Steve James​ is an original roots music adept whose guitar, mandolin, singing and writing have made him familiar around the world to those whose inner soundtrack resonates to real folk and blues. Steve’s musical journey of over half a century started in New York where childhood playthings included Leadbelly 78s and his Dad’s dusty guitar. That trip led from the lofts of the Lower East Side to the hills of Tennessee, Memphis and the deeper South where the young autodidact got pointed in the right direction by elder wizards like Sam McGee and Furry Lewis who told him: “Get your own song!” Settling in Texas, Steve employed what he’d learned during his journeywork on stage and in the studio to become known as “an underground legend” at home and to embark on world travels that continue to the present. Taking the “pass it on” covenant that comes with learning real roots music seriously, he has participated in literally hundreds of music workshops and camps and created numerous books and video lessons for guitar and mandolin. Also experienced as a luthier, Steve, who now calls Seattle home, devotes his down time to the repair and restoration of vintage instruments and has acted as a product rep and design consultant for Collings and National, the makers of his signature model guitar.

Suzy Thompson is one of the rare musicians today who has mastered multiple styles of Southern fiddling, from pre war acoustic blues to Cajun and Creole to old-time fiddle, especially the kind that has a ragtime or blues feel. A powerful blues singer in the styles of Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith, and a highly respected blues fingerpicking guitarist, Suzy is unique in her ability to combine fiddle, vocals and guitar in the old-time, Cajun, blues and ragtime idioms. This will be a rare solo appearance! Usually Suzy works in tandem with others: her husband, flat picking ace Eric Thompson, resonator guitar-ukulele goddess Del Rey, backing up folk-blues icons such as Jim Kweskin and Maria Muldaur, and in many bands including Thompsonia (with husband Eric and daughter Allegra), Sneaky Freaky String Band (with vintage virtuosos Meredith Axelrod and Craig Ventresco), the Todalo Shakers (jug band with WB Reid, Frannie Leopold and Matt Weiner), and the Aux Cajunals (Cajun dance band).