Willie Nelson, The Avett Brothers, Sheryl Crow, Wilco, Lukas Nelson, Stephen Wilson Jr., Margo Price, Sierra Hull, Robert Randolph, Lily Meola, and Don Was

Born during the great American depression on 29 April 1933 in Abbott, Texas, Willie Hugh Nelson worked some odd jobs and had a short-lived college career at Baylor University until he left it all to pursue a music career. He caught his big break in 1961 when he signed with Liberty Records and by 1962 released his first record “…And Then I Wrote.” By the fall of 1964 Nelson moved to RCA records, released “Country Willie- His Own Songs” and joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1965. While some of his songs charted, Nelson was finding difficulty to fully stay afloat and from his frustration retired from music around 1972.

But that was not the end of Willie Nelson. He moved to Texas and the growing hippie music scene revived his love for singing. Playing songs inspired by all of his influences, he started to gain a following in Texas, eventually signing with Atlantic Records, becoming their very first country artist. By February 1973 he had started recording what was to be one of his most iconic records “Shotgun Willie.” The album didn’t do so well at first, and Nelson released one more album before moving labels again, this time to Columbia Records, a move that allowed him complete creative control. This change was exactly what he needed to “turn around” his music career, starting with the critically acclaimed “Red Headed Stranger” album; additionally it lent to the creation of the outlaw country genre, as it did not fit with the traditional country music standards.

The rest of the 70s he found himself with four albums reaching gold and platinum status, one of which was his first gospel album. And the 80s were just as successful with three Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Best Country Song and Best Male Country Vocal Performance. However in 1990 Nelson ran into some legal trouble with the IRS, allegedly owing over $30,000 in tax money. Luckily things worked out, with his lawyer getting a lowered payment and Nelson using the scenario as inspiration for an album he entitled “The IRS Tapes: Who’ll Buy My Memories?”

Even at the age of 81 Willie Nelson continues to thrive. He continues to put out new music, play for his fans and be active with Farm Aid, an activist movement he helped start to increase the awareness of the importance of family farms.

The groups beginnings can be traced back to the two brothers younger days, when they merged the separate bands they had formed at college and school to perform under the moniker “Nemo”. Whilst playing in the rock influenced Nemo and releasing three albums with them, the brothers started a side project focusing on acoustic music, eventually writing their first folk EP, the eponymous “Avett Bros.”, in 2000.

After the disbanding of Nemo, the Avetts, alongside new members Kwon and Crawford, decided to push on with their new band, and wrote and released their debut album “Country Was” in 2002, before embarking on their first tour together in the same year.

They were shortly picked up by local record label, Ramseur Records, and released their follow up album a year later, “A Carolina Jubilee”. This was the first glimpse of the Avett Brothers’ ability to blend their folk style with other genres, such as punk, pop and honky tonk.

The group released a further three studio albums with Ramseur between 2004 and 2007, before collaborating with legendary producer Rick Rubin, and subsequently signing with his American Recordings label.

It was with Rubin that the band really broke through into the mainstream, with their sixth effort, “I Love You and Love You” reaching number 16 in the US charts. The album was well received by critics, who appreciated their more polished sound, and after touring for a few years the band moved on to capitalise on their newfound fame, releasing the even more successful “The Carpenter” and “Magpie and the Dandelion” in 2012 and 2013.

As well as touring, the band has performed at the Grammy Awards and TV shows such as “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and their music has also been used as the soundtrack for many different movies such as “This is 40” and “Friday Night Lights”.

The daughter of a piano teacher and trumpet player, Sheryl Crow’s childhood was always musical and creative. While music has always been a part of the singer’s life, Sheryl Crow took a roundabout way to begin her journey as a solo artist. While in college, Crow taught music lessons to various students and after graduation she began writing jingles for various companies including McDonalds and Toyota.

Moving away from advertising, Sheryl Crow began working as a backing singer and toured with artists such as Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. Eventually Sheryl Crow’s song writing abilities were noticed and she was given the opportunity to write for artists such as Tina Turner and Celine Dion.

Sheryl Crow’s big solo breakthrough came in 1993 when she began playing with musician and songwriter Kevin Gilbert. The pair played with a group of other musicians and the collective played and promoted Sheryl’s songs. Eventually this turned into Sheryl Crow’s first album, “Tuesday Night Music Club”. The album took its time to pick up a following but the overnight success of the song “All I Wanna Do” catapulted the album to mainstream success after the track went to number two on the US Billboard chart.

This initial solo offering was so successful that it won Sheryl Crow three Grammy Awards and set the stage for her second Grammy Award winning album, “Sheryl Crow”. This second album, which was released in 1996, climbed to number six on the US Billboard charts and was eventually certified triple-platinum. Crow produced the album herself and the singles "If It Makes You Happy” and "Everyday Is a Winding Road" were both top ten hits for the singer.

Cheryl Crow’s subsequent six studio albums – “The Globe Sessions”, “C'mon, C'mon”, “Wildflower”, “Detours”, “100 Miles from Memphis” and “Feels Like Home” – were all top ten hits in the US and five of the six peaked within the top five spots. Her singles have found top 10 success all over the world and her global tours have attracted tens of thousands of fans.

Over the years Sheryl Crow has had the opportunity to work with artists such as Kid Rock, Michelle Branch, the Rolling Stones, Stevie Nicks and Tony Bennett, amongst others. A true talent and hard worker, Sheryl Crow will certainly continue to release unforgettable tracks for years to come.

Wilco has been influenced by a wide variety of musical styles including folk, rock, country, punk and experimental music and each album they make seems to reflect its unique influences. The band formed in 1994 and released their debut album “A.M.” just a year after their formation. “A.M” is the band’s most alternative country sounding album to date and songs like “Passenger Side” clearly convey the band’s influence of power pop bands like Big Star as well as country rock musicians like Neil Young and Gram Parsons.

The band’s second album “Being There” showed Wilco incorporating more experimental sounds into their music, which would continue throughout their career and would play a huge impact on their most critically acclaimed album “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”.

Not only was “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” a landmark album for Wilco that launched the band into the mainstream, but it was a landmark album for music history. Rolling Stone has labeled the album the third best album of the 2000’s and has included it on the list of top 500 albums of all time. Other publications have also highly praised the album such as Pitchfork who called it the fourth best album of the 2000’s. The album contains many of Wilco’s best songs to date including “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”, “War on War”, and “Jesus, Etc.” “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” is also relevant for being the last album that guitarist Jay Bennett would perform on and the first album that would include the drummer Glenn Kotche.

After the release of Wilco’s Grammy award wining album, “A Ghost Is Born”, they would stabilize their lineup with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone and avant-garde jazz guitarist Nels Cline. Although one might expect Wilco’s sound to become even more experimental with the addition of an avant-garde guitarist, in fact their next album “Sky Blue Sky” showed Wilco moving further away from experimentation and following a style that was deeply rooted in the folk and Americana genres, which conveyed inspiration from artists like The Byrds and Bob Dylan. The Grammy nominated album showed that Wilco could perfect the sound of ‘70s soft rock and broadened the diversity of Wilco’s audience.

Wilco continues to release high quality albums and have appeared on many notable television shows such as Late Show with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live. In their free time the band also enjoys working on their side projects. Jeff Tweedy has been involved with the band Loose Fur, which features Jim O’Rourke and Glenn Kotche, and is also involved in the band Tweedy with his son. Pat Sansone and John Stirratt have released several albums under their soft-rock band The Autumn Defense and Nels Cline is involved with his solo material.

Wilco has become one of America’s best regarded indie rock bands and their influence can be seen all over modern music from bands such as The National. They are also well regarded for their Solid Sound Festival, which they curate and headline. Wilco has already established themselves as legends and their music continues to keep critics and fans in complete awe.