The Steep Canyon Rangers - Thanks to stellar musicianship and an adventurous take on the genre, this Grammy-winning bluegrass band has earned both critical and popular acclaim. The Rangers came to prominence, in part, due to an ongoing relationship with comedian/author/musician Steve Martin. After meeting at a party, Martin invited the band to tour and record with him. The 2011 collaboration, “Rare Bird Alert,” was nominated for a Grammy, and the collective won IBMA's “Entertainer of the Year Award.” Following up 2012's “Nobody Knows You,” which earned a Grammy for “Best Bluegrass Album,” the band headed to Woodstock, NY, to record at Levon Helm's studio with Larry Campbell producing. That release is titled “Tell the Ones I Know.” The SCR have appeared on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” NBC’s “Today Show,” at Carnegie Hall, the Grand Ole Opry and Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit. The Steep Canyon Rangers still average about 50 dates a year touring with Martin, most recently with the addition of Edie Brickell.

The Greencards - This multi-national bluegrass band, led by Australians Kym Warner (four-time winner of the Australian National Bluegrass Mandolin Championship) and former country chart-topper Carol Young, has racked up serious accolades: The group was voted “Best New Band” at the 2004 Austin Music Awards and nominated for “Best New Emerging Talent” at the 2004 Americana Awards. Texas singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen said of the Greencards’ music, “It’s the best bluegrass I’ve heard in 20 years.” After releasing its debut, “Movin’ On,” the group signed to Nashville-based Dualtone Records. Three releases, two Grammy nominations, Americana honors and awards, and invitations to tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson followed. In 2011, with two new members - young fiddle phenom Tyler Andal and flatpicking champion Carl Miner - the band issued “The Brick Album,” which featured cameos by Sam Bush and Vince Gill. In 2012, Warner and Young returned to Austin to work on “Sweetheart of the Sun.” That release is the second on their own Darling Street label and features cameos by Aoife O’Donovan and Jon Randall, as well as fellow Aussie (and longtime friend and collaborator) Jedd Hughes. The songs draw on their Aussie upbringing, their American experiences and their “restless natures.”

Vieux Farka Toure - The son of the late Ali Farka Touré, Vieux Farka Toure’s playing is unmistakably reminiscent of his father’s gentle, flowing style. Although his father initially forbade him from playing music - he wanted him to be a soldier - Vieux began playing percussion and calabash. While a student at the National Arts Institute in Bamako, Mali, he discovered guitar. He was encouraged by kora great Toumani Diabat, who also convinced Ali to give his son’s musical ambition his blessing. In 2005, Vieux recorded his solo debut which featured the last recordings of his father before he succumbed to cancer. On 2009's “Fondo on Six Degrees,” Vieux branched out, adding elements of rock, Latin music, and other African influences. “The Secret,” released in 2011, was produced by guitarist Eric Krasno (of the Soulive trio) and featured South African-born singer Dave Matthews, guitarist Derek Trucks and jazz guitarist John Scofield. Vieux’s latest release, “The Tel Aviv Session,” is a collaboration with Israeli superstar Idan Raichel. The recording has been called “one of the best collaborative albums in the history of international music,” and has drawn comparisons to Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder’s groundbreaking “Talking Timbuktu” CD.

Robbie Fulks - Known as a singer-songwriter with an uncommon wit and a style to match, Robbie Fulks was one of the early stars of the alt-country movement in the mid-‘90s. From Chicago via North Carolina and Pennsylvania, Fulks has released 11 solo records including 1998's “Let's Kill Saturday Night” on Geffen Records. In addition to numerous appearances on The Grand Ole Opry, he has performed on “Whadd'ya Know,” “Fresh Air,” “Mountain Stage,” “World Café,” “Austin City Limits," NBC's “Today Show,” “Late Night with Conan O'Brien” and “30 Rock.” His songs have been recorded by Sam Bush, Kelly Hogan, Sally Timms, Rosie Flores, John Cowan, and Old 97s. Also a writer, his work has appeared in “GQ,” “Blender,” “The Chicago Reader,” DaCapo Press's “Best Music Writing” anthologies, and “A Guitar and A Pen: Stories by Country Music's Greatest Songwriters.” Fulks’ describes his new release, “Gone Away Backward,” as a “meditative bluegrass-inflected song cycle.”

Mason Jennings - Born in Hawaii and raised in Pittsburgh, singer-songwriter Mason Jennings blends the insights of a poet, the political punch of a protest singer, and the chops of a jazz musician with the passion of a rock ‘n’ roller. Thanks to a rigorous touring schedule - and numerous sold-out show - Jennings sold more than 100,000 copies of his first four self-released albums. After recording for Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock's label, he signed with Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records, releasing 2008's “In the Ever” and 2009’s “Blood of Man.” His latest release is the emotional song cycle “Minnesota” - where he has made his home since the early ‘90s.