RICKIE LEE JONES
Born in 1954 in Chicago, Rickie Lee Jones eventually settled in Los Angeles in the mid 1970s and began performing in clubs, where she honed her beatnik melodies and rubbed shoulders with fellow bohos like Tom Waits. In 1979 her self-titled major-label debut, featuring the huge hit single "Chuck E's in Love," blasted Jones into the commercial stratosphere. Critics couldn't get enough of her jazzy vocals, poetic wordplay and gorgeous melodies. But Jones was not destined to remain a strictly "commercial" artist. A basic refusal to conform to any musical genre or niche—as evidenced in a long string of radically different kinds of records, from folk to jazz to R&B-flavored—sealed her destiny as both a critical darling and an uncompromising cult heroine. During the summer of 2005, Rhino released the three-CD anthology Duchess of Coolsville, a celebration of a quarter century of great music. Thirsty Ear is proud to welcome Rickie Lee Jones to Santa Fe.

BEAUSOLEIL avec Michael Doucet
BeauSoleil is, quite simply, the most esteemed Cajun group on the planet. Fiddler Michael Doucet is well known for his mission to keep the unique southern Louisiana culture and music from extinction, but that hasn't stopped his band from innovating. BeauSoleil continually spices its Cajun gumbo with elements of zydeco, New Orleans jazz, Tex-Mex, country and blues, keeping the music vital and contemporary. Doucet formed BeauSoleil in 1975 with Louisiana's finest Cajun musicians. Their band name literally means "good sun" and is a reference to a fertile region in Nova Scotia, where the band's 17th-century, French-speaking ancestors lived prior to their migration to Louisiana, where they became "Cajuns." Over the past three decades BeauSoleil has made albums that range from very traditional to experimental. They've won Grammys and opened for the Grateful Dead. BeauSoleil's latest recording, Gitane Cajun (Gypsy Cajun), on Vanguard Records, is their 27th release.
In addition to BeauSoliel's main stage performance, Michael Doucet will give a hands-on, family-oriented lecture-demonstration on the history of Cajun music at 6pm Sunday on the Grand Hotel Stage. BeaSoleil's appearance received support from Western States Arts Federation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

OTIS TAYLOR
"It stuns me that something so nakedly cruel can also be so captivating, that within a tragedy that still drives some folks mad, Taylor has found beauty, even if it is a very savage beauty."
—Playboy

Guitar Player magazine claims that Otis Taylor is "arguably the most relevant blues artist of our time." He's certainly one of the most original and hard hitting. Unique instrumentation (he fancies banjo and cello), etherial background vocals, poignant storytelling based in sometimes brutal history, and a voice like no other has earned Taylor a distinguished and singular niche in the blues genre. Born in Chicago in 1948, after his uncle was shot to death the family moved to Denver, where his adolescent's interest in blues and folk was cultivated at the famous Denver Folklore Center. That's where he bought his first instrument: a banjo. It's also where he first heard Mississippi John Hurt and country blues and where he learned to play guitar and harmonica. Early groups eventually segued into a classic lineup and a string of critically acclaimed albums, including White African (2001, NorthernBlues), a stark and brilliant record that earned four W.C. Handy nominations and won the award for "Best New Artist Debut." A slate of fine records would follow, in which Taylor continued to nurture his "trance blues." His latest outing, Below The Fold, is due this month on Telarc Records. We're proud to welcome Otis Taylor back for his second Thirsty Ear Festival appearance.

ALVIN YOUNGBLOOD HART
Alvin Youngblood Hart is one of only a handful of young African-American bluesmen who combine a love and deep respect for tradition with an experimental side that is taking the blues form to new heights. Winner of numerous prestigious blues awards (including Living Blues and Downbeat album of the year awards, and a recent WC Handy Best New Blues Artist honor), Hart literally represents the future of the blues in America. Combining elements of blues, soul, jazz, and power-chord rock & roll, you will not find a more compelling mix of soulful vocals and musical versatility on the scene today. In addition to a mainstage set with his full-on electric trio, Alvin will host Sunday's late-night blues jam.

JAMES McMURTRY
Widely considered one of the finest songwriters of his generation, James McMurtry's song stories teem with workingman's angst. His colorful characters — painted with deep sensitivity for the human condition — are usually downtrodden, lovelorn and sometimes violent. With his longtime rhythm section The Heartless Bastards, he pounds out highly melodic Texas-flavored roots rock that is sometimes tender and meandering, sometimes bold and scorching. It's been pointed out that his reputation as a great lyricist often overshadows his guitar virtuosity. Born in Fort Worth, Texas and raised mostly in Virginia, he's been playing guitar since age seven. His first national recognition came with an award at the 1987 Kerrville Folk Festival, followed by a recording contract with Columbia Records, where he recorded his classic initial trio of albums. In 1996 he signed to Sugar Hill Records where he's been creating a body of work that rivals his better-known Texas peers Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt. His latest is Live In Aught-Three, which captures James McMurtry and the Heartless Bastards at the top of their game.

TARBOX RAMBLERS
The Tarbox Ramblers, led by gravel-voiced Michael Tarbox, tap deep into the raw, old-timey cottonfield rants of Old Mississippi and the delirious, pre-Depression America of Dock Boggs. The Boston-based band makes modern records and original tunes with a spooky, moan-y backwoods feel that fall into a no-man's land between the past and present. Even when the band rocks with uptempo, joyously primitive rhythms — often slathered with piercing slide guitar and big beats — there's still a haunted, echo of things past quality. In a short time the band has gained a national following and become a critical darling with its raw, longing, lusty, tough, intimate, imaginative, shadowy, sonic and confrontational music. It's latest disc, A Fix Back East (Rounder), which charts the thickets and narcotic backwaters of need, desire and regret, is by turns elegant and nerve-endingly raw. We are jazzed to welcome the Tarbox Ramblers for their first Thirsty Ear Festival performance.

EARL THOMAS
Reminiscent of Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Al Green, Earl Thomas' voice is an emotion-laden shot of pure soul. Born into a musical family in East Tennessee and raised on a steady diet of Stax records, Thomas has been singing from an early age — combining elements of blues, rock and soul into his repertoire. Whether singing with a full band or a stripped-down acoustic duo, Thomas' remarkable, smoky voice is always front and center. A respected songwriter, his compositions have been covered by Etta James, Solomon Burke and Screamin' Jay Hawkins, to name a few. Thomas' latest record, Soul'd, celebrates the great Southern soul tradition that is so central to his sound.

NELS ANDREWS & THE EL PASO EYEPATCH
Albuquerque's own Nels Andrews crafts gorgeous, spare songs that sound as big and spacious as the country itself. Offering stories of the shadowy figures we rarely notice but are oddly familiar — from La Llorona, siren of the acequias and rivers, to that favorite uncle you've never met — he calls his music "a testament to the hobos and the shadowy places in every heart." Highly regarded as one of the region's finest songsmiths, he resides in the same creative musical pool that produced the Shins and Hazeldine. His recent debut for Catamount Records, Sunday Shoes, is already considered a local classic.

THE BELIEVERS
Reaching #18 on the Americana charts, The Believers' latest record, Crashyertown, has catapulted the twangy duo of Cynthia Frazzini and Craig Aspen from their Nashville home base to stages throughout the country. Boasting a vocal chemistry based on the idea that opposites attract — Aspen's rough-and-tumble street-smart style wears well against Frazzini's gentle, transparent voice — The Believers' lyrical landscapes are painted over a sound that is reminiscent of the country music of past decades. Music that is rife with harmonica, electric and acoustic guitars, dobro, mandolin and steel. We're happy to welcome The Believers, who kick off the festivities Saturday on the main stage.

ALEX MARYOL BAND
One of the Southwest's most beloved artists, Alex Maryol has been rocking his native state with an uptempo, contemporary blues band for years. His debut CD, They Call Me Lefty, immediately established him as the most impressive blues-based guitarist of the talented young crop of Santa Fe players. By age 20, the guitarist-vocalist-songwriter had landed a spot on the Thirsty Ear Festival stage along with many of his heroes. Soon he was playing some of the country's biggest stages, including the Telluride Blues & Brews and King Biscuit Festivals. Maryol's latest album, Make Everything Alright, is a typically high energy electric blues rock concoction featuring mostly original compositions. Alex and his band headline Friday evening with a set of rocking blues, followed by a multi-artist blues jam. Welcome back, Alex.

HUNDRED YEAR FLOOD
Formed in Austin and now based in Santa Fe, where the band's southern-fried roots rock has captivated the town, Hundred Year Flood's repertoire ranges from beautiful folk-rock ballads to gritty country punk to frenzied twang. Vocalist Felecia Ford — THE BIG VOICE — cut her teeth on the theatrical stage, as well as Austin's underground roots scene. Bill Palmer's songwriting and guitar playing is steeped in Brit-pop, Texas country tradition and folk poetry. And drummer Jim Palmer and bassist Kendra Lauman lay down a solid base. The band's third and newest disc, Cavalier, was released on Frogville Records in 2004.

JOE WEST
He's been called a "trailer park crooner" and a "time-traveling Mark Twain gone punk." Santa Fe's own Joe West is the regional king of humorous, sometimes biting, beer-drenched tales of love, booze and UFOs. Widely considered one of New Mexico's best songwriters, West spent time in Austin in the late nineties, rising to the top of the highly competitive Austin Music scene, earning a regular spot at Austin's renowned Continental Club, and nearly sweeping the Austin Chronicle's Readers Poll in 2000. In 2001, West moved back to his hometown of Santa Fe and caught the attention of Frogville Records, for which he recorded his latest two highly addictive forays into twangy, witty weirdness. Joe, his band and friends will host Saturday's late-night Americana stomp on the Saloon Stage.

RAISING CANE
They call New Mexico home, but they hail from the flat cornfields of the Midwest and the misty Appalachians. They've walked the back roads of red-clay Georgia and the folds of the Blue Ridge hill country. They're as at ease in dusty badlands as beside whispering mountain creeks. They're Raising Cane, and they're one of the hottest bluegrass bands in the Southwest. Adding a distinct Southwestern flavor to their spirited bluegrass, in just a year's time the band has released a highly-lauded CD, appeared at numerous festivals, and opened for the likes of Peter Rowan & Tony Rice, the Nashville Bluegrass Band, Rhonda Vincent & the Rage, and Blue Highway. If you love good bluegrass, you won't want to miss Raising Cane as they host Saturday's late-night bluegrass stomp on the Saloon Stage.

CHRIS DRACUP & TOMMY ELSKES
A life-long resident of New Mexico, Chris Dracup began performing at the age of 16 in his hometown of Taos and has since sung and played guitar in some of New Mexico's favorite bands, including the Muttz, the Rattle Cats, and most recently the Chris Dracup Project. He has logged time in both the Austin and Nashville music scenes, but currently resides in Albuquerque. Largely known for his soulful electric blues guitar work, he also draws heavily from country blues and improvises in the spirit of jazz. For some time now, Dracup has been combining forces with Tommy Elskes, whose music combines gospel, R&B, blues, rock, country and folk. Dracup, Elskes and a full band will play a spirited set on Sunday afternoon.

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