IBMA award winning Bluegrass band.

Mandolin player, fiddler and singer Sam Bush led New Grass Revival for over twenty years. He now records as a solo artist and tours with the Sam Bush Band.

Singer best known as Nashville backup artist for many of the best known country acts and now producing her own CDs. Chiavola was trained in classical music, and has sung opera, but her love is bluegrass.

Traditionalist Bluegrass band.

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs met in 1945 as members of Bill Monroe's band, the Blue Grass Boys. Although only with Monroe for a few years, they helped to define the pattern for all bluegrass bands to follow. In 1948 the two set out on their own, forming their own backing band, the Foggy Mountain Boys. For over 20 years, they were one of the most successful bluegrass bands. Their best known songs include Earl's signature banjo tune, "Foggy Mountain Breakdown", used in the movie "Bonnie and Clyde", and "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" which was the theme song for the "Beverly Hillbillies" TV show.

In 1969 the two went their separate ways. Flatt returned to a more traditional sound with his new band, the Nashville Grass, which included most of the Foggy Mountain Boys. Lester Flatt died in 1979. Scruggs formed the Earl Scruggs Revue with his sons and incorporated rock and modern country influences in his music. He is currently semi-retired but performs occasional concerts.

Flatt and Scruggs were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985 and the International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Honor in 1991.

At the heart of bluegrass music is the close ensemble playing of the major strings: mandolin, violin, banjo, and guitar, typically backed by a double bass. Alison Krauss and Union Station add one final factor that places them in the top ranks of bluegrass, and that is the strikingly pure and expressive voice of Krauss herself. Alison Krauss has been much in demand. She is a member of the Grand Ole Opry, sings with other artists, and is acclaimed for her work in the picture "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (We should note that Dan Tyminski, another member of Union Station also contributed vocals to the film.)

Born in 1944, Doyle Lawson had brief stints playing with Jimmy Martin and J.D. Crowe in the 1960s. In 1971 he joined the Country Gentlemen, with whom he toured and recored extensively through the 1970s. In 1979 he formed Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver with the initial lineup of Terry Baucom, Jimmy Haley and Lou Reid. The band's lineup has changed many times over the years, but its emphasis on smooth harmonies and a mix of gospel and secular songs has remained constant.

Bill Monroe (1911-1996) invented a new style of southern string band music, called bluegrass, in the 1930s and 1940s. Monroe mixed his mountain folk and religious music background with the black country blues that he learned by playing with guitarist Arnold Shultz. His music was remarkable in several ways: the prominence of the mandolin, a very fast tempo, a remarkable vocal technique, the preservation of what Monroe called "old tones," and the wide dissemination of his music through radio and phonograph records. Monroe had been relegated to playing the mandolin when his brothers claimed the violin and guitar, but his innovative technique gave the instrument a virtuoso part in bluegrass. In addition, instead of adopting the crooning style of country music, Monroe developed mountain vocal technique into a "high, lonesome sound" that perfectly suited the mixture of melancholy and religious subjects that he made into his distinctive repertoire. Monroe recruited some of the outstanding musicians of his era to play in the Blue Grass Boys, musicians of the caliber of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. The success of his band and bands his musicians created, together with his long career with the Grand Ole Opry, served to make bluegrass a leading form within country and folk music. In the final analysis, it was Monroe's own personality, expressed through his driving mandolin, fast tempos, and evocative songs, that made him such an important part of popular music.

Chris Thile and siblings Sean and Sara Watkins first began playing together around 1990, when Sean was a teenager and Chris and Sara not yet 10. Starting from a foundation of bluegrass, their music also incorporates Celtic, rock, and country influences.

Bobby and Sonny Osborne first performed together as the Osborne Brothers in 1953. They became members of the Grand Ole Opry in 1964. In the late 1960s and early '70s they experimented with electrified instruments and pedal steel guitar, alienating some bluegrass fans but finding commercial success and winning the Country Music Association's Vocal Group of the Year award in 1971. In 1994 they were inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association's Hall of Honor. Their best-known songs include "Ruby, Are You Mad?" and "Rocky Top", now an official state song of Tennessee.

Born July 4, 1942, Peter Rowan joined the band of bluegrass founder Bill Monroe in 1964. He played with Monroe for just two years but Monroe's influence has stayed with him throughout his career. Besides bluegrass his music also has included elements of Tex-Mex, reggae, and world music styles.

Rowan was a member of folk-rock band Earth Opera and Seatrain, a rock fusion group, in the late 60s. In the mid-70s he began recording solo albums, and has assembled many different bands to back him up. These included the Free Mexican Air Force, Pamana Red Riders, and Crucial Reggae.

Bluegrass artist born July 13, 1962.