JORMA KAUKONEN is one of the most highly respected interpreters of American roots music, blues, and Americana with a history that in?uenced popular rock-and-roll. A member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and a Grammy nominee as well as one of Rolling Stone's "Top 100 Guitarists of All Time," he is a founding member of two legendary bands, Jefferson Airplane and the still-touring Hot Tuna, and is recognized as one of the leading practitioners and teachers of ?nger-style guitar. In 2015, Jorma celebrates the 50th anniversary of co-founding the Jefferson Airplane and is releasing a new studio album 'Ain't In No Hurry' on Red House Records.

LOWELL LEVINGER aka �Banana� is the founding member of The Youngbloods, and the original �Hippie From Olema�. Banana began his career in bluegrass on the east coast before co-founded The Youngbloods. The band moved from New York City to West Marin in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1967. In 1969, the band's anthem of peace and brotherhood "Get Together" became a top 5 hit. Over his rich musical life Banana has worked with notable artists like Mimi Farina, Dan Hicks, David Grisman, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Peter Rowan and many others. His latest is 'Get Together' - Banana Recalls Youngbloods Classics.

WoodSongs Kid: Rhyan Sprague is 13 and from Lexington, KY. She performs an original song on the WoodSongs broadcast.

WoodSongs has a long and consistent history involving children, schools and families on our worldwide broadcast. This past year, he made WoodSongs Kids a featured segment every broadcast. Highlights on this show include: Sam Bush jamming with a young Sierra Hull, 12 year old Parker Hastings playing with his idol guitar master Tommy Emmanuel, YouTube sensation EmiSunshine, Mya Hunt getting music advise from country superstar Lee Ann Womack and kids from our two roads in Ireland and Arkansas.

The Music Maker Relief Foundation was founded in 1994 to preserve the musical traditions of the South by directly supporting the musicians who make it, ensuring their voices will not be silenced by poverty and time. Celebrating their 20th year, they have assisted and partnered with over 300 artists, issued over 150 CDs and reached over a million people with live performance in over 40 states and 17 countries around the globe. The foundation just released a new book and double CD 'We Are the Music Makers� showcasing the work they have done with artists over their 20-year history. Appearing on this Special Event Broadcast will be Tim Duffy, who co-founded the foundation with his wife Denise, plus three legacy Music Maker artists!

http://www.musicmaker.org/

IRONING BOARD SAM has been playing professionally for more than 55 years. He has amassed a staggering repertoire of both originals and classic blues and R&B songs. A truly gifted and engaging performer, Sam�s powerful, soulful voice and remarkable piano prowess remain undiminished. In 2012, he was named "Comeback Artist of the Year" by Living Blues Magazine, Most Outstanding Musician by Living Blues in 2013 and made a triumphant return to a packed tent at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. He just released a new album new album 'Ironing Board Sam With The Sticks'.

BOO HANKS is the greatest Piedmont Blues rediscovery in many years. From Buffalo Junction, VA, he sings and plays guitar in the style of the legendary Blind Boy Fuller. At the age of 79, he made his first recording with Music Maker and at 82 he has enjoyed performances around home as well as Lincoln Center and Belgium.

BIG RON HUNTER is called the world's happiest Bluesman. He owns a voice that gives people chills. It�s the kind of voice that carries warmth and tenderness, a voice that is unmistakably his own and embodies everything that�s raw, pure and beautiful about the blues.

WoodSongs Kid: Isaac May is a talented mandolin player from Mount Eden, KY. He frequently performs with Michael on his opening song.

BLAIR CRIMMINS began his current music career in Atlanta, Georgia, with a determination to bring Ragtime and 1920�s style Dixieland Jazz to new audiences. What he created was a sound that is at once modern while being deeply rooted in the past. Now four years, and five hundred shows later, he has toured the Eastern United States playing large venues and has opened for national acts such as Mumford & Sons and Preservation Hall Jazz Band . A multi-instrumentalist and music academic, Crimmins writes songs and arrangements for a classic New Orleans style horn section. His newest studio album is entitled �Sing-a-longs� and will be performing on WoodSongs with his band The Hookers.

DANIEL CHAMPAGNE is a young Australian singer, songwriter and one-of-a-kind guitar virtuoso. Inspired by his musical father. He began writing songs at 12, training classically throughout his teens and performing solo wherever he could, honing his craft and developing what would become the dynamite live show that he is renowned for today. Now regarded as a leading light in acoustic music, with a firm reputation for making festivals buzz, holding crowds in his palm, dropping jaws and breaking guitars wherever he goes. His current release is 'Pint of Mystery'.

WoodSongs Kid: Annabelle Watts is an incredible fiddle player winning several fiddle contest around the country this year and sings also. She is from Philpot Kentucky and is 12.

RONI STONEMAN is one of the great banjo masters of our time. The youngest daughter of the pioneering country music family The Stonemans, she became "The First Lady of Banjo," a fixture on the Nashville scene, and, as Hee Haw's Ironing Board Lady, a comedienne beloved by millions of Americans nationwide. She was the subject of book called �Pressing On�. Roni has just released the first single 'The Day The Banjo Dies' from her upcoming album. She will be appearing on WoodSongs with her sister Donna.

DOUG SEEGERS is a brilliant 62-year-old singer who struggled with homelessness for years. Seegers found acclaim when Swedish music star Jill Johnson discovered him in a Nashville food pantry. The two subsequently recorded a duet that climbed to the top of the music charts in Sweden. His debut solo album entitled 'Going Down to the Rive'r on Rounder Records is raw, rootsy and emotionally charged. It features collaborations with multi-GRAMMY winners Buddy Miller and Emmylou Harris, both of whom have championed the formerly down-and-out singer.

WoodSongs Kid: Fiddlin John Maupin is only 8 years old and has already won quite a number of awards. He�s from Richmond, KY.

COUNTRY CURRENT, the premier country-bluegrass group of the United States Navy Band in Washington, D.C., showcases a five-member acoustic ensemble performing traditional, contemporary and original bluegrass compositions. Former Country Current director, Master Chief Musician Bill Emerson, established the ensemble in 1989. The ensemble is in constant demand by the nation's most prominent bluegrass festivals and have performed with legendary bluegrass artists such as Alison Kraus, Nickel Creek, Rhonda Vincent and the "Father of Bluegrass," the late Bill Monroe.

PAT FLYNN is a Nashville guitar virtuoso. As guitarist/singer/songwriter for New Grass Revival, Flynn, along with Sam Bush, John Cowan, and B�la Fleck, influenced many of today's best-known artists while building New Grass Revival's own loyal audience to near cult status. Flynn has also been a session guitarist on more than 400 CD projects, including 32 Gold and Platinum records, as well as CMA and Grammy award winning projects with a wide array artists including Garth Brooks, Lee Ann Womack, Randy Travis and Michael Martin Murphey. Over the past decade, Flynn has released three solo albums, �reQuest,� �reVision� and the new �reNew.�

RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT is one of the last true links to the great folk traditions of this country. Bob Dylan called him "King of the Folksingers." He ran away from his Brooklyn home at fourteen to join the rodeo and learned his guitar from a cowboy. In 1950, he met Woody Guthrie. Jack became so enthralled with the life and composer of This Land Is Your Land, The Dust Bowl Ballads, and a wealth of children's songs that he completely absorbed the inflections and mannerisms, leading Guthrie to remark, "Jack sounds more like me than I do." He has recorded forty albums; wrote one of the first trucking songs, Cup of Coffee, recorded by Johnny Cash; championed the works of new singer-songwriters, from Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson to Tim Hardin; became a founding member of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue; and continued the life of the traveling troubadour influencing Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, Tom Russell The Grateful Dead and countless others. In 1998, President Bill Clinton awarded Jack the National Medal of the Arts, proclaiming, "In giving new life to our most valuable musical traditions, Ramblin' Jack has himself become an American treasure." He is a Five-time Grammy Nominee and a two time Grammy winner including an award for "Best Traditional Blues Album" in 2009. At 83, Ramblin' Jack is still on the road continuing to set his mark on the world of music.

NELL ROBINSON & THE ROSE OF NO-MAN'S LAND is a new album project that integrates the heritage of Nell'a Alabama family serving in 250 years of war. Most of the source material for the songs are from archived letters, documents, mementos and generational lore, all centered on war and service. Beginning with Revolutionary War to the present, Robinson weaves historic familial history with her lush vocal quality and artisan storytelling with musical guidance by Grammy Winning producer Joe Henry. Joining Nell on WoodSongs, will be her band plus Ramblin' Jack Elliott who appears as a special guest on the release. Robinson will be working with non-profits benefiting veterans as she tours. As an activist, she wants to draw attention and funds for the needs of veterans, especially in areas of healthcare and soul repair.

THE NEW ORLEANS SUSPECTS comprise of some of the most season and highly respected players in NOLA. Start with members of three of the top bands to come out of New Orleans, The Neville Brothers, The Radiators, and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band- then add a saxophonist who was James Brown's horn director for 12 years, and a keyboard player with extraordinary talent, and you have this Crescent City supergroup. The band combines original songs in the New Orleans style with hits and obscurities from the Allen Toussaint and Dr. John songbooks, as well as performing favorites from Radiators, Nevilles and Dirty Dozen repertoire. The band�s latest studio release, 'Ouroboros', was released on Louisiana Red Hot Records.

SULTANS OF STRINGS thrill their audiences with their global sonic tapestry of Spanish Flamenco, Arabic folk, Cuban rhythms, and French Manouche Gypsy-jazz, celebrating musical fusion and human creativity with warmth and virtuosity. Since forming 7 years ago, �Canada�s ambassadors of musical diversity� have been on a meteoric rise with an astonishing number of awards and accolades in tow, including a JUNO (Canada�s Grammy) nomination, 2 Canadian Folk Music Awards, 1st place in the ISC (out of 15,000 entries), plus invitations to play with such legendary artists as The Chieftains and David Bromberg. The band's latest release is album 'Symphony!'.

WoodSongs Kid: Parker Hastings, an incredibly talented 14 year old thumbpicking, fingerstyle guitarist from central Kentucky, has been playing guitar since the age of 6.

BELA FLECK AND ABIGAIL WASHBURN present their eponymous debut album as a duo, after many years of prominence as banjo players and composers in their own eclectic avenues. B�la, an icon and innovator of jazz, classical and world, with more multi-category GRAMMY wins than any other artist (15 total), and Abigail, a formidable talent with triumphs in songwriting, theater, performance, and even Chinese diplomacy by way of banjo, turn out to be quite a fortuitous pairing with a deep, distinct and satisfying outcome. The culmination is an album like no other. B�la Fleck and Abigail Washburn is a front porch banjo and vocal album of new music, Appalachian murder ballads, gospel, chamber and blues; the culmination of a yearlong tour as a duo in 2013, following the birth of their son, Juno. The record reveals their astounding chemistry as collaborators, as the two seamlessly stitch together singular banjo sounds (through an assortment of seven banjos spanning the recording) in service to the stories that their songs tell, with no studio gimmickry needed.

On this broadcast we will be celebrating the Music of Appalachia, one of the most fertile musical regions in the world. After generations of isolation from most of America, some of the most influential and powerful artists have been born from this mountain region like Ricky Skaggs, Loretta Lynn, Tom T. Hall, JP Fraley, Lee Sexton, Jean Ritchie and many others. To present this music in its most original and pure state, we have invited the staff and students of The Kentucky Center for Traditional Music at Morehead State University to appear on the broadcast. It's home to one of the only accredited college-level bluegrass and traditional music programs in the nation. The staff and students of MSA recently went to China to showcase the music of Appalachia to Asian audiences. Appearing on this broadcast will be:

RAYMOND McLAIN a founding member of the legacy McLain Family Band and the director of the program/

JESSE WELLS is a master fiddler, mandolin player and traditional music scholar.

RUTH McLAIN-SMITH is also a founding member of the McLain Family Band, touring performer and instructor at the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music.

If you love the music and old-time front porch music of Appalachia, bring your family to this broadcast! This show will be packed with other students, staff members and surprise guests from this incredible program.

WoodSongs Kids: Meghan and Emily Bryant are sisters from Martin, Kentucky. Meghan has competed at the Morehead Old Time Music Festival for four years, placing first three times and second once. However, she says her favorite place to play is at square dances. Emily won the Morehead Old Time Music Festival for youth banjo in 2012. She placed third in 2013 and second in 2011.