Lineup for Pickin' in the Pines 2012
Hot Rize, with special guests Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers
Blue Highway
The Steeldrivers
Laurie Lewis and The Right Hands
The Foghorn Stringband
Burnett Family Bluegrass
Run Boy Run
Muskellunge Bluegrass
Cocks o' the North
The Knockabouts
Zazu
Backwater Opera
Tony Norris & Friends
Chuck Cheesman
Cis Hinkle
Tweeners
Click on any band name to learn more, click on photos below to link to band websites.
Hot Rize,
with special guests, Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers
Colorado band, Hot Rize formed in 1978 with a unique and exciting style of bluegrass. Named after the secret ingredient in Martha White Flour, a long-term sponsor of bluegrass music, the band took the bluegrass world by storm with their fresh, contemporary approach to traditional music. Their strong and soulful bluegrass combined with their wacky but musically deft "alter-ego" country swing band, Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers, made them stars on the major festival circuit, and their powerful original songs consistently topped radio playlists.
The band features Tim O'Brien (vocals, mandolin, fiddle), Pete Wernick (banjo, vocals), Nick Forster (guitar, bass guitar, vocals, and the band's emcee) and Bryan Sutton (guitar, vocals). O’Brien, Wernick and Forster are original 1978 band members. Charles Sawtelle, who played with the band for the first 12 years, died in 1994. Sutton joined the band in 2002.
A number of their recordings – Walk the Way the Wind Blows, Colleen Malone, and Just Like You – reached top positions on the national bluegrass charts over the years. After 12 years of full-time year-round performing and recording, the group disbanded amicably, all members subsequently pursuing solo careers. After thirty years, devotees from past years are being joined by younger fans and the response has been electric. Hot Rize remains one of the top attractions in bluegrass.
Blue Highway
At the 17-year mark, Blue Highway is indisputably one of the most esteemed and influential groups in contemporary bluegrass. The band's nine exceptional albums and compelling live performances give proof to the stellar reviews, Grammy nominations, and numerous awards earned by the band since it first took the stage on December 31, 1994, with the same musicians that comprise Blue Highway today.
With a deep bench of virtuosic songwriters, vocalists and instrumentalists, Blue Highway's hallmark is an unwavering commitment to the ensemble, the “democracy of the band” that makes Blue Highway a powerhouse.
Individually, Jason Burleson (banjo, guitar, mandolin), Rob Ickes (Dobro), Shawn Lane (mandolin, fiddle, vocals), Tim Stafford (guitar, vocals), and Wayne Taylor (bass, vocals) are masters of their respective roles. Together, the five gifted artists selflessly merge their talents into a seamlessly brilliant group sound. As a result, the band moves from strength to strength, more mature and impressive with each new album.
Blue Highway has five gifted writers in its ranks. Rob and Jason turn out the heart-pounding instrumentals, while Shawn, Tim and Wayne give Blue Highway a depth of songwriting talent unprecedented in sixty years of bluegrass bands.
With ten highly-acclaimed albums to its credit, Blue Highway has garnered two Grammy nominations, a Dove Award, topped the Bluegrass Unlimited radio charts, and won numerous International Bluegrass Music Association awards. Refusing to coast on past glories, Blue Highway continues to push its music to new levels of accomplishment. Artfully balanced between tradition and innovation, the band remains in the forefront of contemporary bluegrass music.
The SteelDrivers
Only Nashville could give birth to a band like the SteelDrivers: a group of seasoned veterans – each distinguished in his or her own right, each valued in the town’s commercial community – seizing an opportunity to follow their hearts to their souls’ reward. In doing so, they braid their bluegrass roots with new threads of their own design, bringing together country, soul, and other contemporary influences to create an unapologetic hybrid that is old as the hills but fresh as the morning dew. They perform original new songs with the old feeling, and SteelDrivers fan Vince Gill describes the band’s fusion as simply “an incredible combination.”
Collectively, the SteelDrivers have probably played and/or toured with every important Nashville musician. Richard Bailey (banjo) has recorded with an impressive array of traditional musicians, from Al Green to Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette and many more. A versatile veteran, Mike Fleming (bass, vocals) lays down the firm foundation and sings the baritone harmony that rounds out the SteelDrivers’ sound. Gary Nichols (guitar/vocals) is a hotshot instrumentalist, singing wonder and songwriting champ, and fits the classic definition of a “guitar slinger,” but he’s no novice, playing guitar and singing since the age of 6. Growing up in a family bluegrass band, Tammy Rogers (fiddle, vocals) brings a lifetime of instrumental and vocal experience to the SteelDrivers. With many years of recording touring and producing under his belt, Brent Truit (mandolin) has traveled the globe with James Taylor, Dixie Chicks and Dolly Parton, winning Grammy awards for his engineering and mixing on tracks from Disney's 'Monsters Inc" and "Toy Story II".
Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands
Pickin' in the Pines is delighted to have Laurie Lewis back at the festival this year. Since forming a musical partnership in 1986, when Tom Rozum first joined Laurie's acclaimed band, Grant Street, Laurie and Tom have recorded 12 albums and performed around the globe. These Grammy-nominated artists are widely regarded as leading lights of modern bluegrass and are highly-prized by their peers as sidemen and producers.
Laurie has been called “one of the preeminent bluegrass and Americana artists of our time.” Tom Rozum "possesses an earnest tenor voice in the vein of contemporary bluegrass great Tim O'Brien, and peels off rhythmically crisp licks on mandolin and guitar." Laurie and Tom are joined by Chad Manning, Patrick Sauber, Andrew Conklin, appearing as The Right Hands.
Foghorn Stringband
Internationally acclaimed Foghorn Stringband has been at the vanguard of a revival in American old-time music for over a decade now. They’ve traveled the globe, inspiring a new generation of old-time musicians, without compromising their love of traditional American music. But they’ve gathered new ideas and new band members too. Their unique sound still comes from the fiery, intertwining melodies of Stephen “Sammy” Lind’s fiddle and Caleb Klauder’s mandolin, supported by the bedrock-solid rhythm foundation of Reeb Willms’ guitar and Nadine Landry’s bass. Vocally, they deliver four powerful and exceptional voices in countless combinations of harmonies. They don’t fancy up the music to make it more modern, instead they reach deep into the heart of the songs, pulling out the deep emotions that made them so enduring in the first place. It’s a whole new world today for folk musicians, but the four powerhouse musicians in the Foghorn Stringband prove that they’re still riding on the cutting edge, with one foot in the analog past and one foot in the digital future.
Burnett Family Bluegrass
This summer marks nineteen years of musical entertainment for award-winning, Flagstaff-based Burnett Family Bluegrass. The Arizona Republic has called them "an Arizona favorite.” Their sweet family harmonies and solid instrumentals have won them fans all over the southwest, and in 2004 garnered them first place in the Telluride band competition.
Rachel (vocals, five-string fiddle) has a powerful voice that has amazed audiences since she started singing with the band at age two. Jessie (vocals, mandolin, mandola, fiddle, banjo, guitar) displays her virtuosity and creativity on many instruments. Ryan (fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, vocals) shines in particular with his break-neck speed on the banjo, which he began playing at age ten. Brian (mandolin, vocals) and Connie (stand-up bass, vocals) are proud parents of this talented bunch. Connie also is the main songwriter for the band.
Run Boy Run
With a newly released EP, appearances at several major Arizona festivals, and a recent win at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Run Boy Run is rapidly growing to be a prevalent force in promoting the tradition of Bluegrass and Appalachian old-time in the Southwest. Their musical endeavors extend beyond their exploration of traditional music into territory first traversed by modern folk pioneers such as Nickel Creek and Crooked Still, groups credited in the folk world for their creation of a new wave of music--a music characterized by its unique hybridization of the old with the new.
With captivating three-part female harmony, masterful fiddle work by the two-time Arizona State Fiddle Champion, and roots in traditional, jazz, classical, and folk music, Run Boy Run succeeds in creating an innovative and distinctive sound through a tasteful and skillful melding of traditional music with a variety of contemporary musical traditions. The result is a vast and sublime musical landscape, wide as the Appalachian range, haunted by the melancholy tones of Van Zandt, and rich in earth that quakes with the music of Monroe. Run Boy Run features Matt Rolland (guitar, fiddle), Bekah Sandoval (vocals, guitar, fiddle), Grace Rolland (vocals, cello), Jesse Allen (bass) and Jen Sandoval (vocals, mandolin).
Muskellunge Bluegrass
Prior to moving to Flagstaff in 1998, Nolan McKelvey (guitar) performed at the Newport Folk Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival and other festivals across the U.S. Nolan has been referred to as "one of the best songwriters of the Southwest." Aaron Tyler (mandolin)has played in and around Arizona for over twenty years and was the state champion mandolinist at the Wickenberg Bleugrass Festival in 1998. His playing has been referred to as "adrenolin" for his unmatched speed and dexterity. Bass player, Tim Hogan has traveled the country with several nationally-known acts, including Acoustic Semi and the In-Betweens. Frank Dedera (banjo) has performed at festivals throughout the southwest.
Cocks o' the North
This strutting, aggressive, barnyard band takes its name from the tune of the same name.
Sam Bartlett, Claudio Buchwald (piano), Eric Schedler and Stefan Amidon (not pictured.) are an exceedingly tight musical quartet, playing the melodic gems from New England and Ireland that have lasted through the centuries. This is not sedate and dusty music of a folkloric dissertation or documentary, but alive, juicy music that insists that you grab a partner and dance, immediately, whether it be a waltz, a polka, or a contra dance. This is traditional music, old, but never more alive.
While the Cocks are a dance band, they love nothing more than to entertain a sitting audience with medleys of tunes from Celtic lands, seductive piano compositions, musical humor, and outrageous stunts. This is vaudeville and dance hall rolled into one.
The Knockabouts
Once upon a time in the little hamlet of Flagstaff, Arizona, John McGregor bought a bottle of Bushmills Irish Whiskey and dove in headfirst. Ordinarily, this would have been just another Tuesday afternoon. However, from this bottle of Bushmills, great inspiration was born. Thus began the journal of the Knockabouts, Arizona’s favorite Celtic pub band. Just like our founding beverage, the Knockabouts are the perfect blend of time-honored tradition, bawdy good taste, rowdy energy and smooth harmonies. The Knockabouts’ music brings the best of authentic traditional pub tunes, and blends them with a unique sound that can only come from a band that appreciates a good whiskey, the way the Knockabouts do. John McGregor (Irish whistle), Ron Barton (guitar, vocals), Jacquie McGregor (lead vocals, Irish flute), Kari Barton (fiddle), Julianne Layton (bodhran, djembe).
Zazu
This delightful trio represents a return to the wonderful and passionate music of Paris in the 1930s. The members of Zazu are Lake Aurich (guitar), Larry Czarnecki (guitar), and Steve Douglas (upright bass, guitar). Zazu has recently performed as part of the Art Walk in Tlaquepaque during Jazz on the Rocks festival week, at local concerts, private parties, Flagstaff Arboretum, JazzinAZ fundraiser at Kazimierz, Scottsdale, Cottonwood’s Old Town Theater for the Arts and for the Umbrella Foundation events at Hillside Center. Zazu appears regularly at the Flagstaff Wine Loft. Zazu is sometimes joined by violinists Allan Ames and Devon Bridgewater.
Backwater Opera
Backwater Opera is an award-winning chambergrass group that calls Denton, TX home. Their high-energy shows and classically infused music earned them first place at Pickin’ in the Pines Festival Band Contest, a finalist position at the Telluride Festival Band Contest, performances at the Florence Winter Folk Festival, the upcoming 35 Denton Conferette, and on KXAN news in Austin, TX. The band features Robert Sherwood on mandolin/vocals, August Dennis on Double Bass, Marisa Sherwood on Vocals/Guitar, and Carlo Canlas on Violin/vocals. Although the group's instrumentation may suggest bluegrass, the group strives to bring their classical roots into many different genres.
Tony Norris
The nephew of two of Bob Will's original Texas Playboys, Tony Norris grew up in ranching country in central Texas where he was raised on tales and cornbread. After several years of farming with horses in rural West Virginia, he moved to Rapid City, SD, where he shod horses on ranches in the Black Hills. In 1982, he moved to Flagstaff, where he lives today with his wife, Sue. Tony has been a fixture at cowboy poetry gatherings and music festivals, and continues to perform at festivals, museums, and schools, telling stories and singing songs about the traditions and people of the west. Tony has been instrumental in the Flagstaff traditional music scene for over 25 years.
Chuck Cheesman
Singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and children’s music educator, Chuck Cheesman leads a Jekyll/Hyde life as a recording artist, producing recordings of original music for both children and adults. The contemporary folk/rock CD Imagining Dancers (February 2011) has received airplay across the country on college, community, and internet radio stations including Pandora Online Radio. It was named the “favorite album” of 2011 by Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine. Dancing With No Shoes On (September 2011) is a more whimsical children’s release that maintains Chuck’s high standards of writing, musicianship, and production.
Cis Hinkle
Cis Hinkle has delighted contra and square dancers since 1985 with her skilled teaching, welcoming manner, playful enthusiasm, and masterful selection of dances. She is in great demand at music and dance festivals all over the US, England, and Denmark. When not on the road, Cis teaches t'ai chi classes in her native Atlanta, Georgia.
Tweeners
Entertainment between main stage acts are provided by our “tweener” acts. We hope you enjoy these short sets; please show these artists your appreciation. Check back shortly before the festival for a comlete list of tweener performers.
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Traditional Music Contact us at
(928) 525-1695
or PIPinfo@pickininthepines.org