Past Events › The Green Room

The sonically innovative harpist, Brandee Younger, is revolutionizing harp for the digital era. Over the past fifteen years, she has worked relentlessly to stretch boundaries and limitations for harpists. In 2022, she made history by becoming the first Black woman to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition. That same year, she was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Ever-expanding as an artist, she has worked with cultural icons including Common, Lauryn Hill, John Legend, and Moses Sumney. Her current album, Brand New Life, builds on her already rich oeuvre, and cements the harp’s place in pop culture.

Lynn Seaton has performed at festivals world wide including the Bern, Concord, JVC, Kool, Kyoto, Chicago, Nice, Elkhart, Kansas City, Montreal, Edmonton, Newport, North Sea, Perugia, West Coast, San Sebastian, Ottercrest, Topeka, Sarasota, Paradise Valley and Poori. At present, Lynn is freelancing and touring as a performer and clinician with a variety of people.

Already being hailed as “the next Woody Guthrie,” DC resident Crys Matthews is among the brightest stars of the new generation of social justice music-makers. A powerful lyricist whose songs of compassionate dissent reflect her lived experience as what she lightheartedly calls “the poster-child for intersectionality,” Justin Hiltner of Bluegrass Situation called Matthews’s gift “a reminder of what beauty can occur when we bridge those divides.” A former drum major and classically-trained clarinetist turned folk singer, Matthews is using her voice to answer Dr. Martin Luther King’s call to be “a drum major for justice.” Crys Matthews’s thoughtful, realistic and emotional songs speak to the voice of our generation and remind us why music indeed soothes the soul.

Pedal and lap steel guitar ace Roosevelt Collier, so proficient he’s affectionately known as “The Dr,” released his solo debut, Exit 16, on GroundUP Music. It’s a potent mix of blues, gospel, rock and, in his words, “dirty funk swampy grime,” as overseen by producer and Bokanté bandmate Michael League (from the Grammy-winning Snarky Puppy). Brought up in the House of God Church in Perrine, Florida, Roosevelt built his “sacred steel” guitar prowess alongside his uncles and cousins in The Lee Boys, known for their spirited, soul-shaking live performances.

Larry & Joe is the duo of Joropo maestro Larry Bellorín (Monagas, Venezuela) and GRAMMY-nominated bluegrass and oldtime star Joe Troop (Winston-Salem, North Carolina). These two virtuosic multi-instrumentalists fuse their respective Venezuelan and Appalachian folk traditions on the harp, banjo, cuatro, fiddle, upright bass, guitar, and maracas to prove that music has no borders. Their bilingual (esp / eng) program includes storytelling, humor, and singalongs.

Stalwarts of the Memphis music scene for over 30 years, The Reba Russell Band has traveled the world, released eight albums and four singles. The band received a prestigious Brass Note on Beale Street in 2018 and continues to record and perform their dynamic original blues to audiences everywhere. Vocalist, producer, songwriter Reba Russell is a prolific studio backing vocalist on a variety of projects including artists, Al Green, Tracy Nelson, Duane Betts, U2, and a host of others. A song recently written by Russell, WHY NOT YOU, (Sister Lucille Band) is currently nominated for Song and Video of the year by the Josie Awards, based in Nashville.

Angelic vocals singing infectious melodies while simultaneously laying down a mesmerizing groove on the bass and drums — The PRVLG, a set of twins hailing from Memphis, Tennessee. Simmered in soul from the birthplace of rock and roll, the pair has crafted a sound that is radically authentic, vintage but modern.

Alice and Josh are a folk/rock duo that is both woodsy and jammy. Improvisation is a specialty of both performers, and they will often “go off the beaten track” often in order to keep every show fresh and spontaneous.