AJ Lee and Blue Summit made their first appearance in Santa Cruz in 2015. Led by singer, songwriter, and mandolinist, AJ Lee, the bluegrass band has performed all over the world, but finds home in California’s Bay Area. In 2019, they released their debut album, Like I Used To. Their second full length project, I’ll Come Back, came out August 2021 -  with national touring in support of the record ongoing.
   Unlike their first record, which featured experimentation with session musicians and electric instruments, the new project is a pure reflection of the live sound of the group, hearkening back to their acoustic roots. Each band member performs at their peak, and the variety of songs on the record caters to their broad fanbase. Certain tracks (“Put Your Head Down,” and “Faithful,”) fall more in the classic bluegrass realm of songwriting, while others (“Lemons and Tangerines,” and “I’ll Come Back,”) fall into that hard-to-define realm of acoustic Americana that blends mesmerizing lyricism and acoustic mastery.
   Although falling loosely under the bluegrass label, AJLBS generally plays sans banjo, with Sullivan Tuttle and Scott Gates on steel stringed acoustic guitars, AJ on mandolin, Jan Purat on fiddle, and Chad Bowen on upright bass - a configuration effectively used to create unique space and texture in the arrangements not as commonly found in the music of their peers.  Drawing from influences such as country, soul, swing, rock, and jam music, the band uses the lens of bluegrass as a vessel through which to express and explore the thread that binds and unifies all great music.
Members                    AJ Lee, lead vocals, mandolin
                                    Scott Gates, guitar
                                    Sullivan Tuttle, guitar
                                    Chad Bowen, bass
                                    Jan Purat, fiddle
 
Awards & Honors     NCBS Best Female Vocalist (2020, Nine-Time Winner)
                       Winfield National Flatpicking Contest, 2nd Place (2019)
Freshgrass Band Contest Winner (2019)
                                    NCBS Best Bluegrass Band (2020)
                                    NCBS Best Mandolin Player (2020)
                                    NCBS Best Guitar Player (2020)
                                    IBMA Momentum Vocalist of the Year (2019)

The sound of Wolf Jett will make you dance, sing, and possibly even howl! Its roots run deep through the soul and help heal the heaviness of life. Their music is a celebration of perseverance, infusing folk, blues and americana into what can only be described as "Cosmic Mountain Music.” Frontman Chris Jones (Scary Little Friends) was born in the south and raised in CA, His songs combine the best of both worlds to create a vibe that is fresh, yet immediately familiar to a broad audience. He is joined by long-time musical collaborator Jon Payne (Elliott Peck, The Painted Horses) on drums, Jeff Kissell (Marty O’Reilly and the OSO) on bass, Will Fourt (McCoy Tyler Band) on dobro/guitar and debuting Laura T. Lewis on vocals/percussion, while occasionally featuring Alex Jordan (Midnight North) on keys to boot.

Wolf Jett was conceived in late 2019 with the intent of bringing people together and putting smiles on their faces. Just prior to the release of their debut album (backed by 3 multi-state tours and various festival appearances) the world was brought to a screeching halt by pandemic. To adapt, they constructed an analog studio at Jon’s residence called “House on a Hill" in Boulder Creek California. Unfortunately, the CZU Lightning fires ripped through Big Basin State Park in August 2020, consuming the house and new studio along with it. Their story was featured in SF Chronicle, Oakland Tribune, San Jose Mercury, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Lookout Santa Cruz and Good Times. Seeing an opportunity to help their community heal, they recorded a breathtakingly emotional live video among the ashes and rubble of where House on a Hill once stood with the help of their friends the T Sisters. Their song "Garden of Pain" has since become a local favorite. 

Despite hardships, the band continued forward with the release of their self-titled debut album in 2021, which features key Bay Area musicians and friends James Deprato (Chuck Prophet), Stelth Ulvang (the Lumineers), Lorenzo Loera (the California Honeydrops), Eric Yates (Hot Buttered Rum), and Jan Purat (AJ Lee & Blue Summit). You can hear them online and on local radio stations KPIG and KBCZ in Santa Cruz.