Past Performers

Joey Lauren Adams (host)

As an actress in both studio and independent films, Adams has enjoyed a long string of commercial and critical successes. Her most acclaimed performance in the hit film Chasing Amy earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. Originally hailing from North Little Rock, Arkansas, Adams began acting early in life, performing at local church productions. Arriving in Los Angeles as a teenager, she soon received her first big break with roles on television shows such as "Married With Children" and "Top Of The Heap." She moved into feature films such as Dazed And Confused, Coneheads, S.F.W., Michael, Bio-Dome, Mallrats, Big Daddy, Bruno, Harvard Man and The Break Up.

Paul Overstreet (co-host and performer)

After graduating from high school at the age of eighteen, singer/songwriter Paul Overstreet moved from the bayous of Mississippi to Nashville. Equally gifted as both a country vocalist and songwriter, Overstreet has visited the Top 10 more than a dozen times as an artist. In November 2003, Overstreet was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He has won numerous awards including: NSAI Songwriter of the Year in 1986 and BMI Country Songwriter of the Year in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991. "Love Can Build a Bridge" won a 1991 GRAMMY^® for Best Country Song, and his second GRAMMY is for 1987's "Forever and Ever Amen," the latter of which also won honors from the ACM, CMA and NSAI.

Marty Stuart

Marty Stuart was born in Philadelphia, Mississippi, just a few months prior to the first GRAMMY Awards^® ceremony. He started performing bluegrass before his teen years began and worked with such greats of the genre as Lester Flatt, Vassar Clements and Doc Watson. Johnny Cash became his country-music mentor in 1980 when Stuart joined his backing band, and within five years Stuart started releasing singles and albums on his own. A member of The Grand Ole Opry for two decades, he is a past President of the Country Music Foundation, he continues to serve on the organization's board and has authored several scholarly works on country music history for the CMF journal. He is a four-time GRAMMY Award winner.

Charley Pride

Charley Pride unofficially started his music career in the late 1950s as a ballplayer with the Negro American League's Memphis Red Sox singing and playing guitar on the team bus between ballparks. Self-taught on a guitar bought at the age 14 from Sears Roebuck, Pride would join various bands' onstage as he and the team roved the country.

Dozens of Pride's chart toppers now stand as modern classics. "Kiss An Angel Good Morning" went on to be a million-selling crossover single and helped Pride land Country Music Association Awards as Entertainer of the Year in 1971 and Top Male Vocalist in 1971 and 1972.

Pride continues his illustrious career with the release of Comfort of Her Wings on Music City Records. The album shows that Charley has not slowed down and proves his voice is as good, if not better than ever.

Dorothy Moore

Multi-GRAMMY award nominee, Dorothy Moore played Madison Square Garden, NYC and London's Palladium when she burst on the scene with the classic "Misty Blue" in 1976.

Some recent Dorothy Moore recognitions were a Blues Trail Marker placed at the Alamo Theater in Jackson Mississippi in 2008, and the first ever Monterey Bay Blues Festival Lifetime Achievement award in 2006. Another first for Moore was the release of her children's book Little Dorothy October, 2006.

Moore's professional career started in the 1960s as the lead singer of a trio called the Poppies. After one Poppies album with Epic label, she went solo. Moore has nearly forty years of professional work in the music and entertainment industry and eighteen albums to her credit.

Legend singer Dorothy Moore was honored with a sidewalk marker of her likeness in 2001 at the Alamo Theater on Farish Street, Jackson, Mississippi where she started her professional career. Moore received the first ever Rhythm & Blues Award in 1976. Local honors have included the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1996, Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame in 2001 and numerous Jackson Music Awards. Moore serves on the board of the Memphis-based Blues Foundation and B.B. King Museum Advisory Board. She tours, produces and records from Jackson, Mississippi.

Brandon Bennett

Brandon Bennett has the distinct honor of being named the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist for 2008. This is the official title given by Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.

Brandon is now taking his talents on the road in a high energy show that features all eras of Elvis's career. His uncanny ability to entertain an audience is unmatched. His ability to recreate Elvis's performances from the 50's to the 70's concert years will have his audiences on the edge of their seats.

The show will take the audience on a journey through Elvis's career. Highlighted by the King of Rock and Rolls introduction to the world in the 1950's, the hits from some of Elvis's 33 movies, the famous 1968 television appearance that marked Elvis's return to live performances and of course the concert years that are now so symbolized by the powerful vocals, high energy stage performances and the legendary jumpsuits.

Pinetop Perkins

Pinetop Perkins is one of the last great Mississippi bluesmen still performing. He began playing blues around 1927, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest blues pianists of all time. He created a style that has influenced three generations of piano players, and will continue to be the yardstick by which great blues pianists are measured.

Ironically, Perkins waited for his eighth decade to blossom as a headliner, releasing fifteen solo records in fifteen years beginning in 1992. Born in the Delta, his Telarc debut documented an amazing historical figure and offered an abundance of entertainment value for contemporary audiences. On his 1998 release, Legends, Perkins collaborated with master blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin. Together they blended the traditional delta blues sound with modern electric blues rock, showcasing the timeless spirit and energy of this inherently American art form. Both CDs - Born in the Delta and Legends - were nominated for GRAMMY Awards in 1997 and 2000, respectively. These were followed by a 2005 GRAMMY nomination for Ladies Man, released on MC Records.

Other awards and accolades include a National Heritage Fellowship in 2000 from the National Endowment for the Arts. He was a consistent annual winner of the Blues Foundation's Blues Music Award for Best Piano Player until 2003, when he was retired from the award, which now bears the name Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year Award. In 2005, he was presented with The Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award® at the Academy's annual Special Merit Awards. He was featured in the Piano Blues documentary, an installment directed by Clint Eastwood for the Martin Scorsese PBS series, The Blues.

Eddie Cotton

Eddie Cotton was born the son of a preacher in Jackson, Mississippi, and began playing guitar at the age of four. He attended Jackson State University where he majored in music and began playing professionally at local clubs. In 1995, he left college to pursue his musical ambitions, which led to the creation of a band called The Mississippi Cotton Club. Cotton's impassioned, soulful vocals and fluid, biting guitar combined with his powerful stage presence left no doubt that a new king was claiming his throne as one of the best guitar players to rise from the Mississippi Delta in many years.

The Williams Brothers

The Williams Brothers today are comprised of Melvin Williams, Doug Williams and Henry Green and date back to 1960, just two years after GRAMMY Award's inception, when Leon "Pop" Williams founded the group. They began recording in 1973 on their own Blackberry Records, the first black-owned-and-operated record label in Mississippi, and have received six GRAMMY^® nominations as they continue to dominate the soul-gospel genre with three number 1 Billboard singles and sixteen top ten albums. With their constant output of new recordings and original compositions, The Williams Brothers are widely considered the most prolific quartet within the entire gospel genre.

Nanette Workman

Mississippi Music Hall of Famer Nanette Workman has enjoyed international success in two languages. Having hosted her own show in Jackson, Mississippi as a teenager, Workman soon gained enough confidence to take on the world. At eighteen years old, after performing on Broadway in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying", doors began opening for her in Quebec, England and France.

With an indelible voice that grips your soul and holds on for dear life, Workman is featured prominently on iconic albums by the The Rolling Stones, and has graced works by the likes of John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, to name but a few. Workman quickly mastered the French language and became a veritable superstar in Quebec. She later toured Europe with the French rock icon, Johnny Hallyday. She has recorded over three hundred songs including several chart topping French albums and singles. Workman's version of "Lady Marmalade," which she just performed with Celine Dion at Quebec's 400th Anniversary on the Plains of Abraham, is still considered the best version by many. Workman, who is also a musician and songwriter has come full circle and is reclaiming her roots. Keeping true to her roots she has recorded three blues albums over the last 6 years. Those albums, Roots 'n Blues, Vanilla Blues Cafe, and Mississippi Rolling Stone have all won top awards at both Montreal and Toronto Blues Festivals. She is a Mississippi girl born and raised and undeniably THE Honky Tonk Woman!

James Burton

James Burton's musical career is long and storied, comprising recording and touring with such notables as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Denver, Ricky Nelson, Emmylou Harris and Elvis Costello, just to name a few. As a session guitarist for the last half-century, Burton's distinctive sound can be heard on countless recordings, and in 2001, he received his long-deserved recognition when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Burton also founded the James Burton Foundation, which is dedicated to providing musical scholarships and instruments to children and young adults. Keith Richards, Rolling Stones guitarist and longtime Burton fan who inducted him into the Hall of Fame, best summed up his contribution to music: "I never bought a Ricky Nelson album, I bought a James Burton album."

Eden Brent

Eden Brent's piano playing and singing style ranges from a melancholic whisper to a full-blown juke joint holler. She's simultaneously confident and confiding, ably blending an earthy meld of jazz, blues, soul, and pop as she huskily invites listeners into her lazy, lush world.

Whether booked as a solo artist or bandleader, Brent's performance is fresh and spontaneous, often filled with audience requests and participation. Her unshakable talent and her carefree demeanor have taken her across the country and around the world, with appearances at the Kennedy Center, the 2000 Republican National Convention, the venerable Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and tours of South Africa and Norway under her belt.

With the 2008 release of her new album Mississippi Number One, Brent is now ready to take her place as one of the fresh voices propelling this vital American music forward. As Chip Eagle, publisher of Blues Revue, BluesWax, and Dirty Linen says, "in Eden's huge playing and singing you can hear the ghosts of Mississippi in a duet with the future of the blues."

James Burton

James Burton's musical career is long and storied, comprising recording and touring with such notables as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Denver, Ricky Nelson, Emmylou Harris and Elvis Costello, just to name a few. As a session guitarist for the last half-century, Burton's distinctive sound can be heard on countless recordings, and in 2001, he received his long-deserved recognition when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Burton also founded the James Burton Foundation, which is dedicated to providing musical scholarships and instruments to children and young adults. Keith Richards, Rolling Stones guitarist and longtime Burton fan who inducted him into the Hall of Fame, best summed up his contribution to music: "I never bought a Ricky Nelson album, I bought a James Burton album."

Brandy

GRAMMY Award - winner Brandy Norwood is a superstar actress, R&B/Pop singer, songwriter, host, spokesmodel and record producer. She released her self-titled debut album at the age of fifteen and has since recorded a series of hit CDs that has established her position as one of the most successful R&B/Pop female vocalists to emerge in a generation. The Recording Industry Association of America ranks Norwood as one of the best-selling female artists in American music history, having sold over 20.5 million albums worldwide. Brandy is a native of McComb, Mississippi and her civic and charity interests include the Make-A-Wish Foundation and The Norwood Kids Foundation, which supports music and the performing arts in public schools. Brandy is currently recording her much anticipated fifth studio album on Epic Records due sometime this year.

Mavis Staples

Soul and gospel legend Mavis Staples possesses one of the most recognizable and treasured voices in contemporary music. From her early days sharing lead vocals with her groundbreaking family gospel group, The Staple Singers, to her storied solo recordings, Staples is an inspirational force in modern popular culture and music. A veteran of the music scene for over 40 years, this Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, National Heritage Fellowship award winner and Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inductee was included on VH1's list of 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll. Staples is responsible for blazing a rhythm & blues trail while never relinquishing her gospel roots.

The Williams Brothers

The Williams Brothers today are comprised of Melvin Williams, Doug Williams and Henry Green and date back to 1960, just two years after GRAMMY Award's inception, when Leon "Pop" Williams founded the group. They began recording in 1973 on their own Blackberry Records, the first black-owned and -operated record label in Mississippi, and have received five GRAMMY nominations as they continue to dominate the soul/gospel genre with three No. 1 Billboard singles and sixteen top ten albums. With their constant output of new recordings and original compositions, The Williams Brothers are widely considered the most prolific quartet within the entire gospel genre.

Paul Overstreet

After graduating from high school at the age of eighteen, singer/songwriter Paul Overstreet moved from the bayous of Mississippi to Nashville. Equally gifted as both a country vocalist and songwriter, Overstreet has visited the Top 10 more than a dozen times as an artist. In November 2003, Overstreet was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He has won numerous awards including: NSAI Songwriter of the Year in 1986 and BMI Country Songwriter of the Year in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991. "Love Can Build a Bridge" won a 1991 GRAMMY^® for Best Country Song, and his second GRAMMY is for 1987's "Forever and Ever Amen," the latter of which also won honors from the ACM, CMA and NSAI.

Joey Lauren Adams

As an actress in both studio and independent films, Adams has enjoyed a long string of commercial and critical successes. Her most acclaimed performance in the hit film Chasing Amy earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. Originally hailing from North Little Rock, Arkansas, Adams began acting early in life, performing at local church productions. Arriving in Los Angeles as a teenager, she soon received her first big break with roles on television shows such as "Married With Children" and "Top Of The Heap." She moved into feature films such as Dazed And Confused, Coneheads, S.F.W., Michael, Bio-Dome, Mallrats, Big Daddy, Bruno, Harvard Man and The Break Up.

Eddie Cotton

Eddie Cotton was born the son of a preacher in Jackson, Mississippi, and began playing guitar at the age of four. He attended Jackson State University where he majored in music and began playing professionally at local clubs. In 1995, he left college to pursue his musical ambitions, which led to the creation of a band called The Mississippi Cotton Club. Cotton's impassioned, soulful vocals and fluid, biting guitar combined with his powerful stage presence left no doubt that a new king was claiming his throne as one of the best guitar players to rise from the Mississippi Delta in many years.

Kathy Thibodeaux

Kathy Thibodeaux, founder and artistic director of Ballet Magnificat! stepped into the spotlight of the international dance world in 1982, winning a silver medal at the International Ballet Competition. Thibodeaux was raised in Jackson, and trained at the Jackson Ballet School. She later became one of the first contracted dancers at the Jackson Ballet Company (later Ballet Mississippi) in 1978, dancing as a principal until 1986. She is married to Keith Thibodeaux, executive director of Ballet Magnificat!, who is the former child entertainer best known as "Little Ricky" on the "I Love Lucy" television series.

Hannah Holgersson

The beautiful and talented Hannah Holgersson never leaves her audience untouched! Her voice has brought her to countries such as China and Taiwan to headline concerts. Since she was very young, Holgersson has been a part of orchestras, choirs and a variety of shows and concerts. In 2004, she earned degrees in Solo Singing and Pedagogy of Singing at the Royal Music Academy in Stockholm, where she has been taught by the best. Holgersson has also appeared on television shows such as the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest.

Beatrice

A well-known artist on the Scandinavian music scene, Beatrice performs a unique blend of folk, rock, country and Scandinavian influences. Beatrice began singing when she was a young girl, when her mother would play the piano and she would sing along. Her passion for country music was born after she was given the opportunity to sing the Dolly Parton song "High and Mighty." Through the years, Beatrice has been singing and dancing in variety shows, such as "Christmas At Hilton," "The Blue Moon Bar Show," "The wild west show" and countless others.

Anorah

Anorah works as a demo and backup singer in Sweden, but her voice is heard all over the world. Celine Dion, Enrique Iglesias, Danii Minogue, Diana Degarmo, Kathryn McPhee, Lindsey Lohan, Vanessa Hudgens, Stephany McIntosh and many other marquee artists have showcased Anorah's voice on their albums. When she's not singing, she works as a voice-over actress, and has worked on television series for Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.

Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis, a longtime resident of Hernando, Mississippi, and one of the first artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has enjoyed a phenomenal career that dates back to before the inception of the GRAMMY Awards. As a Sun Records artist, he came to prominence under the same auspices as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins. He continues to draw audiences around the world and in 2006 released Last Man Standing, an album of duet performances with Bruce Springsteen, B.B. King, Little Richard, Eric Clapton, Toby Keith, Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger, Neil Young, Jimmy Page and others. He is a GRAMMY Award winner, a recipient of the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award and two of his recordings - "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" and "Great Balls of Fire" - are in the GRAMMY Hall of Fame®.

Marty Stuart

Marty Stuart was born in Philadelphia, Mississippi, just a few months prior to the first GRAMMY Awards ceremony. He stared performing bluegrass before his teen years began and worked with such greats of the genre as Lester Flatt, Vassar Clements and Doc Watson. Johnny Cash became his country-music mentor in 1980 when Stuart joined his backing band, and within five years Stuart started releasing singles and albums on his own. A member of The Grand Ole Opry for two decades, he is a past President of the Country Music Foundation, he continues to serve on the organization's board and has authored several scholarly works on country music history for the CMF journal. He is a four-time GRAMMY Award winner.

The Williams Brothers

The Williams Brothers today are comprised of Melvin Williams, Doug Williams and Henry Green and date back to 1960, just two years after GRAMMY Award's inception, when Leon "Pop" Williams founded the group. They began recording in 1973 on their own Blackberry Records, the first black-owned and -operated record label in Mississippi, and have received five GRAMMY nominations as they continue to dominate the soul/gospel genre with three No. 1 Billboard singles and sixteen top ten albums. With their constant output of new recordings and original compositions, The Williams Brothers are widely considered the most prolific quartet within the entire gospel genre.

The North Mississippi Allstars

The North Mississippi Allstars, a blues-rock trio that includes brothers Luther (guitar) and Cody Dickinson (drums) and Chris Chew (bass), has been a centerpeice of blues-rock within the jam band movement for more than ten years. Their very first release, Shake Hands With Shorty, was nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Contemporary Blues Album, and they have since received two additional nominations. Luther and Cody are the sons of legendary music producer/session man Jim Dickinson and grew up in Hernando County, Mississippi, where they were exposed to the area's endemic hill country blues as performed by R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, both huge influences on the blues-infused musical direction the band would take. They are heard on the soundtrack to the film Black Snake Moan and are one of the headlining bands booked to play this year's Bonnaroo Festival.

Carola

With the exception of Carola, all of the headlining artists set to perform at the event were born in or are long-term residents of Mississippi. Carola's involvement reflects the far-reaching impact of Mississippi music and the fact that she has enjoyed international success with hit songs associated with Elvis Presley. Born Carola Maria Haggkvist, but professionally known only by her first name, she represented Sweden three times in the Eurovision song contest, most recently last year, and enjoyed tremendous chart success with an Elvis Presley medley. She is one of Sweden's top musical exports since the advent of ABBA.

James Burton

James Burton's musical career is long and storied, comprising recording and touring with such notables as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Denver, Ricky Nelson, Emmylou Harris and Elvis Costello, just to name a few. As a session guitarist for the last half-century, Burton's distinctive sound can be heard on countless recordings, and in 2001, he received his long-deserved recognition when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Burton also founded the James Burton Foundation, which is dedicated to providing musical scholarships and instruments to children and young adults. Keith Richards, Rolling Stones guitarist and longtime Burton fan who inducted him into the Hall of Fame, best summed up his contribution to music: "I never bought a Ricky Nelson album, I bought a James Burton album."