Recently inducted to the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame, fiery roots-rock singer/songwriter Scott Miller returned to his native Virginia to tend the family farm while continuing to release and perform new music informed by that rural area, history, and Appalachia. The Staunton native first made a name for himself in the 90s as guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter with the superb pop/rock band the V-Roys before establishing himself as a gifted and eclectic solo artist, first with his ad hoc group the Commonwealth and later on his own.

Gretchen Pleuss is an Ann Arbor, Michigan based poet and singer-songwriter whose "vocal delivery and skillful finger picking call to mind the folk singers who graced the stage of the Gaslight Café during the 60's Greenwich Village folk renaissance. Fans of Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, and other folk luminaries will appreciate Gretchen's gorgeous arrangements and thought-provoking songwriting” –Dan Jarvis, Midwest Action. Annie Bacon is a writer and songwriter living in Ann Arbor, Michigan (via Maine and San Francisco). With her OSHEN she merges a literary writing style and folk-rock Americana sound to create rich and emotionally complex music.

Carrie Newcomer weaves her life and her art together, with music, community activism, and personal concerns all playing a role. She's one of those people who exudes a spirituality that's all her own, and she has to be seen in concert to be truly appreciated. Says novelist Barbara Kingsolver: "She's a poet, storyteller, snake-charmer, good neighbor, friend and lover, minister of the wide-eyed gospel of hope and grace." And you can forget all that and just luxuriate in her incredibly rich alto voice! Carrie has traveled to India and performed as a U.S. cultural ambassador, and local religion journalist David Crumm, writing on the ReadTheSpirit website, named her to his list of "10 Spiritual Sages to Watch."

Madi Diaz is an artist who cuts to the emotional core of her own experiences with startling precision. Her last two albums, 2021’s History of a Feeling and 2024’s two-time Grammy-nominated Weird Faith, set off a breakthrough for the professional songwriter. These records won over critics, audiences, and other collaborators with well-crafted songs and a compelling arc: first there’s the difficult breakup, then a mourning period and slowly, a sense of reinvention; when love comes around again, Weird Faith seemed to say, it’s worth fighting through the fear and uncertainty. Fatal Optimist, the Nashville singer-songwriter’s forthcoming LP, could be considered the final chapter in this heartache trilogy, and also its rawest entry. This time Diaz is asking audiences to lean closer in to hear what she has to say.