RICHARD THOMPSON
No artist to emerge in the second half of the 1960s has gone on to have a more productive and vital career than Richard Thompson. While still a teenager, he founded and fronted Fairport Convention, the most influential British folk-rock outfit in history. Thompson’s solo albums, beginning with 1972’s Henry the Human Fly, reveal a multidimensional artist who has followed his muse as boldly as fellow iconoclast Neil Young. The series of albums Thompson recorded during the 1970s and early ’80s with his then-wife Linda, including the exquisite Pour Down Like Silver and culminating in the devastating Shoot Out the Lights, charted the ups and downs of a relationship with unstinting candor. The last 20 years have seen a steady supply of critically acclaimed solo albums marked by consistent intelligence, taste and emotional purity—which is why so many of his songs have been covered by the likes of Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Del McCoury, Graham Nash, X and Los Lobos. Thompson is among the most distinctive of guitar virtuosos, earning a top-20 spot in Rolling Stone's list of all-time guitar greats. He is capable of breathtaking drama and sublime delicacy, depending on the song and the amp setting, if indeed an amp happens to be employed. It is indeed an honor to be hosting Richard Thompson at this year’s festival. PATTY GRIFFIN
Over the past 14 years, following the release of her stunning guitar-and-voice debut, a collection of love-gone-wrong demos appropriately entitled Living With Ghosts, Patty Griffin has gradually emerged as one of America's most talented and deeply emotive singer-songwriters. Emmylou Harris, a friend and collaborator who has covered Patty's songs, is amazed at how Griffin arose from obscurity a seemingly fully formed singer and songwriter. Griffin's poetic lyricism, ardent alto, and thoroughly melodic sensibilities come as natural, it seems, as breathing. The youngest of seven children, Griffin grew up in Maine listening to her mother sing and digging the Beatles, Springsteen and Rickie Lee Jones. A $50 guitar in hand, she began writing songs at sixteen, but spent much of her young adult life waiting tables. In 1992, Griffin's husband unceremoniously left her. Floored by the experience, she found herself performing her lovelorn songs in Boston area coffeehouses. The demo that would eventually become Living With Ghosts fell into a talent scout's hands, and she soon landed a recording contract with A&M. Over the years, a string of gorgeous, critically acclaimed albums have followed, cementing her position as one of Americana's leading ladies. BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO
"Buckwheat leads one of the best party bands in America; he can pump out zydeco two-beats or shift into rolling 12-bar blues, steaming all the way." — New York Times

By far the world's best-loved zydeco artist, maestro Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural Jr.'s mastery of the piano accordion is legendary. Dural was the first Zydeco artist signed to a major record label, to perform on a national television show, to launch his own record label. The four-time Grammy nominee's stellar recordings and tireless touring have taken the Bayou State native's Creole-French rave-ups and soulful breakdowns to new heights worldwide. The band plays a long list of super high-energy gigs year in and year out, and their music can be heard in a slew of major motion pictures and television shows. Buckwheat has collaborated with a who's who of musicians, including Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Willie Nelson and Dwight Yoakam. Born in 1947 in Lafayette, La., a close-knit community where many black people express their Creole heritage by speaking French and by playing and dancing to zydeco, Dural formed Buckwheat Zydeco in 1979. Over three decades, through hard work, superior musicianship, and uncommon talent, Buckwheat Zydeco has emerged as the best of the best. We are proud to present an American icon in a great outdoor setting. Bring your dancin' shoes. SHEMEKIA COPELAND
"Volcanic delivery and straight-from-the-gut realism...a masterful blend of fiery blues, ballsy ballads and electrifying rockers."—Vibe

When an 18-year-old Shemekia Copeland first appeared on the scene in 1997, everyone agreed that an unstoppable new talent had arrived. In the short period of time that followed, she amassed Blues Music Awards, Grammy nominations, Living Blues and DownBeat Critics' Poll Awards, and invitations to tour with legends such as B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Dr. John.

Born and raised in the tough, urban streets of Harlem, Shemekia was always encouraged to sing by her father, the late Texas blues guitarist Johnny Clyde Copeland, who brought her onstage to sing at Harlem's famed Cotton Club when she was just eight. A decade later, her huge, blast-furnace voice was being compared Etta James, Koko Taylor, and Aretha Franklin. Led Zep frontman Robert Plant has called her "the next Tina Turner." Copeland’s music reflects the streets she grew up on, where a daily dose of city sounds—from street performers to gospel singers to blasting radios—surrounded her. Her many records and famously energetic live shows showcase far-reaching material treading the ground where blues and soul meet rock and roll. We are happy to welcome one of American music’s most powerful voices for her first Thirsty Ear performance. JUNIOR BROWN
Guitar virtuoso and one-time Santa Fean Junior Brown combines the soul of country with the spirit of rock & roll. He’s played venues as diverse as the Grand Ole Opry and Saturday Night Live with equal confidence. “Just about the time they label me as some old time honkytonk singer, I throw something new in there that surprises them,” says Brown of rock audiences. “Do something to wow them without ruining the roots of country and they end up accepting the music that they would have been prejudiced against.” Following years as Austin's best-kept secret, Junior's early records established him as a crowd favorite, from Texas roadhouses to the hippest clubs of New York City. There's usually a wide-eyed look accompanying one who witnesses Junior's unique instrumental prowess for the first time. Junior invented his own guitar, one that combines the standard 6-string and the steel guitar. “I was playing both the steel and guitar, switching back and forth a lot while I sang, and it was kind of awkward. But then I had this dream where they just kind of melted together. When I woke up, I thought, You know, that thing would work!” In Junior's hands, the “guit-steel” is an amazing tool, leading major magazines like Musician to label him a genius. See for yourself when he tears up the main stage Sunday. ROSIE LEDET & THE ZYDECO PLAYBOYS
Like so many French kids raised in rural southwest Louisiana, accordionist, singer and songwriter Mary Roszela Bellard "Rosie" Ledet (pronounced led-dett), paid no particular attention to all the zydeco music that surrounded her in her formative years. Then, at age 16, she heard Boozoo Chavis at a zydeco dance, and her fate was sealed. Ledet provides a unique female presence in the male-dominated zydeco world. Her self-penned tunes, sung beautifully in Creole French and in English, are often often sly and lusty. She has released seven albums of her own material on the Maison de Soul label, with a backing band that includes her husband on bass, father on rub board, and nephew on drums. The Zydeco Playboys began performing in 1994 throughout the Texas-Louisiana area and gradually spread their touring base to include the rest of the U.S., including her first stop at the Thirsty Ear Festival last year. After five songs, her Thirsty Ear set was cut short by a brief lightning storm (the band didn’t want to leave the stage, but we pulled them because we thought electrocuting one of the festival’s most popular acts would set a bad precedent). We’ve been flooded with calls to bring her back ever since. Welcome back, Rosie. LITTLE FREDDIE KING
We first cottoned onto Fread Martin, a.k.a. Little Freddie King, a few years back when he released his great You Don't Know What I Know disc for Fat Possum, the great Mississippi label dedicated to overlooked older bluesmen who play gutsy, lo-fi blues. A hard-living character who has been playing the rural electric blues of his native Mississippi in the lowest bowels of New Orleans' now-devastated Ninth Ward for years, King and his band have a penchant for hard-hitting, minimalist chords and lyrics, delivered by a cracked, heavily lived-in voice. Much of King's material has an old-style R&B feel, but he is at his most charming when he strips it down to just guitar and vocals.

Born in McComb, Mississippi in 1940, Martin grew up playing alongside his guitar-picking father. He rode the rails to New Orleans during the early fifties where he met and was influenced by the country-cum-urban styles of itinerant South Louisiana bluesmen Polka Dot Slim and Boogie Bill Webb. Honing his guitar chops at notorious joints like the Bucket Of Blood (which he later immortalized in song), he jammed and gigged with Bo Diddley and John Lee Hooker, and played bass for Freddy King during one of the guitarist's stints in New Orleans. People began comparing the two musicians' styles; hence Martin's nom de plume. If you're looking for the kind of blues that defined the early years of the Thirsty Ear Festival—think R.L. Burnside, T-Model Ford, Paul Wine Jones—consider this a glorious return to form.

(Special thanks to John Henderson for putting Fread back on our radar.) SAMUEL JAMES
Channeling the spirit of Son House and Mississippi John Hurt, Samuel James is a master of fingerstyle, slide, banjo, harmonica, and piano, with a stunningly intuitive understanding of pre-war blues. James fully discovered his musicianship after a young woman broke his heart. He booked a flight to Ireland, figuring the gray, rainy climate would match his mindset, and learned harmonica from local street musicians. Collecting enough change to make it back home to Maine, he gave up a nascent painting career and dove headfirst into guitar. Still in his 20s, James’ second CD, Songs Famed for Sorrow and Joy, was recently released on the NorthernBlues label. He sums it up this way: “One artist, five days, nine mics, two guitars, one banjo, both feet for percussion and 100% acoustic. It was the hardest week of my life, which is saying something considering I grew up black in Maine in white foster homes.” Lovers of acoustic blues will not want to miss his opening set Sunday. SANTA FE ALLSTARS
What began as a "why not" proposal by a beer-hall waitress has gone on to become something of a small-town supergroup. Principle songwriter Joe West has long been the slightly askew alt.country king of Santa Fe, a songwriter with a left-field blend of campy parody and straight-up emotion. Multi-instrumentalist Sharon Gilchrist (from the Peter Rowan & Tony Rice Quartet) continues to enchant audiences with her musicianship and lovely countenance. Guitarist Ben Wright is a man just as comfortable ripping through a weird rock set as fingerpicking an old standard. And Susan Holmes, as upright as her bass, has been a rhythm section stalwart for years. Collectively they’re a can't-lose proposition. Their type of roots music—smart, fun, a little twisted—is the soundtrack to Santa Fe. HUNDRED YEAR FLOOD
Formed in Austin and based in Santa Fe, where the quartet'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. Driven by THE BIG VOICE of vocalist Felecia Ford and the inspired songwriting of guitarist-vocalist Bill Palmer, the band has just released its most ambitious project to date, Hell or High Water, on New Mexico's own Frogville label. The disc was produced by Andy Kravitz (The Stones, Dylan, Santana, John Lennon) and features guest appearances by Taj Mahal and Shannon McNally. ALEX MARYOL
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 1999 debut, 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. BILL HEARNE'S ROADHOUSE REVUE
Austin transplant Bill Hearne has long been among New Mexico's best-loved country acts. His credentials are impressive, to say the least. Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett, and Jerry Jeff Walker lent their time and efforts to bolster Diamonds In The Rough, Bill and Bonnie (his keyboardist/singer wife) Hearnes' major-label debut on Warner Western. Which makes sense, considering that Griffith used to sneak into clubs to see them play and Lovett once opened a show for them in Houston. "We try to take that old-time country feel and put that in songs with a strong lyrical content," says Bill, who has been performing with his own trio for the past few years. Last year, Hearne released Bill Hearne’s Roadhouse Revue on Santa Fe’s Frogville label. A four-piece ensemble featuring Auge Hays on pedal steel, the Roadhouse Revue revisits the retro-honkytonk music that Hearne spent many hours listening to as a youth in the late '50s and early '60s. PLEASURE PILOTS
Santa Fe’s own Pleasure Pilots play rocking vintage R&B, swing and jump music. Widely considered the best swing band in New Mexico, the energetic sextet is a favorite among dance enthusiasts. They pride themselves on recreating the roots of R&B from the ‘50s and early ‘60s with boogie-woogie piano, dual saxophones, a pulsing Hammond B3 and swinging arrangements. Bring your dancing shoes for this one.

---