NPR News

Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards is enjoying a huge career boost with her new fourth album, Voyageur. Produced in part by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Voyageur sounds deeply personal and genuine: Edwards sings of failed marriages, life in the spotlight and the delicate happiness that comes with new beginnings.

The string band The Fox Hunt returns to Mountain Stage to dispense more dirt-laden tales of drinking, cheating and damnation around a single shared condenser microphone. Led by singer-songwriter John R. Miller, the Martinsburg, W.V., group assimilates influences that begin with early-20th-century string-band music and end with a variety of punk and rock.

A performer who perhaps best personifies the genre known as Americana, Jim Lauderdale has seen success in both country music and bluegrass. As a young man, Lauderdale studied acting at the North Carolina School of the Arts, but before long found himself in a music career that would take him all over the American soundscape.

John Gorka makes his 10th appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded on the road in Grand Marais, Minn., on the ground of the North House Folk School.

Singer-songwriter Cheryl Wheeler makes her 10th appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded on the road in Grand Marais, Minn. A natural entertainer and gifted storyteller, Wheeler possesses a remarkable ability to write both touching ballads and witty social satire.

Chicago-based singer-songwriter Musikanto makes his first appearance on Mountain Stage here. Combining elements of indie rock, folk and soul, his album Sky of Dresses has received positive attention from Paste magazine and the roots-music site No Depression.

Even though the band was making its first appearance on Mountain Stage, the acoustic roots trio Red Molly earned a standing ovation from the sold-out audience at the Paramount Theater in Bristol, Tenn./Va. Formed around a campsite at the 2004 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Red Molly spent the next six years becoming a crowd favorite at events like the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion and MerleFest.