(Old-Time Mandolin/Old-Time): Carl Jones is an American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in Macon, Georgia. He presently lives in Hillsville, Virginia and is widely respected for his instrumental talents and original songs about the joys and tribulations of life in the south.
Carl’s songs have been recorded by The Nashville Bluegrass Band, Kate Campbell, Rickie Simpkins w/ Tony Rice, and others. His song Last Time On The Road was on the grammy award winning album Unleashed by The Nashville Bluegrass Band.
He has recordings with Beverly Smith, James Bryan, and also with The Rising Fawn String ensemble (James along w/ Norman & Nancy Blake). For many years now he has recorded and tours with his wife, fiddler Erynn Marshall. Their latest releases are entitled Old Tin and Old Time Sweethearts Vol 1 & 2. www.dittyville.com
Christopher Henry is a second generation bluegrass musician. Son of Murphy and Red Henry, founders of the by-ear bluegrass instructional business, The Murphy Method, he grew up around the music and teaching. Christopher has been on stage for over 35 years and has taught for over 20 years. With his business, Noya Mountain Music, Christopher started doing Zoom workshops which he leads with David McLaughlin focused on learning Bill Monroe’s music by-ear. These workshops and the online video courses that accompany them have gotten international attention in the bluegrass world as a part of the unprecedented growth and flourishing of Monroe Style mandolin in recent years. He, his wife and stepson live in Charlotte, NC. (www.noyamountainmusic.com) Christopher@noyamountainmusic.com
Music has long been present in the life of Lauren Price Napier. Growing up, she learned to sing duet-style harmony with her twin sister, Leanna, by listening to their parents sing together. Although Lauren and Leanna were gifted instruments as children, it wasn’t until they attended a few workshops and festivals in their mid-high school years that they began to take a strong interest in bluegrass music. Lauren is a 2017 graduate of Morehead State University with a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Traditional Music and a minor in Business Administration. She holds the role of co-founder, mandolinist, and vocalist with The Price Sisters band – most of her professional work in the music industry comes from within that position. While still in college, Lauren and Leanna signed with Rebel Records, released an EP, and subsequently began touring as The Price Sisters. The Sisters’ released their first full-length album for Rebel, “A Heart Never Knows,” in spring of 2018. Fronted by Lauren and Leanna, The Price Sisters five-piece band to-date has performed at numerous venues and festivals across the United States, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
In 2016, 2017, and 2020 Lauren was among thoseinstructing at the Monroe Mandolin Campand MMC’s “Mini Mon Camp.” She has taught classes at Bean Blossom Bluegrass Bootcamp, the Bobby Osborne Mandolin Roundup, and at various festivals where The Price Sisters have performed. Lauren, along with her sister Leanna, has worked as an artist-in-residence with the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum and in June of 2019, was featured for an interview on Mandolin Cafe. Lauren was nominated for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) 2019 Momentum Vocalist of the Year and IBMA’s Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year for 2020, in addition to The Price Sisters’ band nomination for Momentum Band of the Year in 2019. Lauren was also selected as a class member for IBMA’s 2020 Leadership Bluegrass Program. When she’s not on the road performing, Lauren teaches skype, in-person, and private instrumental lessons for children and adults. Since the pandemic, Lauren has taught and created content for several virtual mandolin workshops/lessons for outlets including the Monroe Mandolin Camp, The Isolationist’s Guide to Mandolin, Noya Mountain Music, Davis and Elkins College Augusta Heritage Center’s Winter Sessions, the Handmade Music School, and the Louisville Folk School.
Befriended and mentored by Bill Monroe, the acknowledged Father of Bluegrass Music, Mike Compton is one of today’s foremost interpreters of Monroe’s genre-creating mandolin style. Compton’s mastery of mandolin is at once effortless and exceptional. A compelling entertainer either alone or with a group, his skills as a singer, arranger, instrumentalist, composer and accompanist also make him in-demand as a band member and ensemble player at festivals, clubs and concert halls, recording sessions, music workshops and as a private instructor.
Compton’s decades of touring and recording with musical luminaries ranging from rockstars Sting, Gregg Allman and Elvis Costello, to straight-fro-the-still acoustic legends like John Hartford, Doc Watson, Peter Rowan, Ralph Stanley and David Grisman, have established him as a true master of the modern American mandolin and a premier interpreter of roots and Americana musical styles. With over 140 CDS in his discography, Compton has helped keep mandolin a cool, relevant sound as the modern musical styles ebb and evolve to reach an every-broadening audience.
A native of Meridian, Mississippi, Compton picked up the mandolin in his teens and absorbed the area’s native blues, old-time country and bluegrass sounds. He soon gravitate to Nashville, where he helped found one of the 20th Century’s most admired and influential bluegrass groups, the iconic Nashville Bluegrass Band. He’s also been a part of the Hubert Davis Band, John Hartford Stringband, 1942, Compton & Newberry, and other seminal groups.
When A-list Americana producer T-Bone Burnett needed experts in authentic rural musical styles to anchor the landmark ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ movie project and subsequent tour, he called upon Compton’s unique knowledge and signature mandolin style to authenticate the Soggy Bottom Boys’ rootsy sound. That Grammy Award Album of the Year-winning album went on to sell seven million copies and sparked a global revival in old-time and bluegrass musical styles.
Connoisseur of hand-painted vintage silk ties, popularizer of the denim overall urban fashion statement, lover of iconic men’s hats and curator of oddball official days (ask him about National Lost Sock Memorial Day or National root Canal Appreciation Day), Mike Compton thrives at the intersection of traditional funk and modern authenticity.
Equally skilled in bluegrass, old-time string band music, country blues, roots Americana styles, and much more, Compton soars beyond easy categorization as n acoustic mandolin player and singer. Gifted at tastefully incorporating rural, roots-based learn and rhythm mandolin styles into modern Americana music, Compton’s unique musical skill set allows him to entertain audiences ranging from racers and urban hipsters to die-hard country, folk and bluegrass fans.
A mandolin master able to channel the Monroe-style playing better than anyone, Compton is a preservationist who continues teaching the music that Bill Monroe innovated, and which set the standard for generations of bluegrass mandolin players to come. For more information about Mike, visit his website at mikecompton.net
Carl Jones is an American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in Macon, Georgia. He presently lives in Hillsville, Virginia and is widely respected for his instrumental talents and original songs about the joys and tribulations of life in the south.
Christopher Henry is a second generation bluegrass musician. Son of Murphy and Red Henry, founders of the by-ear bluegrass instructional business, The Murphy Method, he grew up around the music and teaching. Christopher has been on stage for over 35 years and has taught for over 20 years. With his business, Noya Mountain Music, Christopher started doing Zoom workshops which he leads with David McLaughlin focused on learning Bill Monroe’s music by-ear. These workshops and the online video courses that accompany them have gotten international attention in the bluegrass world as a part of the unprecedented growth and flourishing of Monroe Style mandolin in recent years. He, his wife and stepson live in Charlotte, NC. (
