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StringTime in the Smokies
Friday, August 14th – Saturday, August 15th
StringTime in the Smokies is a celebration of American Music
and features an evening of free bluegrass.

Entertainment Lineup

Schedules and artists subject to change without notice
*tentative performance times

For more information on our entertainers check out their biographies below!

Co-Sponsored by:
Food City of Pigeon Forge • Old Mill Square • Accommodations by Sunset Cottage • WVLT-TV • Smoky Mountain Guitars • Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson & Buell • Papa John's Pizza

WILD BLUE YONDER

Melissa Wade, from Knoxville, on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, fronts the band and writes most of their original material. She brings to the band many years of performance experience in a variety of musical styles.
Philip Coward, from Knoxville, on mandolin, lead acoustic guitar and vocals contributes to their signature energetic show. He also co-writes and arranges much of the group's original material and has performed in various bands for almost 30 years, one of which toured overseas with the USO in the 1970's.

Classically-trained violinist and virtuoso fiddlers, sisters,  Laura Knight and Cindy Wallace light up the band's stage show with lively fiddle tunes as well as beautiful string arrangements on their slower numbers. They have performed in many bands, including Wild Mountain Honey, and The Wallace Sisters.  Their credentials also include many years at Dollywood theme park.
Check them out at http://www.wildblueyonderband.com/music.htm.

TIMBERWINDS
Timberwinds was formed in 2005. This local group consists of a banjo, guitar, fiddle, mandolin & bass. They feature traditional bluegrass standards along with selections anywhere from CCR to Bob Dylan. In the summer of 2007, they recorded their first CD at the studio of Tom T. Hall in Franklin, TN. This since has inspired them to include many of his songs on their playlist as well. As an up and coming group, they are being recognized as they play in and around the Knoxville area. The passion and dedication they share for their music is revealed through their own fresh style of presentation. 

 GARY “BISCUIT” DAVIS AND COMPANY
Gary Davis started playing the banjo at age 10. Gary Davis is the ONLY three-time National Banjo Champion having won Winfield in 1979 (at the age of 16), 1988 and 1996, and owns dozens of state and regional titles as well. Gary got his nickname, "Biscuit," when he was performing with the Smith Brothers as lead guitarist. They had a guitar player that they nicknamed "Cornbread," so he could be "Biscuit."
Gary performed for fifteen years at Dollywood, playing with Dolly Parton's kinfolks.  He recently was band leader, co-producer and banjo player for Dolly Parton on her bluegrass album "Halos & Horns".  He toured with Dolly for a year to promote that album.  He currently works at Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede dinner attraction in Pigeon Forge.

Being a whiz with both guitar and banjo, Gary is one of the most in-demand studio session men in East Tennessee.  Gary is fluent in many music styles, from bluegrass to swing and jazz.  He is an awesome lead guitar player and brings many lead guitar techniques to his banjo style. 

Gary somehow finds time to teach banjo at Biscuit's Music Barn in Pigeon Forge.  Gary is a dedicated banjo teacher and is very patient with children and slow learners.  Gary travels the United States to teach banjo workshops and perform on stage.
Listen to Gary at http://www.banjochamp.com/cds.htm.

MICHAEL CLEVELAND AND FLAMEKEEPERS  

Mike Cleveland - vocals, fiddle. Considered one of the premier bluegrass fiddlers of his generation, Mike has won six Fiddle Player of the Year awards and two Instrumental Album of the Year awards from IBMA. Today Mike is a sought-after guest and has performed with Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, The Mark Newton Band, J.D. Crowe and the New South, Audie Blaylock and Redline, Melven Goins and Windy Mountain and The Wildwood Valley Boys. He is also an active studio musician, and his credits include the 2005 GRAMMY-nominated "A Tribute to Jimmy Martin: The King of Bluegrass" and a 2003 GRAMMY winner, Jimmy Sturr's "Let's Polka 'Round." Mike lives in Charlestown, Indiana.

Flamekeeper Band - Darrell Webb, Vocals, Guitar - Raised in West Virginia, Darrell has been a member of many well known bands including J.D. Crowe and The New South and Rhonda Vincent & The Rage. A talented songwriter, Darrell has also recorded with Dolly Parton. Jesse Brock, Vocals, Mandolin - Jesse has spent a lifetime in bluegrass, first with his family band, and later with national acts such as The Lynn Morris Band. Jesse was an integral part of Mike's first Rounder album, "Flame Keeper." Jessie Baker, Banjo - Although not yet out of his teens, Jessie has already had plenty of experience in bluegrass playing with Wildfire, The Wildwood Valley Boys, Karl Shiflett and Big Country Show, as well as his family band, The Baker Boys. Jessie lives in Georgetown, KY. Marshall Wilborn, Vocals, Bass - A native of Austin, Texas, Marshall has played with some of the great bluegrass bands including Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys, The Johnson Mountain Boys and the Lynn Morris Band. Marshall lives in Virginia with his wife Lynn Morris. 

Hear them at http://www.myspace.com/michaelclevelandflamekeeper.

STEELDRIVERS
SteelDrivers: a group of seasoned veterans – each distinguished in his or her own right, each valued in the town’s commercial community – who are seizing an opportunity to follow their hearts to their souls’ reward.  In doing so, they are braiding their bluegrass roots with new threads of their own design, bringing together country, soul, and other contemporary influences to create an unapologetic hybrid that is old as the hills but fresh as the morning dew.  This is new music with the old feeling. SteelDrivers fan Vince Gill describes the band’s fusion as simply “an incredible combination.” The SteelDrivers’ brand of bluegrass – intense, dark, poetic, and inescapably human – is a refreshing reminder of the timeless power of stringband music, and is captured perfectly on The SteelDrivers.

Listen to tracks from their self-titled album at http://www.steeldrivers.net/NEWcdpurchase.html.