ASHLEIGH CAUDILL

Celebrated folksinger, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Ashleigh Caudill, exemplifies one of the most exciting musical trends to be heard today. That is, traditional roots music with a new spin, a different take on the themes and sounds that have shaped American music past. She has a sense of style that is unique and beyond categorization. Her songs are constructed with an architect's touch and her performances hum with an excitement in the crisp arrangements that lift each song.

Caudill resides in Nashville, Tennessee where in addition to her renown as a bassist she is gaining recognition for her songwriting prowess. She has made the finals of Merlfest's Chris Austin Songwriting Contest three times and some top bluegrass bands have found her material. One of her tunes, Row By Row, was recorded on Balsam Range's IBMA album of the year, Papertown, topped the Bluegrass Gospel Charts summer 2013 and was nominated for IBMA's Gospel Recorded Event Of The Year.

Notable achievements: Balsam Range’s IBMA Album Of The Year, Papertown, featured Caudill’s tune “Row by Row”

“Row by Row” was also nominated for IBMA’s Gospel Performance Of The Year

Three time finalist at Merlefest’s Chris Austin Songwriting Contest

First place North Carolina Mountain State Fair for bass and vocals

Performance highlights include: performing live on XM radio, Joe Val Bluegrass Festival, The Kennedy Center, Bluegrass Underground, Carnegie Hall, The Grand Ole Opry, and Music City Roots

JAY BROWN

Jay Brown, grew up in Pittsburgh, and started playing in local bands at 14. In the early ‘70’s, Jay noticed “no one was guarding I-79 SOUTH”, so he decided to “jump on, to see where it went.” Once he got to Atlanta, it wasn’t long before Jay became a weekly singer/songwriter on ‘The Clay Plaza Jamboree” with Wes Tucker and friends. During a quick trip to Nashville in 1975, Jay was signed to a single song deal, with L.S.I., a Patsy Bruce Co. and that was it.. After a serious auto accident, Jay moved to FL, in 1989 to rehab.

In the 90’s, Jay’s band, (ALIEN BUBBAS), shared the Bill with Blood, Sweat and Tears, and EEK-a- Mouse at the Pensacola Spring Fests, and other time honored Pensacola locations. Jay has had songs recorded by, Gulf Coast Artists, Ronny Miller, Kyle Parker and Jennifer Del Gallo. Jay also has a song on Nashville Based Artist, Eric Heatherly's, "Goats of Kudzu" CD, and a cut on a new project by Texas artist Ben Rush. When not touring, you can catch Jay in the Nashville area, performing, as a solo artist, and also with his band, Jay Brown & The Dudes.

GREG CROWE

Raised in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Greg Crowe brings a compelling blend of blues, rock, and country to Music City. Crowe's successes as a songwriter include writing "Lonely and Gone" for Montgomery Gentry, "Little Did I Know" for Sammy Kershaw, "Don't Send The Invitation" for Adam Gregory, Adam's new single "What It Takes," and two cuts on the forthcoming Lonestar record. He also wrote, sang, and produced the official song for The Tennessee Titans Radio Network, "We're Fired Up," and was nominated as a producer for the European country music album of the year.

Gary Baker earned a Grammy for the smash hit “I Swear,” which he co-wrote with Frank J. Myers. The song was number one on the country charts and crossed over to the number one spot on the pop charts. Baker co-wrote “I’m Already There,” which also hit number one on the country charts before crossing over to the top five on the pop charts.

His first major songwriting success was with “Once Upon a Lifetime,” which was performed by the group “Alabama” and soared to the number one on country charts. Through the years he has penned hit songs for numerous other artists including the Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees and Reba McEntire. His songs have been featured in numerous high-profile television show and movie soundtracks.

He has produced many records, including the Backstreet Boys greatest hits album. 

He launched his career in Muscle Shoals with the famed LeBlanc Carr Band, performing on their top 10 hit named “Falling.” He wrote and recorded with several artists ranging from Mac Davis to Marie Osmond before becoming a member of the “Shooters, a hit country act from Muscle Shoals. He also wrote the hit I’m Already There for Lonestar. It spent six weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. The song was the band's seventh Number One.

Eric Erdman is a guitar slinging troubadour. His lyrics paint stories that are introspective and deep, quirky but palatable. His songs have fresh hooks that somehow draw listeners in like old friends.

Eric has penned the theme song for “Drag Race High”, released 9 studio albums and 7 live albums. He is the 13X (2010-2022) Lagniappe Awards Solo Musician of the Year, 2021 Southland Music Line Musician of the Year, 2021 TRMA Songwriter of the year and co-wrote the 2021 TRMA Song of the Year, “The Wave”, and his current album “Enough” hit the TOP 20 on the iTunes Country album chart. 

Most recently, Eric was awarded the Troprock Music Awards “Songwriter of the Year”, “Male Vocalist of the Year” and a song he helped write, Family Tree, was awarded “Single of the Year”.

Dreyer debuted in 2012 with the singles "Guy's Girl" and "Confessions", both of which charted on Hot Country Songs. She also wrote "Home Alone Tonight" was recorded by country music artist Luke Bryan as a duet with Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town for his fifth studio album, Kill the Lights (2015). The song was performed on the American Music Awards and followed with a multi-week number 1 single.

In early 2013, Deyer released her third single, "Half Broke Horses". Dreyer's debut album, I Am Jaida Dreyer, was released on February 26, 2013. Dreyer wrote nine songs for the ABC's television musical drama, Nashville. "Dreams" was performed by Hayden Panettiere's character Julliette Barnes and "This Town" performed by Clare Bowen's character Scarlett O'Connor.

She competed as a contestant on the USA Network's Real Country show in 2018, and was crowned the winner of its inaugural season.

Even though Austin Moody was writing songs at 15, the musician from East Tennessee never thought he’d make his living chasing that dream. Already enrolled into the JROTC with a private pilot’s license under his belt, the young man who grew up on a family farm believed his future was in the Air Force.Trips to Nashville to write clouded the waters of well-intentioned plans. The Air Force was left behind.

Legendary producer Keith Stegall was attracted to the roots of Moody’s writing. Iconic songwriter (and multiple CMA Musician of the Year) Mac MacAnally responded to the honesty of the young 20-something’s writing. Together the pair agreed to go to Muscle Shoals to record with the core of Moody’s road band, plus Highway 101 lynchpin Cactus Moser on drums and session vet/Jeff King in the band. His latest project was his extremely popular hit Ride Like Hank.

Dave Gibson is an American country songwriter. He was born in El Dorado, Arkansas, raised in Odessa Texas and moved to Nashville in 1982. He has  written or co-wrote the following songs:

Alabama: Jukebox in My Mind, Larry Boone: Don’t Give Candy to a Stranger, Confederate Railroad: Queen of Memphis and Daddy Never was the Cadillac Kind, Joe Diffie: Ships that Don’t Come In Gibson/Miller Band: High Rollin, Texas Tattoo, Red, White, and Blue Collar, Stone Cold Country, James House: That'll Be the Last Thing, Montgomery Gentry: Lonely and Gone, Southern Pacific: Honey I Dare You and All Is Lost. Pam Tillis: Do you Know Where your Man is, Tanya Tucker: If it Don’t Come Easy, Conway Twitty: House on Old Lonesome Road and Steve Wariner: Midnight Fire, Don’t You Give Up on Love and Heart Trouble.

BOBBY KEEL

Songwriter’s Hall of Fame nominated singer/songwriter, Bobby Keel has earned 14 Gold and 12 Platinum records for songs recorded by artists such as Hank Williams Jr., David Allan Coe, Confederate Railroad, Travis Tritt, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Albert King, The Carter Family, Moe Bandy, Tammy Wynette, Tom Jones and many more.

Bobby has also been heavily involved in historical projects including writing and performing on the first album ever recorded in the Alamo in San Antonio and the award winning Songs and Tales of the Old Chisholm Trail. Bobby is an avid golfer with a single digit handicap. Known as a Travis Style guitarist Bobby often amazes audiences with his blazing speed and classical influenced music.

THOM SCHUYLER

Thom Schuyler has, like many others, written of trains, cars, houses and love beautiful and busted. He also wrote a Top 10 country hit that became an anthem for the music industry, a song about life along Music Row called "16th Avenue."
The street is still one-way, and lives are still changed there, and Schuyler's depiction of the understated romance of a songwriter's life still rings true. Schuyler was writing what he knew, having scuffled for years in various non-romantic positions (framer, bus boy, carpenter, etc.) before signing a publishing contract in 1981 with Debdave/Briarpatch Music Publishing. He'd come to the awareness of that publisher's staff when he did remodeling work on their 16th Avenue building.

In the year after signing his first publishing deal, Schuyler scored major hits with Kenny Rogers' "Love Will Turn You Around" — a top-charting country and adult contemporary hit and ASCAP's Song of the Year — and with Eddie Rabbitt's "I Don't Know Where to Start" and Dalton's "16th Avenue." He scored numerous hits in the 1980s, including #1's "I Fell in Love Again Last Night" (Forester Sisters), "Love Out Loud" (Earl Thomas Conley) and "Long Line of Love" (Michael Martin Murphey).

On March 29, 1985, Schuyler joined with Fred Knobloch, Don Schlitz and Paul Overstreet at the Bluebird for what is credited as the first Nashville "in-the-round," a format in which songwriters share songs and banter. In today's Nashville, in-the-rounds are held each night. Schuyler, Knobloch and Overstreet developed a trio called S-K-O, charting three country hits. Later, Schuyler joined with Knobloch and Craig Bickhardt to form another major country trio, S-K-B.

In the early 1990s, Schuyler's "Point of Light" was a hit for Randy Travis that doubled as the theme song of President George H. W. Bush's volunteerism campaign. Schuyler remained active as a songwriter but also worked as an executive at RCA Records and Ronder/Almo-Irving Music and as a choir director at Woodmont Christian Church. Asked by American Songwriter magazine about advice for young songwriters, Schuyler advised, "Be alive and pay attention."

Mike Geiger was born and raised on Amelia Island, Florida, where he met and began playing music with Woody Mullis. The two became fast friends while developing their musical styles through their teens. After high school Mike attended Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina while Woody toured the United States and Europe with Up With People. After the tour he joined Mike in Asheville where they met and performed with Billy Edd Wheeler (writer of "Jackson", “Coward Of The County", etc.), Warren Haynes (Government Mule and The Allman Bros Band), and future Grammy award winning folk artist and NPR TV Personality, David Holt.

Since then, as a guitarist and background singer, Mike has recorded or shared the stage with a diverse array of entertainers including Skip Ewing, Montgomery Gentry, Dolly Parton, Sylvester Stallone, Tracy Byrd, Blake Shelton, Minnie Pearl, Kip Moore, Otis Blackwell, Stella Parton, Bruce “Hey Baby” Channel, Brad Martin, Whitey Shaffer, Mickey Newberry, and Kix Brooks.

Mike’s songwriting success started when Sawyer Brown recorded "This Missin' You Heart of Mine". That song along with "Darlene" recorded by T. Graham Brown, and "Burning a Hole In My Heart", and "Your Memory Wins Again" by Skip Ewing, went to the top of the charts and netted the BMI Songwriter of The Year Award. Among the artists who have recorded Mike's songs since are George Strait, John Michael Montgomery, Gary Allan, Kenny Chesney, Montgomery Gentry, Rhonda Vincent, Ricky Van Shelton, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Marshall Tucker Band, Brad Martin, Johnny Rodriguez, Michael Bolton, Neal McCoy, Cole Degges and The Lonesome, George Jones, and Tracy Lawrence.

Among the hits are "Adalida" George Strait, "The City Put The Country Back In Me" Neal McCoy, "Cold One Comin’ On" and "Hillbilly Shoes" Montgomery Gentry. To date recordings of Mike's songs have sold at least 17 million copies.

Troubadour Blue blends evocative songwriting & compelling musical arrangements, daring you not to feel something when listening to their melodies. The trio is composed of siblings, Brenna and Eli Wheeler and Daniel Kim Ethridge. While Brenna and Eli are Nashville natives, Daniel hails from Austin, TX by way of Long Beach, CA. Together, the three transport listeners into the stories of their songs.

The idea of Troubadour Blue was sparked during 2019 when Daniel and Brenna, who met during their time in the Belmont Bluegrass Ensemble in 2015, found themselves in the world of Nashville’s “hired guns” and desired a project where they possessed full creative control. COVID-19 became the world’s reality just as the group emerged from the studio. Though their timeline seemed perpetually pushed back, it opened the door for Eli, Brenna’s brother, to join upon graduating from Elon University and rounded out the trio's sound.

Marrying the motifs of modern bluegrass with the poeticism found in Nashville’s songwriting scene, Troubadour Blue’s focus is on creating songs that tip the hat to classic country writing while incorporating modern influences. With Daniel on acoustic guitar, Brenna on fiddle, & Eli on acoustic guitar and banjo, the trio’s blended vocals emphasize the importance of harmony while showcasing their unique voices.

Troubadour Blue is set to release their studio album in early '23 with Tammy Rogers King of the Grammy-award-winning group, The Steeldrivers, as producer.

Hailing from Fernandina Beach, Florida, Sean McCarthy – Nashville recording artist, songwriter, acoustic guitarist and lead vocalist fronts southern coastal group Sean McCarthy Band. The band’s music is a rich blend of Country, Bluegrass, Folk, Trop Rock and Americana (or Trop-i-cana as Sean calls it.)  Rounding out the band is pedal steel player Olin “Hotshot” Carter, lead guitarist Marcus Carter, bass player Ernie Ealum and percussionist Daniel Daly.

The band has garnered attention playing entertainment venues and festivals throughout the South East region including the wildly popular Sing Out Loud Festival. And more recently on popular digital platforms featuring Sean McCarthy Band’s very own “Corona Sessions” an intimate, at-home concert series developed to create connections during the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic.

On September 20, 2019, Sean McCarthy Band released ‘Last House On The Beach,’ the band’s newest album on Skinny Water Records. Produced by Sean McCarthy and John Gould and recorded at Key of Sea Studios, Fernandina Beach, FL. ‘Last House On The Beach’ is what the band calls a “personal record about things that matter to us, our relationships with the people we love and the struggles and celebrations of life.”

Prior to co-founding The SteelDrivers with Chris Stapleton, Mike Henderson, Mike Fleming and Richard Bailey; Rogers had a flourishing career when she released her debut in 1995 In The Red, a self-titled album in 1996 and the 1999 Speed of Love. All of these accented her studio session work while launching a critically acclaimed label with Nashville veterans Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch and Harry Stinson. The ground-breaking label Dead Reckoning paved the way for what is now universally known as ‘Americana Music’.

Since the band’s inception, it has amassed two GRAMMY award nominations in the “Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals,” and two nods for “Best Bluegrass Album,” finally winning the Bluegrass Grammy in 2015 for The Muscle Shoals Recordings. As one of bluegrass’ top-selling artists and touring acts, the band continues to tour over 70 shows a year and appears on various prestigious shows on radio and TV.

With no sign of slowing down, Rogers joined her frequent co-writing friend, Thomm Jutz, another award-winning artist/songwriter with this 2022 release Surely Will Be Singing, paying homage to her Appalachian roots. She will be touring with Thomm in 2022 while not on the road with The SteelDrivers. Jutz and Rogers have co-written numerous songs featured on both Jutz and The SteelDrivers releases, including the recent number one – “I Choose You,” a love song that is quickly becoming one of the most requested first dance songs at weddings around the world.

The list goes on for the East Tennessee native’s accomplishments, but what she is most proud of is the production and development of the new trio Troubadour Blue. Rogers is married to guitar player royalty Jeff King, who is currently on tour with Brooks and Dunn and Reba McEntire.

Deanna Bryant

WOODY MULLIS

Mike Geiger and Woody Mullis were born and raised on Amelia Island, Florida, where they met and began playing music at age ten. The two became fast friends while developing their musical styles through their teens. After high school Mike attended Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina while Woody toured the United States and Europe with Up With People. After the tour he joined Mike in Asheville where they met and performed with Billy Edd Wheeler (writer of "Jackson", “Coward Of The County", etc.), Warren Haynes (Government Mule and The Allman Bros Band), and future Grammy award winning folk artist and NPR TV Personality, David Holt. With encouragement and a few introductions from David and Billy Edd, Mike and Woody moved to Nashville with $200.00, a few guitars, and a Datsun pickup.

Mike and Woody’s songwriting success started when Sawyer Brown recorded "This Missin' You Heart of Mine". That song along with "Darlene" recorded by T. Graham Brown, and "Burning a Hole In My Heart", and "Your Memory Wins Again" by Skip Ewing, went to the top of the charts and netted the BMI Songwriter of The Year Award. Among the artists who have recorded their songs since are George Strait, John Michael Montgomery, Gary Allan, Kenny Chesney, Montgomery Gentry, Rhonda Vincent, Ricky Van Shelton, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Marshall Tucker Band, Brad Martin, Johnny Rodriguez, Michael Bolton, Neal McCoy, George Jones, and Tracy Lawrence.

Among the hits are "Adalida" George Strait, "The City Put The Country Back In Me" Neal McCoy, "Cold One Comin’ On" and "Hillbilly Shoes" Montgomery Gentry. To date recordings of their songs have sold at least 17 million copies.

Mike and Woody have also enjoyed a successful career in Jingles, writing and performing on national campaigns for Mr. Goodwrench, Pepsi, Ford Trucks, and Chevy Trucks.

Woody currently enjoys life in beautiful Fernandina Beach, Florida.