Big Horn Mountain Festival - Featured Musicians

The bands are booked for 2008 and plans for the festival are rolling along. We're excited about this year's fantastic lineup and our ability to continue presenting great performers at the Big Horn Mountain Festival in Buffalo. We're looking forward to another fun and entertaining event and hope to see you there. Click on a band link below for more information or scroll through them all!

Sound Engineering by Old Blue Sound.

PETER ROWAN BLUEGRASS BAND

Grammy-award winner and five-time Grammy nominee Peter Rowan is a legend in folk-rock and bluegrass music. Having performed as rhythm guitarist and lead singer with Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys from 1964 to 1967, he then joined David Grisman in the folk-rock band Earth Opera. The group recorded a couple of albums and toured (frequently opening for the Doors) until the early '70s. After leaving Earth Opera, he became a part of Seatrain, a rock-fusion unit whose records were produced by George Martin. Rowan left the band in 1972 to form the Rowan Brothers with siblings Chris and Lorin. After the group disbanded, Rowan then recorded Old & in the Way with Grisman, Jerry Garcia, Vassar Clements, and John Kahn. Their 1973 album remains the biggest selling bluegrass record of all time. In 1974, Rowan, Grisman, Clarence White, and Richard Greene formed Muleskinner, a bluegrass band. Muleskinner released one album and then disbanded. He then reunited the Rowan Brothers, who this time played together until the early '80s. Meanwhile, Rowan also began playing rock and bluegrass with Mexican Airforce, which featured accordion player Flaco Jimenez. Peter has since performed solo and with numerous talented musicians including his recent collaborations with the Tony Rice Quartet.

Learn more about the Peter Rowan Blugrass Band at http://www.peter-rowan.com.

THE BYRON BERLINE BAND

Three time national fiddle champion Byron Berline and his band featuring John Hickman, Jim Fish, Richard Sharp, Steve Short, and Barry “Bones” Patton will get your feet stomping. Berline's early career included playing fiddle with bluegrass legends Bill Monroe, Dillard and Clark, and Country Gazette. After moving to Los Angeles in 1969, he soon became one of the most popular fiddlers in the music business. His long list of performing and recording credits includes The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, The Band, The Byrds, Elton John, Alabama, Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Rod Stewart, John Denver, Earl Scruggs, Emmylou Harris, Tammy Wynette, Mason Williams, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson,

and Vince Gill. He also has extensive television and movie sound track credits and has appeared in Star Trek, Blaze, Back to the Future III, Basic Instinct, and the HBO series Deadwood. Berline has recorded seven solo albums including his highly acclaimed Fiddle & A Song with guest performances from Vince Gill, Mason Williams, Earl Scruggs, and Bill Monroe. In 1996, the album was nominated for two Grammy awards, 'Best Album of the Year' and ' Best Song of the Year'.

Appearing with Byron will be Barry “Bones” Patton, a featured performer at our 2007 festival. Probably the premier bones player in the country, Barry “Bones” Patton has been a regular performer with the Byron Berline Band since 1995. He has performed with some of the best, including Bill Monroe, Buck White & the Whites, Ricky Skaggs, Albert Lee, John Hickman, Vince Gill, Hot Rize, Mason Williams, Willie Nelson, Sam Bush, and Jerry Douglas.

Learn more about the Byron Berline Band at www.byronberlineband.com and Barry "Bones" Patton at www.barrybonespatton.com.

DON EDWARDS

A historian, author, and musicologist, someone well-versed in cowboy lore and musical traditions, Don Edwards brings a rare complement of knowledge of and love for his craft and is considered by many as the best cowboy musician of our time. He taught himself guitar starting at age ten and chased the rodeo and worked ranches in Texas and New Mexico during his teens. Edwards began playing throughout Oklahoma and Texas, and with the inception of the Cowboy poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada achieved widespread recognition. He has now entertained throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, Europe, and the Far East. Two of Don’s albums, Guitars & Saddle Songs and Songs of the Cowboy are now included in the Folklore Archives of the Library of Congress. These anthologies have been re-recorded and expanded as the 32-song double CD/cassette called Saddle Songs. This project took first place as the Best Folk/Traditional Album of the year at the annual AFIM INDIE Awards Ceremony held in May of 1998. He has twice received the National Cowboy Hall of Fame's "Wrangler Award" for Outstanding Traditional Western Music. The summer of 1997 found Don in Livingston, Montana portraying the role of "Smokey" in Robert Redford's film The Horse Whisperer, and is featured on the MCA soundtrack.

Learn more about Don Edwards at www.donedwardsmucis.com.

THE KENNY & AMANDA SMITH BAND

Winners of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s prestigious Emerging Artist of the Year award in 2003, the Kenny and Amanda Smith Band combines gutsy, heartfelt vocals, brilliant instrumental talents, and a powerful, contemporary sense of song choice and arrangement into one of the most compelling new sounds in bluegrass today. Originally from Nine Mile, Indiana, Kenny Smith is widely considered one of the most important and influential flatpicking-style guitarists of his generation. A two-time IBMA Guitarist of the Year award winner and 2007 IBMA nominee, his professional credits include six years with the popular Lonesome River Band and an exceptional solo CD, Studebaker, released in 1997. Kenny is in great demand at guitar workshops and master classes. Amanda Smith grew up singing in church choirs and participating in talent contests at local fairs. She started playing guitar in high school to accompany herself and soon discovered bluegrass music through female artists such as Claire Lynch, Rhonda Vincent, and Alison Krauss. She met her future husband at a Lonesome River Band concert and the couple began dating and playing music together almost immediately. Their shared Christian faith, love for bluegrass, and desire to perform together led them to record a debut CD, Slowly But Surely in 2001. Winning IBMA’s Emerging Artist Award in 2003 came as an unexpected thrill for the Kenny & Amanda Smith Band. The band's first-ever all-gospel project, Tell Someone, has been nominated in the Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album category for the 50th Annual Grammy awards held on February 10, 2008. Kenny was also a SPBGMA 2008 nominee for Guitar Player of the Year and Amanda a 2008 nominee for Contemporary Female Vocalist.

Learn more about the Kenny & Amanda Smith Band at www.kenny-amandasmith.com.

CLUMSY LOVERS

The Clumsy Lovers are a well-regarded and eclectic Celtic jam band based in Vancouver, British Columbia with more than 1,500 live performances in a decade to its credit. Its current line-up consists of Jason Homey on banjo and mandolin, Chris Jonat on bass guitar and vocals, Andrea Lewis on fiddle and vocals, Gord Robert on drums, and Trevor Rogers on vocals, guitar, harmonica, and percussion. Smart Kid, is their seventh and most recent album, and the band also appears on Rootstomp, Volume I, a compilation of contemporay celtic music. The group of musicians that eventually formed the Clumsy Lovers didn't really intend to start a band. They would just play out around their home base of Vancouver, British Columbia, spinning their folky, often riotous take on rock in pubs, basements, and backyard parties. But people noticed and starting clamoring for more than just the weekend gigging, and the band was officially born. Between 2000 and 2002 the Clumsy Lovers self-released a series of recordings that blended their Celtic, bluegrass, and rock influences. Still, they were primarily a live band. That changed with 2004's After the Flood, which they made in a studio for a label. The similarly studio-crafted Smart Kid followed a year later, and the Clumsy Lovers supported it with a lengthy tour schedule.

Learn more about the Clumsy Lovers at www.clumsylovers.com.

THE JALAN CROSSLAND BAND

From Tensleep, Wyoming, Jalan Crossland is widely acclaimed by audiences, critics, and his musical peers as one of the country’s premier acoustic guitarists. Along with dozens of regional contest awards, his extraordinary guitar work has earned him National Fingerstyle Championship honors in 1997 and the State Championship Flatpick title in his home state of Wyoming in 1999. He is a talented vocalist, banjo player, songwriter, and an engaging showman. The Jalan Crossland Band is: Heather Bradley and Kelli Trujillo who handle background vocals and some whackadoo whackin'; Shaun Kelley, and Pat Madsen. The band’s 2007 CD release, Trailer Park Fire & Other Tragedies, has been a smashing success.

Learn more about the Jalan Crossland Band at www.jalancrossland.com.

ANNE & PETE SIBLEY

Coming from Jackson, Wyoming, but originally from New England and both trained as classical musicians, Anne & Pete Sibley offer some of the best duo harmonies around. Their mix of original songs and traditional favorites bring back the good old days. Anne & Pete appeared on the Roots and Branches Stage at the 2007 IBMA awards in Nashville, Tennnessee, and have just recently released their newest album, Winter on the Great Divide. The sweet blend of their voices will bring a smile to your face... and if your ears could smile they would be grinning too!

Learn more about Anne & Pete Sibley at www.anneandpetesibley.com.

TROXEL & KRIEGER

Jeff Troxel is an award-winning guitarist, composer, songwriter, and teacher with over twenty-five years of professional experience. He graduated summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music and earned a masters in Jazz Guitar Performance from the University of Southern California. He often plays with the Scottish group, Glynfiddle, led by violinist Randy Tracy. Jeff was selected state flat-picking champion in his native Wyoming in 2001 and in Utah in 2003. In September of 2003, Jeff won the prestigious National Flat-Pick Guitar Championship at the Walnut Valley Music Festival in Winfield, Kansas. His bluegrass-influenced Sarah in the Sunrise won an honorable mention in the John Lennon Songwriters Contest and in 2001 he was awarded a Performing Arts Fellowship for composition from the Wyoming Arts Council. Trevor Krieger will be joining Jeff on fiddle.

Learn more about Jeff Troxel at www.jefftroxel.com.

SPRING CREEK BLUEGRASS BAND

Spring Creek Bluegrass Band, from Lyons, Colorado, is quickly gaining a reputation as the hottest young band in the Rocky Mountains and we’re really excited to have them at our 2008 festival. The quartet play a mix of bluegrass standards and compelling originals, and all four musicians are also accomplished vocalists. Spring Creek is built on the fundamentals of bluegrass, yet they create their own classic contemporary style. The young band, whose members met in music school in Texas, have studied and performed together for several years. The band won the Telluride Bluegrass Festival band contest in June 2007, and won their second Planet Bluegrass title on July 29th, 2007 at the 35th annual RockyGrass Festival held in Lyons, Colorado. Alex Johnstone plays both mandolin and fiddle, Chris Elliot is on banjo (also receiving top honors as winner of the RockyGrass banjo instrument contest), Jessica Smith plays bass, and Taylor Sims is on guitar. In late 2006, Spring Creek released Rural & Cosmic Bluegrass, a 12-track album of kickin' Colorado bluegrass that has impressed fans, critics, DJs, and festival producers alike. "Spring Creek has redefined what can be accomplished on acoustic instruments," says Chris Kelly of the Crested Butte Weekly. Spring Creek has recently been nominated for the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Song in the Americana Category: “High Up in the Mountains”.

Learn more about Spring Creek Bluegrass Band at www.springcreekbluegrassband.com.

D. MICHAEL THOMAS

Buffalo's own Mike Thomas is a renowned Western sculptor and artist and will once again open the show for us in 2008. Having grown up on cattle ranches in western Wyoming, Mike's style of Western and Cowboy music and ballads is clearly reflected in his western bronzes. After you have enjoyed his music, be sure to check out his life size depiction of the Johnson County Cattle War which stands across the street from First National Bank.

Learn more about D. Michael Thomas at www.dmichaelthomas.com.