Multi-Instrumentalist and Singer-Songwriter Darrell Scott mines and cultivates the everyday moment, taking the rote, menial, mundane, and allowing it to be surreal, ever poignant, and candidly honest, lilting, blooming, and resonating.  The words he fosters allow us to make sense of the world, what is at stake here, and our place in it. And ultimately, Darrell knows the sole truth of life is that love is all that matters, that we don’t always get it right, but that’s the instinctive and requisite circuitous allure of things, why we forever chase it, and why it is held sacred. 

Darrell Scott comes from a musical family with a father who had him smitten with guitars by the age of 4, alongside a brother who played Jerry Reed style as well.  From there, things only ramped up with literature and poetry endeavors while a student at Tufts University, along with playing his way through life.  This would never change.

After recently touring with Robert Plant and the Zac Brown Band (2 years with each), and producing albums for Malcolm Holcomb and Guy Clark and being named “songwriter of the year” for both ASCAP and NSAI, these days find him roaming his Tennessee wilderness acreage hiking along the small river, creating delicious meals with food raised on his property and playing music. He often leads songwriting workshops to help people tell their own truths with their stories, and is as busy as always writing, producing, performing, and just plain fully immersing himself in life.

The Contenders is a two-man band whose music is an amalgam of classic country, folk, and rootsy rock and roll. The group was formed in 2013 by singer and songwriter Jay Nash. Nash was at home in Vermont shortly after wrapping up a tour when he began thinking about the many musicians he'd come to know, some of whom stuck to playing music despite a lack of larger commercial success. He was inspired to write songs about his musical heroes, famous and otherwise, and was eager to find a different vehicle for this material. He contacted his friend, Josh Day, a drummer whose resume includes work with Sara Bareilles, Adam Hood, Jennifer Nettles, The Kruger Brothers, John Oates, and Applewood Road. The two shared their ideas about Nash's tunes, and they decided to form a guitar and drums band called The Contenders. Nash and Day soon took their ideas into the studio, and released their debut EP, Meet the Contenders, in November 2014. All of the songs on the debut album were written by Josh and Jay, which highlight their rootsy approach and strong harmonies. In November 2017, The Contenders delivered their first full-length album, Laughing with the Reckless, released by the Nashville-based independent label Rock Ridge Music.

Take a 15-time IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) Dobro Player of the Year and a Tennessee-born guitar prodigy called “Nashville’s hottest young player” by Acoustic Guitar magazine, and you have Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley, a powerhouse acoustic duo that has electrified the acoustic music scene around the world. Known for their white-hot picking and world class musicianship, as well as their soulful stone country vocals, the GRAMMY® nominated duo cleverly and uniquely melds bluegrass, country, blues, rock, jamgrass, and string band music of all kinds to create a signature blend of music that defies restrictions of genre. NPR has called Ickes and Hensley “two musical phenoms”; Vintage Guitar raved they’re an “acoustic firestorm” who “are changing the rules”; Acoustic Guitar describes their sound as “steel-string bluegrass with all the intensity of rock ‘n’ roll” and No Depression observed they’re “two of the finest musicians playing today.”

Ickes and Hensley have shared the stage or collaborated with Tommy Emmanuel, Taj Mahal, Vince Gill, David Grisman, Jorma Kaukonen, Marty Stuart, and Steve Wariner—all admirers of the duo. Ickes, the most decorated musician in IBMA Awards history and former founding member of bluegrass “supergroup” Blue Highway and highly sought-after Dobro master, has graced the recordings and concerts of artists such as Earl Scruggs, Merle Haggard, Alison Krauss, Tony Rice and more. Hensley, who earned IBMA Guitar Player of the Year nominations for the past three years, made his Grand Ole Opry debut at the age of 11 (thanks to an invite from Marty Stuart with Earl Scruggs) and has appeared on stage with the likes of Johnny Cash, Peter Frampton and Old Crow Medicine Show.

All three of the Compass Records albums released by Ickes and Hensley have received widespread acclaim, including their debut Before The Sun Goes Down, which garnered a GRAMMY® nomination, and the combo’s current release World Full of Blues, which features collaborations with Vince Gill and Taj Mahal. Ickes and Hensley teamed with guitar master Tommy Emmanuel for a very special EP, Tommy Emmanuel – Accomplice Series Vol. I With Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley (released May 7, 2021 via Emmanuel’s label, CGP Sounds) to critical acclaim. The three high-powered guitar virtuosos performed together on the Grand Ole Opry on May 8, 2021 and from famed Nashville venue 3rd & Lindsley on May 9, 2021 via worldwide broadcasts to celebrate the release of the project. Ickes and Hensley have completed their fourth record for Compass Records with GRAMMY®-winning producer Brent Maher, which is set for release in early 2023.

Queen Bee and the Honeylovers is an unabashedly joyful swing band that performs all-original compositions with a dedicated ‘nod’ to the small-jazz-combo and 'hot club' legends who first defined the genre.  The Honeylovers hail from Asheville, North Carolina; a historic township where tradition collides with contemporary innovation to create brand new art and culture.  Their arrangements are upbeat and nostalgic with enough sweetness for the whole hive.  Vocal-driven with an infectious groove, the Honeylovers are guaranteed to put a grin on your face and a tap in your toes.

Martha Bassett’s caramel-toned alto sounds right at home in music of many varieties; from Americana to jazz, folk to country gospel, she always sounds exactly like herself.  As a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, Martha’s emotionally honest performances make people feel as if she is singing directly to them.

A native of West Virginia, Martha has made a home for herself in North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad.  She has performed at Merlefest, the Eastern Music Festival, the Shaker Hills Grassroots Festival, and concert venues throughout the region, as well as touring nationally.  Her bands have been as eclectic as her tastes, combining talented players from classical, jazz, folk, and rock traditions.  She has taken great delight in mentoring young musicians, many of whom have filtered through her band before moving off to begin their own projects.  Each iteration of her band has reflected Martha’s musical interests at the time.  Common threads throughout her career include vim and vigor in her singing and her collaborations with some of the strongest talent in North Carolina.

Slaid Cleaves: Grew up in Maine. Lives in Texas. Writes songs. Makes records. Travels around. Tries to be good.

Joseph Hudak of Rolling Stone calls Cleaves “a master storyteller, one influenced not by the shine of pop-culture but by the dirt of real life.”

Now twenty-five years into his storied career, Cleaves' songwriting has never been more potent than on his latest album Ghost on the Car Radio (2017).

Described as "terse, clear and heartfelt" (NPR Fresh Air), his songs speak to timeless truths. "I'm not an innovator. I'm more of a keeper of the flame," he says.
 
The New York Daily News called his music "a treasure hidden in plain sight," while the Austin Chronicle declared, "there are few contemporaries that compare. He's become a master craftsman on the order of Guy Clark and John Prine.

Martha Bassett’s caramel-toned alto sounds right at home in music of many varieties; from Americana to jazz, folk to country gospel, she always sounds exactly like herself.  As a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, Martha’s emotionally honest performances make people feel as if she is singing directly to them.

A native of West Virginia, Martha has made a home for herself in North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad.  She has performed at Merlefest, the Eastern Music Festival, the Shaker Hills Grassroots Festival, and concert venues throughout the region, as well as touring nationally.  Her bands have been as eclectic as her tastes, combining talented players from classical, jazz, folk, and rock traditions.  She has taken great delight in mentoring young musicians, many of whom have filtered through her band before moving off to begin their own projects.  Each iteration of her band has reflected Martha’s musical interests at the time.  Common threads throughout her career include vim and vigor in her singing and her collaborations with some of the strongest talent in North Carolina.

In 1986 Sam got in the middle of someone else’s war. When a terrorist bomb exploded in his train compartment, he went from being a young, healthy, tourist enjoying Peru with friends to a broken man surrounded by death and dying.  Given his injuries, he too should have died.  But through a series of miracles and coincidences he survived.

A Sam Baker show is a celebration.  Some songs tell of everyday people who survive life’s daily challenges; others are stories of growing up in a small Texas prairie town.  All his shows are an acknowledgment and appreciation of the pure joy that comes with people gathering to listen to live music.  Sam’s fans travel to see him, often driving hours to experience the powerful performance.  After the show, they tell Sam their stories.  At the end of the day, we all go in peace.

Queen Bee and the Honeylovers is an unabashedly joyful swing band that performs all-original compositions with a dedicated ‘nod’ to the small-jazz-combo and 'hot club' legends who first defined the genre.  The Honeylovers hail from Asheville, North Carolina; a historic township where tradition collides with contemporary innovation to create brand new art and culture.  Their arrangements are upbeat and nostalgic with enough sweetness for the whole hive.  Vocal-driven with an infectious groove, the Honeylovers are guaranteed to put a grin on your face and a tap in your toes.

Aaron is listed as one of the top 10 most important musicians of western North Carolina by WNC Magazine, alongside such greats as Doc Watson, Steep Canyon Rangers, and The Avett Brothers.  He has also received critical acclaim as a songwriter, winning Our State Magazine’s Carolina Songs competition in 2012 with “Going Home to Carolina.” Aaron’s song “Magpie” won third place bluegrass song in the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at Merlefest in 2013.  Over the years, Aaron has been a finalist in numerous other songwriting competitions, including The Mountain Stage Songwriting Contest, The NC Songwriter’s Cooperative Songwriting Contest, and the Hank Williams Songwriting Contest.

Creating music isn’t a means to an end, it is an end with a meaning for Aaron Burdett.  Writing and creating songs is rooted somewhere deep in his psyche; it’s something that can’t be denied and must be shared.  His lyrics are soul-touching, intelligent, witty, and poetic all at once, while his music style is a seamless blend of Americana, country, blues, bluegrass, and folk-rock that cohesively creates a story.

After a year and a half hiatus thanks to Covid, the More Barn Concert Series joyfully resumed with The Contenders!  The Contenders is a two-man band whose music is an amalgam of classic country, folk, and rootsy rock and roll.  The group was formed in 2013 by singer and songwriter Jay Nash.  Nash was at home in Vermont shortly after wrapping up a tour when he began thinking about the many musicians he'd come to know, some of whom stuck to playing music despite a lack of larger commercial success.  He was inspired to write songs about his musical heroes, famous and otherwise, and was eager to find a different vehicle for this material.  He contacted his friend, Josh Day, a drummer whose resume includes work with Sara Bareilles, Adam Hood, Jennifer Nettles, The Kruger Brothers, John Oates, and Applewood Road.  The two shared their ideas about Nash's tunes, and they decided to form a guitar and drums band called The Contenders.  Nash and Day soon took their ideas into the studio, and released their debut EP, Meet the Contenders, in November 2014.  All of the songs on the debut album were written by Josh and Jay, which highlight their rootsy approach and strong harmonies.  In November 2017, The Contenders delivered their first full-length album, Laughing with the Reckless, released by the Nashville-based independent label Rock Ridge Music.

Although they're based in Nashville, Wild Ponies have always looked to Southwest Virginia — where bandmates Doug and Telisha Williams were both born and raised — for inspiration.  There, in mountain towns like Galax, old-time American music continues to thrive, supported by a community of fiddlers, flat-pickers, and fans.

Martha Bassett returned to the "More Barn" Concert Series to kick-off the spring portion of the season.  Martha's caramel-toned alto sounds right at home in music of many varieties; from Americana to jazz, folk to country gospel, she always sounds exactly like herself.  As a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, Martha’s emotionally honest performances make people feel as if she is singing directly to them.

Since its formation over 37 years ago, the award-winning Lonesome River Band continues its reputation as one of the most respected names in Bluegrass music.  Whether performing on the famous stage of the Grand Ole Opry or headlining major concert events and festivals, their loyal fans continue to support one of the most loved and most influential acts of our time.

Queen Bee and the Honeylovers is an unabashedly joyful swing band that performs all-original compositions with a dedicated "nod" to the small-jazz-combo and "hot club" legends who first defined the genre.  The Honeylovers hail from Asheville, North Carolina; a historic township where tradition collides with contemporary innovation to create brand new art and culture.  Their arrangements are upbeat and nostalgic with enough sweetness for the whole hive.  Vocal-driven with an infectious groove, the Honeylovers are guaranteed to put a grin on your face and a tap in your toes.

Austin and Sarah McCombie play traditional folk music with a clawhammer banjo and sweet harmonies.  Their songs are stories flush with vivid imagery, contemplative metaphors, and evidence of their binding ties to the South.

Creating music isn’t a means to an end, it is an end with a meaning for Aaron Burdett.  Writing and creating songs is rooted somewhere deep in his psyche; it’s something that can’t be denied and must be shared.  His lyrics are soul-touching, intelligent, witty, and poetic all at once, while his music style is a seamless blend of Americana, country, blues, bluegrass, and folk-rock that cohesively creates a story.

Rodney Crowell has written 15 #1 songs on the Country music charts and has won two Grammys. His critically acclaimed last album, Close Ties, garnered a Grammy nomination. Throughout his career, Crowell has also won six Americana Music Awards, including the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting, and is a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. His songs have been recorded by country legends (Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, George Strait), to current country chart toppers (Tim McGraw, Keith Urban), to blues icons (Etta James), and rock and roll legends (Van Morrison, Bob Seger). Crowell has also received the ASCAP Founders Award.

Sam Baker makes people happy. The characters in his songs face many challenges-alcoholism, car wrecks, racism, drug addiction, a mother's abandonment-but they persevere. Much like Sam himself.  

In 1986 Sam got in the middle of someone else’s war. When a terrorist bomb exploded in the his train compartment, he went from being a young, healthy, tourist enjoying Peru with friends to a broken man surrounded by death and dying. Given his injuries, he too should have died. But through a series of miracles and coincidences he survived.  

There were lots of surgeries, and the requisite pain pills. His leg was saved by a successful femoral arterial graft. When the cranial bleed in his brain healed, he had to relearn nouns, and after his right eardrum was replaced, he regained some hearing. With the top of his left hand gone, it seemed that his formerly skillful hands had been transformed into blocks of wood, but eventually those hands learned how to play an upside-down guitar.

Physically, Sam was recovering, but his life was filled with pills, booze, and rage. Then came the voices and messengers that helped him see that the greatest gift is life itself. He learned about forgiveness. He needed to tell his story. Songs started to come from that upside-down guitar. Before he knew it, there were CDs, tours around the world, an interview with Terry Gross, and awards in Rolling Stone. 

Sam feels compelled to tell his story-through his music, art, or any means possible-to one person at a time, or to thousands from a festival stage. 

A Sam Baker show is a celebration. Some songs tell of everyday people who survive life’s daily challenges; others are stories of growing up in a small Texas prairie town. All his shows are an acknowledgment and appreciation of the pure joy that comes with people gathering to listen to live music. Sam’s fans travel to see him, often driving hours to experience the powerful performance. After the show, they tell Sam their stories. At the end of the day, we all go in peace. 

Sam was joined on stage by Martha Bassett, Pat Lawrence and Tommy Jackson.

Martin Garrish, a life-long resident of Ocracoke Island, NC, is a master of 'old time' country, rock, bluegrass and folk guitar.  He has been at the heart of the Ocracoke music scene since he was a teenager and was recently honored with the 2016 Cultural Heritage Award by Ocracoke Preservation Society for his contribution to Ocracoke Island’s history and culture. He has played different genres of music – acoustic, electric, rock, country, folk, jazz, western – in different line-ups over the years including the Graveyard Band, the Ocracoke Rockers, Ocracoke Jazz Society, and he has taken the stage at one time or another at all of the island venues. He's a favorite at the annual Ocrafolk Music Festival.  

Martin was joined by:  Jack Willis (bass) and Aaron Caswell (guitar), also life-long residents of Ocracoke, along with Marcy Brenner and Lou Castro (also known as Coyote), residents of Ocracoke and owners of Coyote Music Den.

For more than fifteen years, Marcy Brenner and Lou Castro have performed together as Coyote. Marcy studied classical guitar and jazz until at 14 she joined her first basement rock band. While earning her business degrees at Radford University in the Blue Ridge Mountains she found folk music. Lou is a graduate of the Berklee School of Music in Boston and has played guitar and bass in numerous original and cover bands before forming Coyote and is also a principal player with Ocracoke Rockers, Aaron Caswell Band, Lightening Lou and The Blackouts and the red-hot Raygun Ruby.

As a young musician straight out of Texas, Radney Foster spent the lengthy drives in between tour stops reading the likes of John Steinbeck, Larry McMurtry, and Harper Lee.  Over 30 years of artist cuts later, there is no question that he himself is an established storyteller.

Foster has written eight number one hit singles, including his own "Nobody Wins," and "Crazy Over You" with duo Foster & Lloyd.  His discography contains countless cuts by artists ranging anywhere from country (Keith Urban, The Dixie Chicks, Luke Bryan, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) to contemporary (Marc Broussard, Hootie & The Blowfish, Kenny Loggins, Los Lonely Boys).

Martha Bassett began the spring lineup of the 2018-19 "More Barn" concert series.  Her performances are known for their emotional honesty and visceral impact, making everyone in the room feel she's singing directly to them.  Her musical inspiration moves effortlessly through swing, jazz, folk, country, and rock guaranteeing playful variety at her live shows.  Mixing originals with choice covers, Martha navigates sexy torch songs, rip-your-heart-out ballads, and slinky groove tunes with ease supported by a band equally comfortable in acoustic and electric settings.

Hank, Pattie, and The Current:  Two of North Carolina’s veteran bluegrass musicians join forces with some of the Triangle area’s most versatile musicians to create modern, American, acoustic music featuring the full range of their talents as composers and arrangers.  The band makes use of traditional bluegrass instrumentation in a nontraditional way to present original music to the listener that goes beyond the limits of the idiom.

Chatham Rabbits: With palpable chemistry and warmth, Chatham Rabbits — Sarah Osborne McCombie (vocals, banjo) and Austin McCombie (vocals, guitar, fiddle) — fill each space they enter with brightness and sincerity. Their songs are stories flush with vivid imagery, contemplative metaphors, and evidence of their binding ties to the South.

Marcy Brenner and Lou Castro (COYOTE), together with the talented Kate McNally, have created a smokin’ hot trio on Ocracoke Island.  These masterful musicians and phenomenal performers have spent their lives making music.  With a wide variety of musical styles and instruments, they present an evening of remarkable acoustic-oriented music, from rock and roll roots to pop classics.

Marcy and Lou’s magical musical home, Coyote Music Den, sits on the edge of Ocracoke’s Silver Lake in Community Square where they create, teach and share music.  It was during one of their weekly summer concert series, COYOTE Plus One, that they discovered extraordinary simpatico with Greenville, NC native, Kate.  And now, what began as a spark on a sultry summer evening has raged into a sensational wild fire.

Now twenty-five years into his storied career, Cleaves' songwriting has never been more potent than on his most recent album Ghost on the Car Radio. The characters in Slaid Cleaves' songs live in unglamorous reality. They work dead-end jobs, they run out of money, they grow old, they hold on to each other (or not), and they die. With an eye for the beauty in everyday life, he tells their stories, bringing a bit of empathy to their uncaring world.

Ghost on the Car Radio is Cleaves' first release since 2013's Still Fighting the War, which was praised as "one of the year's best albums" by American Songwriter and "carefully crafted...songs about the struggles of the heart in hard times" by the Wall Street Journal. The New York Daily News called his music "a treasure hidden in plain sight," while the Austin Chronicle declared, "there are few contemporaries that compare. He's become a master craftsman on the order of Guy Clark and John Prine."

Aaron Burdett, along with James Bernabe and Kim France, kicked-off the 2018-19 season of the More Barn Concert Series. 

Aaron's lyrics are soul-touching, intelligent, witty, and poetic all at once, while his music style is a seamless blend of Americana, country, blues, bluegrass, and folk-rock that cohesively creates a story.

Aaron is listed as one of the top 10 most important musicians of western North Carolina by WNC Magazine, alongside such greats as Doc Watson, Steep Canyon Rangers, and The Avett Brothers. He has also received critical acclaim as a songwriter, winning Our State Magazine’s Carolina Songs competition in 2012 with “Going Home to Carolina.” Aaron’s song “Magpie” won third place bluegrass song in the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at Merlefest in 2013. Over the years Aaron has been a finalist in numerous other songwriting competitions, including The Mountain Stage Songwriting Contest, The NC Songwriter’s Cooperative Songwriting Contest, and the Hank Williams Songwriting Contest.

Acclaimed songwriter, author, and actor Radney Foster and New York Times best selling author Wiley Cash swapped stories and songs. 

Radney Foster has written eight number one hit singles, including his own "Nobody Wins," and "Crazy Over Your" with duo Foster & Lloyd.  His discography contains countless cuts by artists ranging from country (Keith Urban, The Dixie Chicks, Luke Bryan, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) to contemporary (Marc Broussard, Hootie & The Blowfish, Kenny Loggins, Los Lonely Boys). 

Wiley Cash is the New York Times best selling author of the novels The Last Ballad, A Land More Kind Than Home, and This Dark Road to Mercy.

Although they are based in Nashville, Wild Ponies have always looked to Southwest Virginia - where bandmates Doug and Talisha Williams were both born and raised - for inspiration.  There, in mountain towns like Galax, old-time American music continues to thrive, supported by a community of fiddlers, flat-pickers, and fans. Wild Ponies pays tribute to that powerful music and rugged landscape with 2017's Galax, a stripped-back album that nods to the band's history while still pushing forward. 

"We'll always be the pinball that bounces between folk, rock & roll, and country" says Talisha.

Martin Garrish, a life-long resident of Ocracoke Island, NC, is a master of 'old time' country, rock, bluegrass and folk guitar.  He has been at the heart of the Ocracoke music scene since he was a teenager and was recently honored with the 2016 Cultural Heritage Award by Ocracoke Preservation Society for his contribution to Ocracoke Island’s history and culture. He has played different genres of music – acoustic, electric, rock, country, folk, jazz, western – in different line-ups over the years including the Graveyard Band, the Ocracoke Rockers, Ocracoke Jazz Society, and he has taken the stage at one time or another at all of the island venues. He's a favorite at the annual Ocrafolk Music Festival.  

Martin was joined by:  Jack Willis (bass) and Aaron Caswell (guitar), also life-long residents of Ocracoke, along with Marcy Brenner and Lou Castro (also known as Coyote), residents of Ocracoke and owners of Coyote Music Den.

For fifteen years, Marcy Brenner and Lou Castro have performed together as Coyote. Marcy studied classical guitar and jazz until at 14 she joined her first basement rock band. While earning her business degrees at Radford University in the Blue Ridge Mountains she found folk music. Lou is a graduate of the Berklee School of Music in Boston and has played guitar and bass in numerous original and cover bands before forming Coyote and is also a principal player with Ocracoke Rockers, Aaron Caswell Band, Lightening Lou and The Blackouts and the red-hot Raygun Ruby.

Amythyst Kiah was originally scheduled to appear in December, 2017, but the show was postponed due to weather.  Instead she opened for Alvin Youngblood Hart, a Grammy Award-winning blues artist from Memphis, TN.  Both artists performed rare solo sets. 

Known as a “musician’s musician” and the cosmic love child of Howlin’ Wolf and Link Wray, Alvin Youngblood Hart’s praises have been sung by everyone from Bob Dylan to guitar gods Eric Clapton & Mick Taylor. Born in Oakland CA in 1963 to a family of post-World War II Mississippi transplants, Hart began to play the guitar, in earnest, in 1977. His brilliant 1996 debut, Big Mama's Door (Epic Records), received widespread critical acclaim and got his career as an international touring artist off the ground. Since his highly acclaimed debut, Hart has released four albums, the latest of which was Motivational Speaker (Tone Cool Records) in 2005. That same year, Hart received a Grammy Award for his contribution to Beautiful Dreamer – The Songs of Stephen Foster. He has also appeared in several films, including Last of the Mississippi Jukes, The Great Debaters, and The Soul of a Man, which was featured in Martin Scorsese's documentary film series The Blues. In 2010, Hart teamed up with friends Jimbo Mathus and Luther Dickinson to form The South Memphis String Band, whose first album - Home Sweet Home - was nominated for “Best Acoustic Album” at the 2011 Blues Foundation Music Awards.

Along with his 40 years of playing, Hart has a nuts-and-bolts passion for the hardware of the trade that comes from his time as an electronics technician, a talent he picked up during seven years active duty in the U.S. Coast Guard. His knack for quick-thinking repairs on the road has earned him nicknames such as, “The Garage Guerrilla” or “The Rock n’ Roll MacGyver” from fellow musicians.

After two decades on the road, Hart continues to delight audiences worldwide, whether as a solo performer or with the eternally rockin’ Alvin Youngblood Hart’s Muscle Theory.

A professed Southern Gothic, alt-country blues singer/songwriter based in Johnson City, TN, Amythyst Kiah’s commanding stage presence is only matched by her raw and powerful vocals—a deeply moving, hypnotic sound that stirs echoes of a distant and restless past.

Martha Bassett made her second appearance with the "More Barn" Concert Series to begin the second half of the 2017-2018 season. 

Martha Bassett was raised on the bluegrass and gospel of her native West Virginia farmland. Classically trained, Martha is blessed with a crystalline tone, a remarkable range, and sultry delivery. Her performances are known for their emotional honesty and visceral impact, making everyone in the room feel she’s singing directly to them.  Her musical inspiration moves effortlessly through swing, jazz, folk, country, and rock guaranteeing playful variety at her live shows.  Mixing originals with choice covers, she navigates sexy torch songs, rip-your-heart-out ballads, and slinky groove tunes with ease supported by a band equally comfortable in acoustic and electric settings. With her fourth disc, The Goodbye Party, Martha explores longing, anger, loss and love.  The songs are heartbroken and wistfully triumphant. No Depression describes Martha’s music as “intricate and resoundingly captivating, each song takes me further into a scene.”

Regularly seen on stages at Merlefest, the Eastern Music Festival, Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival and concert venues throughout North Carolina and Virginia, she’s opened for Lyle Lovett, Tony Bennett, the Avett Brothers, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Jim Lauderdale, and Chuck Prophet.  Martha contributed music to the Sony Classics film, “Junebug,” as well. Her tours have taken her up and down the east coast and into the Midwest. 

Silver City Bound returned to the "More Barn" Concert Series with a rare performance of the band's original lineup, featuring UNCSA alums Justin Poindexter and saxophonist Eddie Barbash (Jon Batiste, Late Show with Stephen Colbert) along with accordionist/keyboardist Sam Reider.  Bassist Pat Lawerence joined the band for the performance.

The 2017-2018 season of the "More Barn" Concert Series began on September 29 with the return of Caleb Caudle. 

Caleb Caudle is a singer-songwriter based in Winston-Salem, NC with seven albums to his credit over more than a decade playing music.

He's toured the country many times over, playing clubs, theaters, festivals and corner bars while sharing the stage with friends including Jason Isbell, Margo Price, Dawes, Robert Ellis, Patterson Hood, Justin Townes Earle, Aaron Lee Tasjan, and John Moreland, among many others.

His last album, 2016's Carolina Ghost, drew widespread critical acclaim from the likes of NPR Music, Rolling Stone, Huffington Post, Paste, Bitter Southerner, and American Songwriter.

Crushed Coins, his new album out in late 2017, was recorded in both Los Angeles and Nashville and produced by Caudle in collaboration with long-time engineer Jon Ashley (Avett Brothers, Band of Horses, Hiss Golden Messenger, War on Drugs).   www.calebcaudle.com

Long before the Americana movement caught fire – before the genre even had a name – Jeffrey Dean Foster was synthesizing folk, rock and roots music with the Right Profile, the Carneys and the Pinetops. The 1998 Pinetops album Above Ground and Vertical showed the individuality of Foster's vision, but it was the long-awaited release of Million Star Hotel, his first solo album, that finally gathered all facets of his musical vision in a uniformly spectacular fashion. Upon the release of Foster's latest, The Arrow, Stereophile Magazine commented, "This is the kind of album that will stop you in your tracks." Most recently, Foster composed the entire soundtrack for the upcoming Angus Maclachlan film, “Abundant Acreage Available,” starring Amy Ryan. For more information, please visit www.jeffreydeanfoster.com.

For the last six years, songwriter, guitarist, and producer Ryan Gustafson has been making music as The Dead Tongues, building his own corner of the new American musical landscape with twangy garage jams, bohemian country shuffles, opened-tuned meditations, and melancholy love notes. While spending time in the studio or on the road with Hiss Golden Messenger, Charlie Parr, and Phil Cook, Ryan and longtime collaborator Andrew Marlin, along with perennial bandmates James Wallace and Jeff Crawford, found time to record The Dead Tongues third official album, Montana, a new exploration into his uniquely new and old approach to songwriting. For more information, please visit www.thedeadtongues.com.

The John Mochnick/Matt Kendrick Jazz Duo is a unique piano/bass ensemble from Winston-Salem, NC.  The group plays a wide variety of repertoire including standards from the Great American Songbook, blues, show tunes, bossa novas and "classical" selections.  

Special guest drummer, John C. B. Wilson is a graduate of the UNC School of the Arts and Manhattan School of Music.

Martin Garrish, a life-long resident of Ocracoke Island, NC, is a master of 'old time' country, rock, bluegrass and folk guitar.  He has been at the heart of the Ocracoke music scene since he was a teenager and was recently honored with the 2016 Cultural Heritage Award by Ocracoke Preservation Society for his contribution to Ocracoke Island’s history and culture. He has played different genres of music – acoustic, electric, rock, country, folk, jazz, western – in different line-ups over the years including the Graveyard Band, the Ocracoke Rockers, Ocracoke Jazz Society, and he has taken the stage at one time or another at all of the island venues. He's a favorite at the annual Ocrafolk Music Festival.  

Martin was joined by:  Jack Willis (bass) and Aaron Caswell (guitar), also life-long residents of Ocracoke, along with Marcy Brenner and Lou Castro (also known as Coyote), residents of Ocracoke and owners of Coyote Music Den.

For fifteen years, Marcy Brenner and Lou Castro have performed together as Coyote. Marcy studied classical guitar and jazz until at 14 she joined her first basement rock band. While earning her business degrees at Radford University in the Blue Ridge Mountains she found folk music. Lou is a graduate of the Berklee School of Music in Boston and has played guitar and bass in numerous original and cover bands before forming Coyote and is also a principal player with Ocracoke Rockers, Aaron Caswell Band, Lightening Lou and The Blackouts and the red-hot Raygun Ruby.

Martha Bassett was raised on the bluegrass and gospel of her native West Virginia farmland. Classically trained, Martha is blessed with a crystalline tone, a remarkable range, and sultry delivery. Her performances are known for their emotional honesty and visceral impact, making everyone in the room feel she’s singing directly to them.  Her musical inspiration moves effortlessly through swing, jazz, folk, country, and rock guaranteeing playful variety at her live shows.  Mixing originals with choice covers, she navigates sexy torch songs, rip-your-heart-out ballads, and slinky groove tunes with ease supported by a band equally comfortable in acoustic and electric settings. With her fourth disc, The Goodbye Party, Martha explores longing, anger, loss and love.  The songs are heartbroken and wistfully triumphant. No Depression describes Martha’s music as “intricate and resoundingly captivating, each song takes me further into a scene.” Regularly seen on stages at Merlefest, the Eastern Music Festival, Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival and concert venues throughout North Carolina and Virginia, she’s opened for Lyle Lovett, Tony Bennett, the Avett Brothers, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Jim Lauderdale, and Chuck Prophet.  Martha contributed music to the Sony Classics film, “Junebug,” as well. Her tours have taken her up and down the east coast and into the Midwest.      (www.marthabassett.com)

Following in the tracks of Gram Parsons, Merle Haggard and George Strait, Caleb Caudle makes pure country music rooted in the genre's glory days, back when melody, mood and message ruled the roost. It's not contemporary country-pop, nor is it part of any underground outlaw scene. Instead, Caudle's music finds the middle ground between the classic twang of late-Seventies/early-Eighties country and the dusty stomp of modern-day Americana. Raised just south of the Virginia/North Carolina border, Caudle cut his teeth on the road, building his audience one mile at a time while sharing the stage with the likes of Jason Isbell, Dawes, Robert Ellis, Patterson Hood, Justin Townes Earle, Aaron Lee Tasjan, and John Moreland, among many others. His last album, 2014's Paint Another Layer on My Heart, drew critical praise from far and wide and landed Caudle on more than 40 year-end best-of lists. For his new album, Carolina Ghost, Caudle returned home to his native Piedmont North Carolina. "This record is all about making life changes," says Caudle, who co-produced Carolina Ghost with longtime collaborator Jon Ashley (Avett Brothers, Dawes, Band of Horses). "I kicked booze about a year and a half ago and moved back to North Carolina and fell in love. So it all feels like a new start, really." Recorded at the Fidelitorium in Kernersville, NC, Carolina Ghost mixes Caudle's voice with the swoon of pedal steel, the swell of B3 organ, and layers of electric guitar. The light, layered arrangements swirl up memories of Haggard classics like Big City and Going Where the Lonely Go — but the end result is pure Caudle, shot through the optimism of guy, nearly a decade into his career, that’s discovered not only the thrill in hitting the highway, but the comfort in putting down some roots.

Daniel Bachman is a six-string and lap steel guitar player from Virginia currently living in North Carolina. Bachman grew up steeped in the traditional music of the Commonwealth, drawing from and expanding on it in his own fingerstyle guitar albums including Seven Pines (Tompkins Square, 2013), Orange County Serenade (Bathetic, 2014), and the new LP River (Three Lobed, 2015). On record and in person, you’re introduced to a veritable landscape of winding guitar with Bachman treating his guitar lines and licks in a way that resembles the earth itself, at its most pristine, delicate, yet also primal and overpowering. Pieces move, ascending and descending in the same way that the clouds roll through blue skies, the same way brooks babble down rocky fronts carving their paths in the land. Solo guitarists come and go and it takes Daniel Bachman, like John Fahey or Jack Rose before him, to completely show you the power in one man and his instrument. You don’t need an ensemble of players and dense layers of dissonance to create a fully realized, and actualized, chunk of music. With every new album Bachman continues to push the boundaries of solo acoustic guitar and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.

Chuck Leavell’s keyboard work has been heard on the works of Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, George Harrison, The Allman Brothers Band, The Black Crowes, Blues Traveler, Train, Martina McBride, John Mayer, David Gilmour and many other prominent artists.  His association with the Stones began in 1982 and is still going strong, having recently toured with the Stones on several world tours, including the recent “OLE’” Latin American tour 2016 that culminated with a historic free concert in Havana, Cuba for 750,000-plus attendees.

A conservationist, sustainable development advocate, and tech entrepreneur, Leavell co-founded The Mother Nature Network (www.mnn.com) in January of 2009, a website devoted to environmental news, information and education. He is the author of four books: Forever Green: The History and Hope of the American Forest; Between Rock and a Home Place (autobiography, co-written with Jeff Craig); The Tree Farmer (a children’s book); and his most recent, Growing A Better America (also with Craig) about “smart” growth. He and his wife, Rose Lane Leavell, live on their 3,000-acre award-winning tree farm, Charlane Plantation (www.charlane.com), in Bullard, Ga.

The "More Barn" concert series began at 8 p.m. on Saturday, October 8, 2016, with LOVE AND MURDER: A Musical Evening of Southern Gothic Music & Literature, featuring Americana band Silver City Bound (www.silvercitybound.com) in collaboration with director Kent Stephens and students from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (www.uncsa.edu).  

Silver City Bound (formerly The Amigos) was formed by guitarist/vocalist Justin Poindexter and accordionist/vocalist Sam Reider. Their 2014 debut album, Diner in the Sky, featuring legendary musician, and beat poet David Amram, won Best Americana Music Album from the Independent Music Awards and propelled the band to appearances at CMJ, Folk Alliance International, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Cotati Accordion Festival, the Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival, the Kerrville Folk Festival, and all over world as cultural ambassadors for the U.S. Dept. of State. Silver City Bound has collaborated on stage with Jim Lauderdale, Dom Flemons, David Amram, Ranger Doug (of Riders in the Sky), The Time Jumpers, and Nellie McKay.