Red Barn Radio

Brenna MacMillan, originally from Winchester, Kentucky, began playing banjo at the age of nine. She has performed frequently in the Lexington area, which led to opening for J.D. Crowe and Bobby Osborne. Attending Berea College, Brenna played with their Bluegrass Ensemble under Al White and was awarded the Red Foley Memorial Music Award in 2018. She joined us here at Red Barn nearly five years ago playing with her brother Theo, and now plays with a variety of artists, bluegrass, Americana, and country in Nashville. We think you'll find that Brenna's playing and vocal delivery brings a fresh sound to singer-songwriter folk and bluegrass alike

D Boone Pittman from Lawrenceburg, Kentucky has been an active per-forming artist in the Kentucky area for 21 years. Prior to that he honed his craft on 90s country in west Texas cover bands. In 2019 Pittman formed the Fugitives to support his first studio album, Bluegrass American Dream. He first picked up the guitar at the age of 14 in his hometown of Stanton, Kentucky. Since writing, recording, and performing his own original music, Pittman has been nominated for 13 Josie In-dependent Music Awards, 2 Hollywood Independent Music Awards, and has won 1 Appy award for best original song, “The Question” in 2024. His latest release, Resurrection Noise, is currently up for album of the year at the ’24 Josie Awards in Nashville, Tennessee.

The band Katlan from the Transylvania Region, plays authentic folk music from Transylvania and Hungary as well as bluegrass music. Each of the members has been involved in folk music for more than 10 years and now we have started a special project. Our first album will be released soon and will feature Transyl-vanian Hungarian, Romanian and Gypsy folk music as well as American bluegrass music.

In addition, in January we have been invited to the United States of America, to Kentucky, to meet Ray-mond McLain, retired director of Morehead State University, one of the most outstanding musicians in bluegrass music, who will give us a music workshop and we will also record a joint album in an American studio. Their goal is to bring Transylvanian folk culture to America and to bring back the experiences they learn here.

Champs of the Sun. Mark Bell, the lead singer is a quirky writer and a singer with terrific vocal range and force, and just about every track on their most recent album presents some kind of lyrical or rhythmic surprise. It's hard to know sometimes where the songs are going, but you can still enjoy the ride. That's next week, Champs of the Sun.

Bedford returns with a new, modernized sound. "The power trio from the Pearly Gates" An evolution in their sound—and their lives—Bedford has grown up.

The band, founded by Samuel May and Tristan Frazier, made waves early on in the Kentucky music scene with two 70s psych rock-inspired albums released before the age of 21: Content (2018) and A Trip Into the Sun (2019). After a pandemic and the addition of guitarist Colin Michael, the trio is set to usher in a new era for Bedford, blending old and new sounds.

Low Gap is primed to take the Country Music world by storm. Brothers Gus and Phin John-son are relatively young musicians but are already making an impact with their authentic writing and catchy tunes. With roots in Eastern Kentucky and Southeastern Ohio, Gus and Phin grew up listening to Bluegrass and Americana music. That—combined with Folk, Coun-try, and Classic and Southern Rock—creates the unique tone that has become the duo's sig-nature sound. Gus wrote his first song at 13 years old, and only months later wrote “Mock-ingbird,” their biggest hit, which was ranked second on Grady Smith’s list of “non-hit sin-gles” for 2022. The brothers backed the success of “Mockingbird” up with a self-titled al-bum full of passion and relatability. On November 25, Low Gap released their latest single, “Say a Prayer.”

Jay Bragg, the leader of this great ensemble, has recorded and released hundreds of songs, performed over 3,600 shows across America including tours with Alan Jackson and Chris Stapleton. He's founded a music charity and has become an international Christmas connoisseur with his annual ‘A Songwriter’s Christmas’ tour and original holiday compositions.

Whether it’s writing songs, making records, performing live or volunteering for hospice patients - something he still does every week - Jay makes music to serve others, contributing a healthy dose of joy and good vibes into a culture that is increasingly inundated with the opposite.

In October 2024, Jay launched his latest obsession - a fictional North Pole alter-ego act called King Kazoo & The Reindeer Band - a whimsical gumbo of jazz, blues, swing, Christmas and Tin Pan Alley music. It was Seeing the affect the kazoo had on listeners young and old, that had Jay began developing King Kazoo & The Reindeer Band.

Maya de Vitry is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer based in Nashville, TN. She grew up in a musical family in Lancaster, PA, playing in creeks and forests, surrounded by fields of cows, corn, and soybeans. She took piano lessons from her grandmother, studied classical violin in school, and learned old-time fiddle tunes and bluegrass songs at campfires and festival campgrounds with her family. Maya first traveled as a fiddling street musician, but quickly fell in love with the craft of songwriting and picked up the guitar and the clawhammer banjo. She spent seven formative years performing in bars, theaters, and on festival stages as a founding member of The Stray Birds, a hard-touring acoustic string band known for passionate live performances and stirring vocal harmonies. When the band parted ways in 2018, Maya began devotedly creating a powerful new body of work as a solo artist.

Maya’s music unabashedly blurs genre, weaving country, folk, rock, and pop elements through her vibrant storytelling and her extraordinarily dynamic singing. Whether she is playing with her electric band in a bar or sharing a song on acoustic guitar at a folk festival, there is an emotional immediacy and a striking magnetism in Maya’s music. She has been invited to support a variety of tours - she has warmed up stages for innovative singer-songwriters like John Craigie and Aoife O’Donovan, and bands like Mighty Poplar and The Wood Brothers. In addition to performing and recording, Maya is a sought-after co-writer and co-creator, and has been steadily and closely collaborating within her chosen musical community of Nashville, Tennessee for nearly a decade.

Mikki’s roots are planted in Syracuse, New York, but Nashville, Tennessee, became home in 2013 only a couple weeks before turning 14 years old. As soon as she hit town, Mikki began performing as a singer-songwriter in and around Music City at various venues such as fairs, festivals, bars, and BBQ joints. Her passion to perform on stage earned her a BFA in Performing Arts, studying in both Los Angeles and New York City. After graduating in 2020, Mikki returned to Nashville to continue her journey as a recording artist. Mikki Zip most enjoys writing in the story-telling ways of country music. In her songs, there's an influence of old school country, a little bit rock-n-roll, and today's modern sound.

Hogtown, from Eastern Kentucky, is comprised of three fi-ne and talented fellows-- Thomas Albert, Hogtown's heart throb, who also happens to play just about any string instrument known to man; Nick Lloyd, a professional bass maker, amateur astronomer and joke historian; and finally, Mr. John Ryster, who makes fine violins in his shop out on Hogtown Ridge, from which, as you might guess, the band derives their name. Be sure to join us. This fine band of players will have you longing for a sawdust covered floor, a frosty mug and a smoke-filled honky tonk! That's Hogtown, on Red Barn Radio!