2026 Performers
Billy Gunther
& The Midwest Riders
Full of drive and passion, the Midwest Riders launched in Flint Michigan and their inaugural show was opening for The Swon Brothers in 2019. After writing original material and touring, the Riders’ rapid success was slowed but not halted when the world shut down in 2020. Determined to stay engaged and active, they built their own home studio, immersed themselves creatively and a first album was born. “Countryish” was recorded at the legendary Sound Emporium Studios in 2020 in Nashville, TN with some of the best players in the industry. Inspired by the roots of Southern rock and country music, torn by the feel of funk and soul, the Riders are now working on their second studio album at Rust Belt Studios. Their talent and camaraderie continues to energize and mesmerize audiences from the midwest to the deep south.
Dan Hazlett
For more than 50 years, Dan Hazlett has performed and toured throughout the Midwest. His songs have been recorded by such luminaries as jazz great Kimmie Horne and country music star Bob Marshall. His ten previously released CDs have received airplay throughout the United States as well as internationally.
Dan achieved recognition for his songs as a winner in events such as the Great Lakes Songwriting Contest, Big Top Chautauqua Songwriting Contest, KRCL/Founders Title Folk and Bluegrass Festival, the Billboard Songwriting Competition, and has been nominated multiple times for Detroit Music Awards.
As a songwriting educator, Dan has been featured on the staff at the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts, Lamb’s Retreat for Songwriters, the Madison Songwriters Guild Retreat, the Alcona County Artists Retreat and the Wheatland Music Festival. He has been a guest on the syndicated radio programs River City Folk and the Mitch Album show, and had a song featured on Car Talk. He hosted his own folk radio show, Local Folks, at WXOU-FM for seven years. As a playwright, Dan authored and toured with the musical comedy “Tumbledown Town and is the co-author of a new musical entitled “Calling Winston.”
“Dan’s unique vocal styling is paired with excellent guitar playing and thoughtful lyrics. His guitar skills add a great dimension to the original, imaginative lyrics, coming together into a complete package of musicality.”
(Andrea Hill, Singer Magazine)
“Excellent songwriting . . . Dan has a way of keeping his audience in the palm of his hand . . . This is one of our favorite performers. We love his songs, we love his guitar playing, we love his performance.” (Craig Carrick, NorEast’r Music Festival Coordinator)
Mike Ward
Award-winning Detroit singer-songwriter Mike Ward is known for his lyrically-centric, vocally-charged folk songs. Born in the 50’s, he grew up through the conscious-raising 60’s, where a new awareness of the world was colliding around him (both good and bad). His influences range from Dylan to Prine to Jason Isbell.
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Mike has an intimate songwriting style that reflects family, community and the world around us. His fear of leaving this world without making a difference in the lives of others, is part of what drives him.”How can any of us rest with so much work to be done?”
Judy Banker
A longtime fixture on the Ann Arbor acoustic music scene (performing with Michigan folk legend Jay Stielstra for over a decade), Judy emerged as a solo artist and songwriter in 2014, releasing 4 well-received full-length albums since that time. Judy’s first release, Without You, a raw folk-country acoustic project, is at turns a celebratory and heart-wrenching ode to love and loss with the recent passing of her husband and lifetime musical partner, John Sayler. She went on to pen a dozen new songs for her acclaimed sophomore pure Americana release, Devils Never Cry (2016), a testament to love and life’s unexpected turns expressed with high lonesome dobro, fiddle, and close harmonies. In 2019 Judy released a single, “Blessed Be The Nation”, a poem written by Pete Seeger and Jim Mussleman in 1964 that had never been set to music. Judy composed music for the poem with the exclusive permission of the Seeger family estate to help spread the “people not profits” message of the poem via free downloads of the song (free download available on this site's "Pete Seeger Project" page.) Taking a quantum leap with her third studio album, Buffalo Motel (2020), Judy moved into expansive, atmospheric alt country/indie rock territory. Dubbed by Current Magazine (2020) “a big sounding record…a hybrid of Americana, folk-rock and tender balladry…momentous, and ruminative”.
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Judy has assembled an All Star group of Michigan artists who she performs and records with including multi-instrumentalist David Roof (who also is head recording engineer at his studio, Rooftop Recording, the home of all of Judy's recording projects) guitarist Tony Pace, percussionist Jim Latini, bassist John Sperendi, and pedal steel player Alan Pagliere. In November 2023, Judy released Bona Fide, her fourth studio album, which landed on a number of “best of” 2023 lists both regionally and in the U.K. Bona Fide also landed on the Americana charts within a a couple weeks post-release, wrapping up the year at #138. Radio stations both locally and from coast to coast have picked up Bona Fide. Recorded with her band and at David Roof's Rooftop Recording Studio, Grand Blanc, with her son, Ben Sayler, producer, Bona Fide has been dubbed Judy's “best record yet”, hitting even more refined, signature sonic territory, while Judy's songwriting continue to grapple lyrically with universal issues of when to stay and when to go, and what is love all about.
Keynote Sisters
Sisters Phoebe and Jaclyn, known as the Keynote Sisters, have been captivating audiences for over 10 years with their acoustic blend of pop, folk, and Americana. Hailing from Lake Orion, Michigan, they have graced stages across the Midwest bringing their signature knit-tight harmonies to life with guitar, keyboard, and cajon. In honor of their late grandmother Dr. May Ling Lie, the Keynote Sisters released their first CD of covers, Come What May (2016), with all proceeds benefiting the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund. Passionate about songwriting, they followed up with their first EP of original music, Rose Colored Glasses (2019), and their debut single "Done and Damned" (2021). The Keynote Sisters are currently in production for their debut album, set for release in 2025.
Michigan favorites Chris DuPont and Kylee Phillips met over a decade ago during a radio appearance for Ann Arbor’s 107.1 and became instant fans of one another. In the summer of 2021, after countless path crossings, Chris and Kylee finally learned each other’s material and discovered an incredible vocal blend and stage synergy.
Since then, the duo has performed at treasured venues like The Ark (Ann Arbor, MI) and Evanston Space (Chicago, IL), shared stages with artists like May Erlewine, Vienna Teng and Steve Poltz and appeared at many events around the midwest including the Ann Arbor Summer Festival (main stage 2024), Blissfest (2025) and Folk Alliance Regional Midwest (official showcase artist 2024).
They released “Big Sky Sessions” - their first EP as a duo - in the spring of 2024 with another EP set for release in late 2025.
Chris DuPont
& Kylie Phillips
Therewolf
Bio Coming Soon
Somewhere in mid-Michigan, as the final days of a long, dark December marched dutifully into the history books and a fresh new year waited hopefully in the wings, every star in the universe magically aligned to bring four award-winning singer-songwriters together to create the folk/Americana supergroup, The Lucky Nows.
Featuring renown singer-songwriter Jen Cass, the stunning work of harmonica legend Rosco Selley, and the vast and varied musical chops of multi-instrumentalists Eric Janetsky and Michael Robertson, The Lucky Nows have spent the last decade showcasing their stellar songwriting, exceptional musicianship, and intricate harmonies on some of the country’s most famous stages, from The Ark to Wheatland, and everywhere in between. The Lucky Nows have been honored to share the stage with many of our heros, and make it a point to extend opportunity and grace to new singer-songwriters at every step of our journey.
After the success of their first studio album, Rise, in 2018, The Lucky Nows worked hard to carefully craft a follow-up that would speak truth through music. Through their unique storytelling lens, the Lucky Nows shine a spotlight on important issues from death and dying, indigenous rights, love and acceptance for the LGBTQIA+ community, loneliness, losing faith, alzheimer's awareness and the pure joy of raising children to fly. Their much-anticipated sophomore release hit the airwaves in July 2024, immediately rising to #7 on the folk charts, with all 11 songs receiving airplay in markets all over the world. The Lucky Nows infuse their work with honesty, beauty and humor, welcoming their audiences to feel the full range of human emotion in every set they play.
If Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young gently collided with The Indigo Girls to create a musical lovechild who was raised by Jeffrey Foucault and Kris Delmhorst and frequently visited by the ghosts of Townes Van Zandt and The Carter Family, they would sound eerily similar to The Lucky Nows. Trust us.
The Lucky Nows
Bio Coming Soon
Dave Dalton
Mark Jewett is an insightful Michigan storyteller with listeners in over 60 countries. He writes songs that push the boundaries of Americana into an uncommon blend of folk, rock, blues, and prog rock. Throughout them, listeners can hear and feel his honesty, gratitude, and introspective thoughts, with healthy doses of humor and drama to vary the pace.
His songs betray the effort he makes to find just the right words, taking cues from the likes of Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, Randy Newman, and JD Souther. As a writer, he finds the lighter side of life easy to put to music, but writing about love, loss, and the road between them is harder to get right. Sonically, his tunes span the space between classic folk and epic soundscapes you might expect to hear from Pink Floyd. Somehow, it all fits together to provide an intriguing, self-contained variety show.
Mark Jewett
Writer, singer, and guitar slinger Michael Robertson has spent a lifetime chasing songs. Known to friends and peers as MFR, the Michigan native delivers songs that meet at the crossroads of hope and heartbreak, delivered with a nuanced perspective (OK maybe a little irony) about the unremarkable - yet universal - life experiences.
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A veteran of the road, Michael has toured with the various incarnations of the Robertson Brothers. His accomplished touch on the guitar has made him an in-demand sideman for some of Michigan’s most acclaimed songwriters like Drew Nelson, Amy Petty and Kyle Rasche.
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In 2016, MFR released his award-winning debut solo record “All My Stories”, followed 2 years later with “Moon Over Michigan”. Now making West Michigan his home, Michael continues pursuing his journey through song with the heart of a musician who knows the value of love and time.
Michael Robertson
"Two years ago, I told Michelle that I thought she had the gift. I am changing 'thought' to 'know.'"
– Tom Paxton
Michelle Held is a singer-songwriter whose music is heart-centered and deeply resonant. With a voice reminiscent of folk legends, she weaves poetic lyrics with soulful, genuine storytelling that captures the human experience. Her songs invite listeners into a space of warmth and authenticity, creating a timeless connection.
Caryn Rose of Detroit Metro Times writes, “Where Held emerges above the fray is not just the unique technical qualities of her vocal instrument, multi-textured and commanding, but also her emotional approach to the songs.” A three-time Honorable Mention recipient in the prestigious Telluride Troubadour Contest, Held continues to garner recognition for her artistry.