Jane Kramer

Lauded by UK music reviewer Three Chords and the Truth as sounding like she was “…born to irreverent, bohemian poets and raised in the mountains by Emmylou Harris,” Asheville, North Carolina songstress Jane Kramer has garnered international recognition for the sultry, heartrending originality of her vocals and for the heavy-hitting lyrical eloquence of her songwriting.

With deep roots in the musical traditions, culture and lore of her beloved Appalachia, Kramer’s songs are introspective, gracefully gritty and fiercely memorable. They elegantly sweep listeners down the gravel roads and southern coastal highways, midnight truck stops and lonely motel rooms of hard learning and lead home to the wooded Blue Ridge Mountains with moving acceptance of our flawed human experience. Kramer’s live performances are equally as poignant and engaging; rich with accessible, warm, often hilarious storytelling and gracefully lifting the veil between audience and performer.

After a seven year stint as founding member, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter in the nationally-touring, Asheville-based all female Appalachian Folk outfit, The Barrel House Mamas from 2003-2010, Kramer released her first solo studio album, Break & Bloom, recorded in Portland, Oregon, in 2013. The 2016 release of her sophomore studio album, Carnival of Hopes, put her on the map as a “…a voice that can only be described as one of the purest in modern Americana” (Dave Stallard, Blue Ridge Outdoors,) receiving critical international acclaim and airplay and charting on the Americana and Folk DJ charts. Kramer’s 2019 LP, Valley of The Bones, showed the artist “…refining her natural ability with words to the level of songwriting mastery. She has composed a new collection of songs that beautifully serve the bold, confident intensity of her voice and I could not be more excited about it. Bravo!” (Mary Gauthier) and served to further solidify Kramer’s place in the canon of contemporary southern folk artists from Mary Gauthier to Malcolm Holcombe and Sarah Siskind. Kramer has been touring nationally and internationally for the last ten years, playing for sold-out audiences in listening rooms, theaters, festivals, living rooms, prisons and arts councils alike. This has gained her a loyal following from the southeastern, U.S. where she calls home, to Portland, Oregon to Scotland, U.K to Florence, Italy.

A former social worker, domestic violence crisis counselor and avid humanitarian, Kramer continues to perform and teach about the songwriting process in prisons, shelters for the unhoused, programs for at-risk youth, classrooms and hospitals, sharing her message of music as a powerful tool for healing, connection and compassion.

Whether Kramer is solo, wielding only her EJ Henderson guitar and her most important instrument: her emotive, ethereal voice, or backed by her full band featuring the virtuostic instrumentalists that comprise Asheville’s Free Planet Radio and internationally renowned multi-instrumentalist Billy Cardine (Biscuit Burners, Acoustic Syndicate, Lover’s Leap,) the power and poignance of this truly gifted songstress is deeply felt and long-remembered.

Quoted as “…an artist on the rise” by acclaimed American songwriter Mary Gauthier, Kramer has performed with such well-known artists as Joan Osborne, Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, The Steep Canyon Rangers, Sarah Siskind, Gretchen Peters, Malcolm Holcombe, Verlon Thompson, Shawn Mullins and Maria Muldaur.

Learn more at https://www.janekramermusic.com/

Stephen Murray

Stephen Murray is a Canadian-born singer/songwriter living in Big Stone Gap, VA. Grateful recovering alcoholic and addict since 2019.

Learn more at https://www.facebook.com/p/Stephen-Murray-Music-100088307382446/

Migrant Birds

Migrant Birds is an indie folk outfit from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, fronted by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Spencer McNair Ayscue. Drawing inspiration from traditional Appalachian folk tunes and modern acts like Shovels and Rope, Brandi Carlile, and Andrew Bird, the group’s music combines elements of folk, pop, and rock with careful and authentic songwriting to create their own interpretation of contemporary Americana music.

Formed in 2019, the band released a handful of singles and two EPs, before delivering their first full-length album My Honest Face in the fall of 2023. With My Honest Face, the band turned their attention away from the personal songwriting of their early releases and instead produced an album that told the stories of ten different characters, including a guilt-ridden ghostwriter, an embattled Appalachian hermit, and a hopelessly lost backpacker. Through the voices of these characters, the band was able to explore themes of idealism, tragedy, love, and self-actualization, while also pushing beyond their previous musical boundaries.

Today the band continues to play throughout the Southeast, often with a rotating cast of backing musicians. With shows defined by energy, humor, and, most importantly, good music, Migrant Birds is an act you don’t want to miss.

Learn more at https://migrantbirdsmusic.com/