Hailing from Mississippi, Afton Wolfe has become a fixture in the East Nashville music scene over the last two decades. With his latest release – the 13-song album Ophiuchus – Afton has cemented his place among Nashville’s – and American music’s – most creative and artistic songsmiths. The album, which was released one-song-at-a-time and coordinated with the sun’s movement through the Zodiac, has garnered praise from fans and critics alike.  For the last few years, Wolfe’s output musically has been impressive in quantity – Petrionius’ Last Meal (EP 2021), Kings for Sale (LP 2022), Twenty-Three (EP 2023), The Harvest (EP 2023), appearing on Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney (alongside such luminaries as Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Townes Van Zandt, Willis Alan Ramsey, Mary Gauthier and more), and releasing cover collaborations on “Ooh La La” (with Cary Hudson) and “Dead Flowers” (with Jaimee Harris) – and quality, earning praise and acclaim worldwide: “Sentiments that linger well after the final notes fade away, a mood and mystique that are exceptionally affecting.” – American Songwriter “Wolfe stands among the country’s most valuable troubadours, blending Americana, blues, country, jazz, and rock into songs that reflect the full spectrum of life and beyond. Wolfe is the anti-pop star in the most treasured sense." – Glide Magazine   Regularly hosting, organizing, and/or performing at the annual Get Behind the Mule Tribute to Tom Waits and Benefit for Second Harvest, hosting various themed parties, like the Sad Songs Only Barbeque and the Idiot Box Halloween Party, appearing annually at the Tropic of Cancer Festival, alongside Andy Frasco & the U.N., The Mother Hips, Cordovas, Lettuce, John Craigie, Judy Blank, Courtney Santana, etc…, and touring the United States several times over, Wolfe has built a solid and loyal following that is constantly treated to new music.  Praise for Ophiuchus: “Ophiuchus is an album that believes music can be a signal flare, a prayer and a map all rolled into one.” – Mystic Sons “By far, Ophiuchus is Wolfe’s most definitive statement to date.” – Glide Magazine “Intimate and immediate, visceral and marinated in passionate emotions, Ophiuchus is at once simple, complex, and top-notch.” – Glide Magazine “A thoughtful and compelling collection that elevates sentiments to a higher plateau.” – Goldmine Magazine

Most mornings, Jonny Strykes wakes up in Vegas, married again to another gentle beauty, captivated by his trance-inducing 80s grooves and sonorous vocals. The annulment clerk Wanda has come to know him by name and could easily be annoyed his endless trysts but she digs the tunes and he always brings her a coffee when he comes in, so she keeps his CDs in a box on her desk to give away for the hopeless romantics that come in the door. You can always spot them.

Brian Wright is an American singer-songwriter from Waco, Texas. His debut album, Dog Ears was released in 2006, quickly followed by a sophomore effort, Bluebird in 2007. After signing with Sugar Hill Records, an American Bluegrass and Americana record label, Wright has recorded two more albums.

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Young Heart, Old Soul, the third album from roots-rock singer/songwriter Matthew Szlachetka, unfolds like the soundtrack to a cross-country road trip. Filled with heartland hooks, folk melo-dies, and searing electric guitar, these songs draw a line between Los Angeles — where Szlachetka lived for years, soaking up the warm harmonies and jangling riffs of the city's folk-rock icons — and his new home in Nashville, TN, the epicenter of modern-day Americana. It was listed as a Top 10 Album of 2022 by Magnet Magazine.  For the past half-decade, he's been building his audience show-by-show, touring for more than 200 days a year while earning praise from outlets like Rolling Stone Country, who hailed him as one of the “10 New Artists You Need to Know” based on his catalog of "road-dog roots-rockers and Americana ballads." Young Heart, Old Soul finds him in transit once again, writing songs about a country torn apart by politics yet united by a common spirit. Produced by Scott Underwood, the Grammy-winning co-founder of TRAIN, and largely recorded at Nashville's legendary Blackbird Studios, Young Heart, Old Soul offers its own version of ampli-fied Americana music. Unlike the two albums that came before it, though, Young Heart, Old Soul is also a record about home — the homes we leave behind, the homes we temporarily visit, and the homes we build with others. Maybe that's why these 11 songs feel so grounded. After all, Szlachetka — whose self-made success includes high-profile shows alongside Brandi Carlile, Mike Campbell, Chris Isaak and Blackberry Smoke's Charlie Starr and Benji Shanks, Jeff Trott (Sheryl Crow), Audley Freed (Sheryl Crow, The Black Crowes, Cry Of Love), Kevin Kinney (Drivin’ & Cryin’); regular appearances on SiriusXM's Tom Petty Radio; and his own DittyTV program, Vinyl Recipes, which combines his love for music, cooking, and cocktails — isn't running anymore. Instead, he's finally arrived.

In 1999, Justin arrived in Nashville and quickly found a home playing drums and touring the country with various musicians in the jam band scene. The hard work of traveling and honing skills on the road was highlighted with a show featuring  Mike Gordon of Phish and a profile in Modern Drummer’s (April, 2004) “On The Move” column. In 2007, the touring continued when Justin landed the gig with with alt-country guit-steel legend Junior Brown. After years of touring, Justin shifted focus to developing a career in Nashville and quickly became first call for many of Nashville’s finest players and songwriters including Paul Burch, Tim Carroll, Fats Kaplin, Jon Byrd, Charles Butler and the late, great David Olney. In addition, Justin has performed and recorded with Jim Lauderdale (Late Night with Conan O’Brien), Laura Cantrell, Michelle Wright, The Wild Iris Brass Band feat. Jeff Coffin, Dennis Crouch, Milan Miller, Mike Farris, Layton Howerton, Tommy Womack, Chris West and many more. Justin maintains an active performing and recording schedule working at some of Nashville’s most prestigious studios like Blackbird, Creative Workshop and the Hen House as well as venues like The Bluebird, The 5Spot, The Exit/In and Roberts Western World.

Irakli Gabriel is a Georgian-American Nashville musician, guitarist, songwriter, producer, and filmmaker who is active in the Americana/alternative music scene.

“Do I keep living/Or do I keep giving/My heart and soul away?” Listening to Courtney Santana belt out the refrain to the title track, “Living Through It All,” on her debut solo album for Jesse Dayton’s Hardcharger Records label through Blue Elan, you realize she just answered that question once and for all. The lifelong backup singer became a fixture in her current hometown of Austin, Texas performing with Jesse Dayton as well as Kevin Russell’s local supergroup Shinyribs, after contributing her vocal talents to more than 30 albums while sharing the stage with the likes of Hootie and the Blowfish, Robert Randolph, Salt-N-Pepa and Musiq Soulchild. That eclectic background has allowed her to develop a voice that fits snugly under the Americana umbrella, alternating between Aretha Franklin’s gospel heights (“Hardcore Believer”), Tina Turner’s defiant rock (“Living Through It All”), Whitney Houston’s multi-octave range (“Holding My Own”), the husky psychedelia of Grace Slick (“Fastest Way to a Broken Heart”) and the soaring “Gimme Shelter” peak of Stones back-up vocalist Merry Clayton (“Living Through It All”).

ZG Smith is the Los Angeles-born, Nashville-based son of an English professor mother and a shipwreck diver and underwater archaeologist father. For over ten years, he fronted the band Smooth Hound Smith who headlined tours in the US, Europe, and the UK and supported artists like The Chicks, Collective Soul, Trombone Shorty, Jamestown Revival, and many more. Following the release of their third album in 2019 and a month-long European tour in February 2020, the band’s eventual hiatus caused Smith to refocus towards other artistic pursuits. “I started seeking out music again like I did when I was younger. I realized that I had been so focused on Smooth Hound Smith and had been trying to push the band forward, that I stopped listening to music just for enjoyment. Because of the pandemic, I had time, so I dug a massive hole in my backyard, leveled it off, and laid a patio of over 1,200 bricks, all by hand. It took me about a month. I would just be out there all day in the sun listening to North African desert blues, EDM, ‘90s hip hop, or bizarre, outsider folk music. A lot of that stuff really informed the music I ended up creating months later.”

Nikki Barber is a Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for her soulful, honest approach to rock, blues, and Americana. Originally from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Barber moved to Nashville to pursue music and went on to form the psychedelic rock band The Minks in 2015. As the frontwoman of The Minks, Barber has built a reputation for high-energy performances and a sound that blends gritty rock & roll, blues, psychedelic influences, and Southern roots. The band has released albums including Light & Sweet and Creatures of Culture. Beyond The Minks, Barber performs as a solo artist, bringing a more mellow, soulful side of her songwriting to the stage. Her music is rooted in honesty, hope, and connection, with a style that reflects her love for rock, folk, country, and blues.

When Brandy Zdan put the final touches on her third solo album, Falcon, she realized it captured a larger snapshot of her life than she ever intended to share. Equal parts proud and surprised, she sat down to pen a brief description in hopes of explaining how she got there. “Falcon is my story of the last two years,” she wrote. “A story of miscarriage, loss, grief, pregnancy, motherhood, trauma, isolation, depression, hope, and love. I gave birth in a pandemic, became a mother in isolation, pressed pause on my career, lost my livelihood, battled postpartum depression, and faced some of the darkest moments of life. Grand plans of big producers and fancy studios fell away, and I had to figure out a way of telling my story on my own.”   What happened next changed Zdan’s perspective on her album. When she shared the Falcon summary with a few collegues and friends to hear their thoughts, a trend emerged. All of the men told her it was incredibly heavy. All of the women told her it was deeply inspiring. To Zdan, the reasons why couldn’t be more obvious.   “Everyone talks about being vulnerable, but there’s something different about this. This is the type of shit women aren’t supposed to be vocal about,” says Zdan. “I wanted to express all of those tangled feelings, and I hope that it encourages other women to express their grief and loneliness in whatever ways they choose. It’s a stigma that needs to end, and now that I’ve broken that barrier in my own life I want to help others experience what a freeing place it can be.”   In many ways, Falcon was a long time coming for Zdan, even if she didn’t know it. For the past decade, Zdan—a lifelong Canadian who moved to Austin, Texas in 2011 before relocating to Nashville, Tennessee in 2014—has been working in the US under a strict artist visa. She eventually found herself growing exhausted while touring in support of her 2018 sophomore album Secretear. “I was questioning myself as an artist and the endless years that I’ve been on the road pursuing what I do, making art, and feeling like it wasn’t giving me what I wanted it to be giving me anymore,” she explains. Suddenly, Zdan learned she was in the midst of her first pregnancy and needed to put the concerts on hold, marking the first time in a decade that she had ever done so. Instead of getting to enjoy her time off, Zdan was catapulted into the most formative experiences imaginable—the heavy grief of a miscarriage, the isolation of becoming a new mother in a pandemic, the unexpected realities of dealing with postpartum depression—during the past year. So she did what any great songwriter would do: she wrote her way through it.    Essentially organized into three loose chapters chronologizing those moments, Falcon is a nine-song LP that finds Zdan grappling with the darkest lows of life through an inspiring and realistic lens. With the guidance of Patti Smith, Neil Young and above all Daniel Lanois serving as primary influences, Zdan expands her indie rock sound into an intuitive world of blues, folk pop, and sweeping harmonies. Creative touches like pedal steel and double-tracked vocals add texture throughout, though arguably the best addition is her brilliant use of layered guitar parts.    “It’s almost like this warm blanket,” she says of her guitar layers. “I can do all sorts of tricks on guitar, but that’s the one I enjoy the most because it’s highly emotive in the most possible way. There’s so much feeling in big guitar swells, and I wanted people to understand that these songs are about intense subjects, but they can still find comfort within the music itself.”   Those soundscapes demand your attention from the start of Falcon thanks to opener “Dying Inside,” which sounds like a sunset-cloaked desert on a warm night. It’s intimate yet massive, and a perfect introduction for what follows suit afterwards. “The Worst Thing” sees Zdan wielding her electric guitar like a sword in a way that recalls the most determined Feist songs, all while addressing the culture norm of remaining silent about the tragic events that happen to women’s bodies. Then comes “Falcon’s Wing” which sees her ruminating on the intensity of pregnancy loss with rousing rock riffs that double as a call to arms. Even later on, during the slow-burning “Can You Be Alone,” she whips up gorgeous harmonizing guitar solos that boast an effortless pop hook. “By the way, I wrote that one way before the pandemic,” she laughs. “Turns out the question of whether you can be comfortable in your solitude has always been lingering around.”   By far the most impressive part of Falcon is the fact that Zdan not only wrote, played, and produced the entire album, but she engineered it by herself, too. After years of producing songs for other artists, she decided to finally attend an audio engineering class at night to fill in her formal educational gaps. During two-hour windows while her baby napped, Zdan recorded these songs in her tiny laundry room, laying down multiple takes, with new equipment she bought for the occasion. You would never be able to tell. Each track is unbelievably massive, and songs like “Everyone Wants” and “Canceleer” sound like they were recorded in top-tier studios. Zdan’s soundscapes draw out the subtle details of her instruments and melodies, almost akin to how a professional photographer can accurately capture the jaw-dropping beauty of nature.   “Too many times as women in the industry, we won’t call ourselves what we are until we are overqualified to do so. A dude who has 50% of the experience will say what he is no problem,” she says. “I’m making a specific effort to say, ‘Yes, I am all of these things.’ I may not have formal training on large consoles in huge studios, but I made all of these songs sound the exact way I wanted them to sound in real time with limited tools. I didn’t just self-produce a record. I am an engineer.”   It’s not the hardship that Falcon blossomed from that sticks with you after listening to the album, but rather the unique liberation of disclosure it provides. That’s part of the reason why Zdan chose to name it Falcon in the first place. After flirting with the idea of calling it life/death/life, a reference to the cyclical nature of her experiences, Zdan instead took note of the symbolism surrounding her. While grappling with her miscarriage, she experienced a vision of a spirit floating up to the sky on a falcon’s wing. Shortly afterwards, she started to see a falcon fly throughout her neighborhood. Then, the week before her daughter was born, that falcon returned to perch on her property. The bird felt like an obvious icon for what her album stood for: strength despite size, gentle tenacity, and an ability to soar through the roughest weather. Listening to Falcon, those themes of perseverance and understated courage not only come through, but are so effective that it feels like you’re sitting there next to Zdan while she plays the album, recognizing those very traits within yourself and becoming part of a community that refuses to stay silent. “This album is a victory to overcoming almost every obstacle that can be thrown at a woman, mother, and musician,” she says, “and coming out on the other side intact and better for it.”   Suggested Boiler Plate: Written during the throes of a miscarriage, a pregnancy, a pandemic, depression, hope, and love, Falcon is as much an album about life’s lowest moments as it is a record of collective liberation. On her third full-length solo LP, Nashville-based musician Brandy Zdan addresses the traditionally hushed struggles women endure with rock riffs, folk pop, and open-ended soundscapes. Zdan not only wrote, played, and produced the album, but she engineered it too. Recording these songs in her tiny laundry room during the two-hour windows while her baby napped. Listening to Falcon, those themes of perseverance and understated courage not only come through, but are so effective that it feels like you’re sitting there next to Zdan while she plays these songs, recognizing those very traits within yourself and becoming part of a community that refuses to stay silent. “This album is a victory to overcoming almost every obstacle that can be thrown at a woman, mother, and musician,” she says, “and coming out on the other side intact and better for it.”

Maisy Owen, a Nashville native, has been surrounded by music and the art  of songcraft just about all her life. First came the viola at the age of 9, then  guitar where she embraced fingerpicking under the guidance of the late David Olney. Her father Gwil Owen is an Academy Award-nominated  songwriter.  “Drawing on the moody intimacy of Nick Drake, the folk finesse of Bert  Jansch and the hazy dream-pop glow of Mazzy Star, she’s carving out a  sound all her own” – KCRW Santa Monica, CA   Maisy’s unique sound, musical truth and stirring vocals inhabit Dark On A  Sunny Day, her debut album, produced by Robin Eaton. It will be released  in the Spring of 2026 on Tompkins Square Records.   Drawn to melancholic melodies and dark poetic imagery, her first single  “My Youth Is All For You” was released as a 7” and gave Maisy a chance to  explore her visual side/love for abandoned houses with an accompanying video. Her second single, “On My Way Down” was recently featured as  KCRW’s “Today’s Top Tune.” Simply put, Maisy is a singular talent and one  worth watching. 

Raised in North Carolina, Brooklyn-based Americana crooner Kevin Daniel is set on making NYC a destination for Nashville sounds. The songwriter and multi-instrumentalist brings southern rock, gospel, and blues to barrooms of Brooklyn and beyond. But Daniel wasn’t always chasing his dreams. In the winter of 2013, during a dinner party in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Kevin received a phone call from his sister that would change everything. His mother and stepfather, adventure-seekers and amateur pilots, had been flying back from their mountain house in western North Carolina when their plane had crashed, killing both of them. Daniel’s life was turned upside down, his family torn apart and the world forever changed. During his return to North Carolina to help with family business, and while reliving his parent’s lives through photos, essays, and family stories, Kevin wrote over a dozen songs, all fueled by the grief of losing his parents as well as the celebration of the large lives they were known for. From those songs six were chosen to record, including one written specifically for Kevin’s parent’s memorial service. The result of those recordings was FLY, Kevin Daniel’s inaugural EP. The six-song project was recorded in 2014 in Brooklyn and embodies the depth of Daniel’s emotions during a time of supreme distress. Southern sounds of banjo and country-loving three-part harmonies were backed by rock riffs and pop lyrics, which spoke true to life and the celebration of living. “I always knew I wanted to record my own music, and a life spent being in other people’s bands had prepared me to lead my own, both in the studio and on the stage. It was losing my parents that gave me the kick in the ass to finally do it”, says Daniel. The EP is available on all digital outlets as well as on 12-inch opaque blue vinyl. In 2018 Kevin Daniel finished his second EP, Myself Through You, recorded at Degraw Sound in Brooklyn, NY, and produced, engineered, and mixed by Ben Rice. Kevin gathered together a host of talented, professional musicians from all backgrounds for the project, which resulted in a richly recorded blend of genres and instruments. “When I started thinking about this EP, I knew I wanted to get some of the best musicians I know in the studio. With Ben’s help we created a space where people could come in, lay down their own version of the parts, and create something unique to them as well as the record,” says Kevin. Featuring instrumentation as diverse as pedal steel guitar, flugelhorn, and bluegrass banjo, the songs on Myself Through You deliver sublime lamentations of the country-tinged Americana Daniel has created over the last few years. The EP’s title track Myself Through You’ is Daniel’s attempt to take a subjective look at his own life. “I often find myself trying to take a step back and see life from someone else’s eyes,” says Kevin. “This song came into being at a time where I was really struggling to understand someone else’s point of view. I think we all struggle with that daily.” Kevin followed up his sophomore release with his first full length LP, ‘Things I Don’t See’. The 11-song album brings together some of New York state’s most talented musicians and producers, including Anthony Krizan (Spin Doctors), The Restless Age, John LeDeau (The National Reserve), and Kenny Siegel (Old Soul Studios). The album has taken Kevin all over the US and UK, touring both solo and with a full band, gaining global radio spins through tunes like “Used To Be”, “Pour Me A Drink”, and “Time To Rise”. Americana Highways Magazine says “Things I Don’t See showcases Daniel’s fluid ability as a songwriter to seamlessly incorporate bits of rock, soul, country, blues, roots, and Appalachia into his thoughtful examination of pain and awakenings, visceral and spiritual.” Kevin Daniel continues to tour, obtaining official selections from Mountain Jam, SxSW, Celebrate Fairfax, The ListeningRoom Festival, and more.

Amanda Raye's style is a rich blend of roots pop with jazz and country undertones. Her original songs embody the sum of her life experiences and allow a powerful expression of emotion to which anyone can relate. She is also blazing a path with a unique sound and interpretations of familiar songs. Combining the two, along with her band, her live performances are a sight to be seen and heard.

Suzanne “Suzie” Elizabeth Chism is a popular American recording artist/actress known for her craftswomanship in songwriting, musicality+production, and fashion. After studying vocal performance at the University of Nevada Reno, Suzie moved to Nashville in 2010 to be nearer to brief collaborator and 90’s hitmaker Edwin McCain. Although this duet-style project was short-lived, it put Suzie in the right-place-at-the-right-time to become the punchline to a real-life “a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead walk into a bar” scenario when Moseley, her three piece all-female rock band, was established in 2013. During her time in Moseley, who recorded their never-released debut album with production giant Jay Joyce, Suzie became the live guitarist for Canadian pop star FeFe Dobson, touring internationally with the American rap sensation, Yelawolf. After the disbanding of Moseley (and a quick phase recording and performing under the moniker SUP, or Suzie Under Pressure,) Chism relocated to Los Angeles in 2018 where she spent two years studying sound engineering and fashion in preparation for her solo debut, the full-length DIY home recordings titled Where, recorded and performed almost entirely on her own and featuring additional mixing/engineering by Zack Pancoast (Kacey Musgraves, Karen Elson), Eddie Spear (‘A Star Is Born’, Sierra Ferrell ‘Trail of Flowers’, Brandi Carlile), and Paul Cossette (Sturgill Simpson, The Head & The Heart, FIDLAR). Now back in Tennessee, Suzie has released her second “closet” full-length record 'Pobrecita' with nine genre-jumping tracks that, although again are mostly recorded and performed by Chism at home during the pandemic and mixed by Zack Pancoast, feature guest players Fred Eltringham (Sheryl Crow, Kurt Vile), Timothy Deaux (Kings Of Leon, Grace Potter), and Jesse Stern (Gloria Gaynor, George Clinton). Recorded in both LA and Nashville at Suz Suz Studios, ’POBRECITA’ is available everywhere now and has been compared to everyone from Joni Mitchell to Iggy Pop.

Sax, flute, clarinet, guitar, songwriter