THE KENTUCKY HEADHUNTERS
The Kentucky Headhunters are a Grammy Award winning American country and southern rock from, you guessed it, Kentucky. The Headhunters have been kicking out energetic songs since 1989 and has released ten studio albums, three compilations, and twenty-three singles. Its highest-peaking single is a cover of the Don Gibson song "Oh Lonesome Me," which the band took to number eight on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in 1990. In addition, the band has won three Country Music Association awards, an Academy of Country Music award, and a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, won in 1990 for Pickin' on Nashville. LEARN MORE
PERT NEAR SANDSTONE
As longtime stewards of the modern stringband revival, Pert Near has a songcraft informed by the American folk tradition in a delivery of acoustic instrumentation. The songs themselves tell a different tale, lightly veiled as bluegrass while sneakily appeasing their inner desire for a more modern musical timbre. Their studio efforts have gradually strayed from the reliquary of common stringband selections. Anyone that knows this band is aware of their humor and levity, and that charm is never far from the surface. It is a central component of their expression and shared experience. The connectedness to community is at the core of Pert Near’s music and philosophy.
WHISKEY RIVER
From the early 1970’s to the mid 80’s, Whiskey River became a crowd favorite—packing clubs, ballrooms and concert venues with their foot-stompin’ faithful fans. Along with regional acts like Daisy Dillman, Whiskey River helped forge and define a Midwest brand of hard-driving country rock that still echoes today. Their mixture of well-crafted original songs and treatment of other artists’ material garnered them appearances with The Charlie Daniels Band, The Oak Ridge Boys, Elvin Bishop, Tanya Tucker, The Earl Scruggs Revue, Emmylou Harris, Hank Williams Jr. and many, many more. Whiskey River released albums in 1978 and 1980, the latter being recorded in Nashville with renowned musician and producer, Randy Scruggs, and were inducted into the Mid-America Music Hall of Fame in 2008.