NEW TO 2025: We’re thrilled to bring the FreshGrass Awards Band category to the 2025 FreshGrass | Bentonville at the Momentary! 5 finalists will perform in front of an esteemed panel of judges during the festival for cash prizes and a trip to Nashville to record at Compass Records. Stay tuned for more info. The … Continued
We’re thrilled to present brand new music created exclusively for this FreshGrass Commission World Premiere from Willi Carlisle! For folksinger Willi Carlisle, singing is healing. And by singing together, he believes we can begin to reckon with the inevitability of human suffering and grow in love. On his latest album, Critterland, Carlisle invites audiences to … Continued
La Doña is a solo artist, music educator, activist and cultural worker from San Francisco, CA. Born Cecilia Cassandra Peña-Govea, she began her career at age seven playing trumpet, strings and percussion in her family’s conjunto. She is a student, teacher and preservationist of Latinx traditional arts like corrido, bolero, cumbia, and mariachi. In her … Continued
Jesse Welles is a musician in a living tradition; whether he is canonized within his lifetime or without, he doesn’t much seem to care: he just keeps moving. Already an underground rock n roll influence, Welles disappeared and re-emerged a folk wordsmith; a quick witted bard on acoustic guitar, his voice reflecting a hard-sung existence, … Continued
Seun Kuti is the youngest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. He has spent most of his life preserving and extending his father’s political and musical legacy as the leader of his father’s former band Egypt 80. Kuti was born in early 1983. He showed interest in his father’s music from the age of five, … Continued
Rosanne Cash is a composer and singer-songwriter who has earned 4 Grammy Awards and 14 Grammy nominations, among numerous other accolades for songwriting and sound recordings. She is also an author, whose 2010 memoir Composed garnered widespread praise from critics and landed on The New YorkTimes bestseller list. In addition, she is a music community … Continued
Caitlin Canty Since the release of her critically-acclaimed Reckless Skyline in 2015, Caitlin Canty has put thousands of miles on her songs, circling through the U.S. and Europe. She warmed up stages for Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Milk Carton Kids and Josh Ritter. She recorded with longtime collaborators Darlingside and with Down Like Silver, her … Continued
Sister Sadie is a wildfire: raging hot bluegrass combined with breathtaking instrumental drive and awe-inspiring vocals. Comprised of original members Deanie Richardson (fiddle), Gena Britt (banjo & vocals) and newcomers Jaelee Roberts (guitar & vocals), Dani Flowers (guitar & vocals), and Maddie Dalton (acoustic bass & vocals), Sister Sadie has combined the varied talents of … Continued
Every year, the FreshGrass Foundation commissions artists to create new music to be premiered at one of our festivals. These premieres have become special, eagerly anticipated moments each year–but they’re also more than just an on-stage highlight, a chance to hear extraordinary new music that has never been performed in public before. The commissions are … Continued
Featuring… Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway Sister Sadie (JUST ADDED) New Dangerfield Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands Darol Anger & Bruce Molsky
