with other musicians. He was born in Harrow, London and is married with three children.
Vika and Linda, also known as Vika and Linda Bull, are an Australian vocal duo consisting of Vika Susan Bull and her younger sister, Linda Rose Bull. They came to prominence after singing backing vocals in Joe Camilleri's band The Black Sorrows from 1988. They left that group early in 1994 to start their duo with a self-titled album appearing in June that year. The duo scored their first number 1 album in 2020, with their retrospective 'Akilotoa: Anthology (1994-2006).
Jon Shain is an American folk musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, producer, teacher, and recording artist based in Durham, North Carolina. Shain is the 2019 International Blues Challenge winner in the solo/duo category.
Cyril Havermans is a Dutch musician, best known for being in the progressive rock band Focus.
Andrew Winton is an independent and solo Australian musician who combines acoustic guitar, lap slide, dobro and seven-string lap guitar/bass, with hollers and stomp.
Moreland & Arbuckle was an American electric blues/roots rock trio. Moreland described their music as "gritty blues and roots rock from the heartland." After six previous releases, the band signed with Alligator Records in 2015. The label debut, Promised Land Or Bust, was released on May 6, 2016, and was produced by Matt Bayles. In April 2017, the band announced their break-up.
David Lyttle is a jazz drummer, hip hop producer, composer and record label owner from Waringstown, Northern Ireland. He has released five solo albums and eight EPs, and received nominations in the MOBO Awards and Urban Music Awards.
Peter Mujuru, known by his mononym Mashasha, is a Zimbabwean musician, bass guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer based in the UK. He is widely regarded as an original and important new voice in African music. His debut studio album, Mashasha, which was released by Elegwa Music in 2011; it was acclaimed by critics internationally and won a Zimbabwe Music and Arts (ZIMAA) award for Best Album.
The Red Dirt Skinners are an Anglo-Canadian multi-genre duo, who formed in 2011. The duo consists of Rob and Sarah Skinner, both multi-instrumentalists originating from South East England and now residing in Ontario, Canada.
Matt Woosey is an English songwriter, singer and guitar player of blues, rock, folk, and pop.
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.
Lucas Derek Jackson is a British singer-songwriter from Canterbury. He started playing guitar when he was ten, and made his first public performance at his primary school's leaving assembly He recorded his first album More than Boys, produced by Martyn Joseph, when he was 18.
Michael Cooper is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Initially coming to attention as a country blues performer, his later work also straddles jazz, Polynesian, ambient, and various experimental and improvisational styles.
Cary Morin is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Dockside Saints, released in 2021, peaked at #7 on the Roots Music Chart and he won an Independent Music Award and Indigenous Music Award for Best Blues Album, among other awards. His songs were featured in Resident Alien and Earl Biss - The Spirit Who Walks Among His People, among others. He has performed at the Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, the Vancouver Olympics, Paris Jazz Festival, and has toured the US and internationally.
Not Far To Go is the third album released by Trevor Babajack Steger, and the first to feature percussionist Jesse Benns and violinist Jo Chambers, also known as The Trevor Babajack Trio.
The Solemn Truth and Barefaced Lies is the second solo album released by Trevor Babajack Steger. The album features backing vocals by Lily Skinner, and percussion from Ben Okafor.
