When singer songwriter Mark Dvorak began his career in music he knew right away he’d be in it for the long haul. Thirty-five years later Mark is still writing, recording and on the road performing. “At this stage of the game,” said the singer from his home outside Chicago, Illinois, “I feel like I’m doing my best work.” The Chicago Tribune called him “masterful,” and the Fox Valley Folk Festival describes him as “a living archive of song and style.” In 2012 WFMT 98.7 fm Midnight Special host Rich Warren named him Chicago’s “official troubadour.” Mark has given concerts in almost all of the United States and has made visits to Finland, Canada and Ireland. To date he has released twenty albums of traditional, Americana and original song including 2020s acclaimed Let Love Go On and 2024s Live & Alone. Dvorak has won awards for children’s music, journalism and was honored in 2013 with the FARM Lantern Bearer Award from Folk Alliance International. In 2008 he received the Woodstock Folk Festival Lifetime Achievement Award.

Nationally acclaimed bluegrass multi-instrumentalist Chris Walz combines a joy of performing with a reverence for America’s musical story. Chris perfected his Scruggs-style banjo playing and guitar flatpicking at a young age as he diligently studied all his musical heroes from Pete Seeger to Mississippi John Hurt to Woody Guthrie to Dave Van Ronk. Whether it is his lightning speed on the banjo’s fretboard, his hard hitting grooves on the guitar or his tender melodic touch on the mandolin, Chris delivers a fulfilling performance. To top it off, Chris is an extraordinary singer, using his rich voice to buoy up a traditional ballad, a unique original composition, or a rousing ‘tear down the house’ bluegrass medley. His many years touring with bluegrass, Grammy nominated Special Consensus, honed his group and solo prowess. A natural born storyteller, Chris has a masterful presence as he weaves his songs and remembrances, one to the next, into a night of music that is not easily forgotten. Chris is a gifted and much sought after teacher at the historic Old Town School of Folk Music and spreads his knowledge and love of music in each community he plays in with well-polished workshops. A rare combination of past and present, Chris is playing music for the future.

Flo Estes is a gifted Chicago folk songwriter who finds her voice late in life, releasing her debut album, “Jolly On the Inside,” at 70. The Chicago Sun-Times says her music has a “a level of such sensitivity and delicacy that you can’t help but hang onto each and every word.”

Jonas Friddle is a singer, songwriter and Old-Time banjo player whose songs have received The John Lennon Songwriting Award, First Place in the Great American Song Contest and a nomination for Album of the Year in the Independent Music Awards.  His tunes bear the marks of a musician who has done his time in pub sessions and square dance halls, and his writing is full of imagery, honesty and humor. Friddle was raised in the mountains of North Carolina and learned to play guitar on a yard sale Harmony six string. He was already writing songs by the time he got to Kentucky at age eighteen. There, the bluegrass pickin’ and old-time dances turned him on to the power and joy of traditional folk music.  He added a mandolin, fiddle and banjo to his arsenal and got a job slapping bass with the college bluegrass band. After serving his time in higher education, he spent a year traveling around the world playing music in pubs and living rooms. In 2007 Jonas landed in Chicago, started the Barehand Jugband, the Sleepy Lou Old-Time duo and began teaching at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Since then he has released multiple studio albums under his own name and with the folk supergroup “The Majority.” During that time his music has won multiple awards and been featured online at American Songwriter, Huffington Post and Paste.   Recent years have brought Friddle’s focus back to songwriting and with the release of his latest album “The Last Place to Go” he puts out his best songs yet. A collection of sung stories backed by the sound of drums, fiddle, dobro, electric guitar, bass, organ and trumpet.  

 As a singer, actress, writer, and musician Anne Hills has continuously built a reputation of merit. During her career, she has received numerous honors including, most recently, the 2006 Pennsylvania Partner’s in the Arts Project Stream grant award (for the 2007 premiere of An Evening of James Whitcomb Riley). In 2005 she received the same grant for her premiere of The Heartsongs of Opal Whiteley. She was also the recipient of the WFMA 2002 Kate Wolf Memorial Award, and The Kerrville Music Foundation’s Outstanding Female Vocalist of the Year Award (1997). Her duet children’s recording, Never Grow Up, released in 1998 with Cindy Mangsen on Flying Fish Records, was chosen for the coveted Parents’ Choice Award. Her poetic work won her Second Place in theAtlanta Review’s 1999 International Poetry Contest and her work as lyricist with jazz-artist Peter Erskine was featured in a performance by choirs from around the world at a Hilliard Ensemble workshop in Germany. In 2001 she reunited with long-time friend Tom Paxton to release a long-awaited duet recording Under American Skies for Appleseed Recordings, which won a WAMMIE (Washington Area Music Award) for “best traditional folk recording” that year. This was soon followed by another collaborative debut, Fourtold (with Michael Smith, Steve Gilletteand Cindy Mangsen) in the spring of 2003. That same summer she participated in the final Pete Seeger compilation Seeds, and her lyrical work expanded into the UK folk scene, co-writing two tunes (including the title cut) with Bill Jones for her Two Year Winter (on Compass Records). Then, in January of 2004 Appleseed Recordings delighted fans with the release of an historic Chicago concert recording (engineered in 1985 by WFMT’s Rich Warren) of the group Best of Friends(Paxton, Gibson & Hills). Her 2006 recording, Beauty Attends: The Heartsongs of Opal Whiteley, was released by Collective Works, followed in summer of 2007 by Ef You Don’t Watch Out!: Anne Hills Sings the Poems of James Whitcomb Riley. Though collaborative work is the keystone in Anne’s career, it is her singing and interpretive gifts that have received the most attention. 1998 saw the release of Anne’s performances on two of the most talked about compilations of the year, placing her voice along side Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, The Roches, Ani DiFranco and The Indigo Girls on Where Have All the Flowers Gone? (The Songs of Pete Seeger) and What’s That I Hear? (The Songs of Phil Ochs). Other projects include the occasional tour withPriscilla Herdman and Cindy Mangsen (Voices of Winterin 1998, and At the Turning of the Year in 2000), which was featured in the arts section of the January 1998Sunday New York Times, and her performances with the legendary songwriter Michael Smith. Anne and Michael’s duet recording Paradise Lost and Found was released in the fall of 1999 on Redwing Music label. A year earlier, in the fall of 1998, Anne released Bittersweet Street also on Redwing Music. It was her ninth release, and the second album to highlight her own compositions. Covering such diverse subjects as the Civil War, alcoholism, a yard’s winter dreams, and exiled refugees, Anne continues to touch the heart with a poet’s evocative palette and a singer’s love of melody. Anne’s songwriting and the albums featuring her writing (Bittersweet Street and 1995’s Angle of the Light), have continued to win her new and ardent fans. In 1994, her song “Follow That Road” was chosen as the title cut for the 2nd Annual Martha’s Vineyard Songwriter’s Gathering recording on Rounder Records (produced by Christine Lavin). Anne was born in Moradabad, India, the third daughter of educational missionaries. Raised in Michigan, she attendedInterlochen Arts Academy where she formed her first folk trio. She was also the female vocalist with the Big Band that turned out future jazz greats Peter Erskine, Bob Mintzer and Chris Brubeck. She moved to Chicago’s fertile folk scene in 1976 and co-founded the folklore center Hogeye Music, still a force in the Chicago music scene. Her first three recordings, 1982’s The Panic is On (with Jan Burda, produced by Bob Gibson), 1984′s , Don’t Explain, and the “Chicago Folk” Christmas album, On This Day Earth Shall Ring, were released on her own Hogeye Records label. By 1983, she had joined forces with folk luminaries Tom Paxton and Bob Gibson to tour as a trio, while developing her own style of songwriting and performing. As Anne’s touring schedule and prominence grew, Flying Fish Records added Hogeye Records to their growing catalog. Shortly after the release of her second solo recording Woman of a Calm Heart (produced in Woodstock by Artie Traum and Scott Petito, featuring a duet with Livingston Taylor), Anne began her occasional but very fruitful musical partnership with Cindy Mangsen and Priscilla Herdman. This culminated in the first trio recording Voices (1990, Flying Fish). Anne followed the trio recording with October Child (1993), produced by jazz drummer and former classmate Peter Erskine (Weather Report, Yellowjackets). It features the songs of Michael Smith, arranged by Vince Mendoza and played by session masters Bob Mann, Jimmy Johnson, the late Carlos Vega, Jim Cox and soloist Paul McCandless. Cindy Mangsen and Anne collaborated on Never Grow Old(1994), a traditional music project that received an Honorable Mention in the Folk category of the Indie Awards (NAIRD, now AFIM). It garnered praise from the radio community, which was thrilled to have the collection of trios and quartets that included a star studded list of guests such as John Hartford, Tom Paxton, Laurie Lewis, and John Roberts and Tony Barrand doing turn-of-the-century folksongs. It caught the attention of All Things Considered host Noah Adams, who invited Anne, Cindy and Steve Gillette to share songs from the project for a special Thanksgiving segment on the syndicated NPR news program. On the heels of that recording, Anne released Angle of the Light (1995) on Flying Fish/Rounder. This was followed in 1997 by the trio recording Voices of Winter on Gadfly Records, (the title cut written by Anne) which appeared on many “best of the season lists” and played extensively on radio nation wide. Also that year, Anne came out with her first children’s book (illustrated by Michigan artist Liz Paxson) based on her song “Dreamcatcher.” Anne’s commitment to social justice (receiving a Masters Degree in Social Work with honors on Mother’s Day and recipient of the 2005 Polizzi Award for Dedication and Service in the Field of Social Work) and to children keeps her busy with benefit concerts and community service projects. In September of 1997, The Carole Robertson Center for Learning gave her its Award for Outstanding Service and Loyalty. Located in Chicago, the Center aids families and children in need and is named for the four girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham, Alabama Baptist church bombing. Earlier that year Anne had produced Part of the Village, the second in a series of benefit recordings (That Kind of Grace, released in 1995, being the first and done with friend David Roth). Both enlisted the help of a variety of fellow artists performing and contributing royalties and profits to the Center’s Vision Fund. Throughout her career, Anne has taken time to do occasional theater projects such as Quilters (Buffalo’s Studio Arena and Chicago’s Northlight, 1985-86), The Courtship of Carl Sandburg with Bob Gibson (in 1984 at Chicago’s Apollo and Northlight and Lansing’s Boarshead) and co-writing the music with Jay Ansill for, as well as performing in, Lovers (Philadelphia’s Arden Theater 1995). Scarlet Confessions (Victory Gardens Theater July 2002) and The Heartsongs of Opal Whiteley(a multi-media production) at The Maureen Stapleton Theater in Troy, NY September 2007. Anne resides in Bethlehem, PA with her husband Mark Moss, editor of Sing Out! Magazine, and their daughter Tamlyn.

Michael J. Miles, world-renowned banjo master, is releasing his eighth CD entitled American  Bach Revisited featuring J.S. Bach’s Cello Suites I and III, as well as Miles’ original  composition “Chicago Suite.” Accompanying Miles on the recording and in concert is Jill  Kaeding, one of Chicago’s finest cellists who has shared the stage with Ray Charles, Stevie  Wonder, Corky Siegel and many others.   Chicago Suite is a 5-movement musical portrait of the streets and alleys of the city that Miles  calls home including “Lower Wacker” & “Glenwood.” And a special surprise, for contrast, will  be a preview of guitar and cello arrangements of classic popular songs by Carole King,  Stephen Sondheim and others.       “Michael J. Miles beautifully renders Bach’s Cello Suites on steel-stringed banjo,  preserving the mellow warmth and noble soul of these timeless works. It’s a vibrant  album you’ll want to listen to again and again.”   - Jeremy Eichler, Chief Classical Music Critic for the Boston Globe  “These are not simplified arrangements, but rather note-for-note transcriptions of Bach's  complex scores, performed with outstanding taste and musicianship. Michael J. Miles can  arguably be considered today's best and most versatile practitioner of clawhammer style  banjo.” - Tim Jumper, author, musician, critic for Banjo Newsletter  “I am absolutely gobsmacked by this wonderful work of art! The performance of every selection  is impeccable. Michael's banjo playing and interpretation of these cello suites is stunning and  the interplay with superb cellist Jill Kaeding is quite tasteful and moving. Bravo Michael Miles!”   - Greg Cahill, Grammy Nominee & Founder of Special Consensus Bluegrass Band

Emily Haden Lee is a singer/songwriter and artist living in Chicago. She studied interior design, studio art and art history at Indiana University - where in the later years she picked up guitar and songwriting. This creative leap opened a profound emotional outlet for her as she discovered the power of expressing her own experiences through music. After working in interior design for 8 years, she decided to switch her focus to being a full time artist and musician. Her latest album is “The Woman I Would Be.”

Robin Bienemann is a singer and songwriter from Chicago. His wickedly funny and poignant original songs mix contemporary themes with old musical styles. He combines dry humor and sophisticated songwriting with a deep sense of history. At his musical core is a reverence for the guitar as an instrument to accompany songs and as a vessel to express the American psyche in all its strange beauty and complexity. Robin revels in the delicious history of Chicago music. He combines Blues, Jazz, Country and Latin music with fingerstyle guitar to create a playground for his lyrical musings on science, animals and the whole scope of human experience. His songs are poetic, comical and educational. A flow of images ranging from vampires, insects, dinosaurs, dodo birds, work and romance. Robin has shared the stage with Dan Hicks, Christine Lavin, Junior Brown & Southern Culture on the Skids. He performs regularly solo, with his trio, and as a duo with his wife Jenny Bienemann. With his duo Twang Bang, he toured the U.S. and Japan.  Jenny Bienemann is an award-winning poet, singer, songwriter, and visual artist with a mission to find the extraordinary in the everyday. With three critically acclaimed studio albums and two live albums, her music has underscored TV, film and theatre projects. She's offered classes at The Old Town School of Folk Music, Lamb's Retreat for Songwriters, and The Acorn Theatre.  She began a daily practice of taking photos and writing haiku. What started as a lark quickly evolved into Haiku Milieu, a movement of creativity and community.  Today, there are four Haiku Milieu books, and more than 450 new songs inspired by Haiku Milieu, written by artists from across the United States and a Sunday Morning Haiku Milieu email that reaches a global audience.

Rebecca started playing guitar at the age of 10. Since then, her aim has been to write the best songs she can. She studied classical guitar throughout high school, until she quit formal lessons and began to focus on her original tunes. For many years she performed solo as a singer/songwriter, but before long found herself leading a rock band, and more lately, an original soul band. Now you will hear her mostly solo, performing songs of love and heartbreak. A visual artist, Rebecca paints pictures with words and plays rhythmic, colorful progressions.

Jim Gary is a Chicago-area folk singer-songwriter known for his award-winning, witty lyrics and thoughtful storytelling. He is a Kerrville New Folk Finalist and draws inspiration from 1960s artists like Bob Dylan, James Taylor, and Gordon Lightfoot. Gary is a prolific musician who has released several albums of original material, showcasing a range of styles from folk ballads to country and light jazz. He lives in the Chicago area, has recorded a full album of Michael Smith songs (“I Wanna Be Like Mike”), among other recordings.