LEAD BELLY FEST ADDS SPECIAL GUEST KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD TO THE FEB. 4 CARNEGIE HALL SHOW

OTHER NEW ADDITIONS TO THE LINEUP INCLUDE: HITMAKER, EDGAR WINTER; AMERICAN SONGSTER, DOM FLEMONS; NYC PIANIST, JOHN DAVIS; NYC’S VERY OWN MARKY RAMONE, & NEW YORK STATE-RENOWNED BLUESMAN, GUY DAVIS.

Lead Belly Fest – the Carnegie Hall all-star celebration of the music and influence of Huddle "Lead Belly” Ledbetter on February 4, headlined by five-time GRAMMY Award winner BUDDY GUY along with the legendary Animals’ frontman ERIC “House of the Rising Sun" BURDON – today announced additions to the lineup. These include special guest multi-million seller, and GRAMMY-nominated blues rock guitarist, KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD; American songster, DOM FLEMONS; “Free Ride” singer EDGAR WINTER; New York state bluesman and Pete Seeger cohort GUY DAVIS; also now on the bill are renowned pianist JOHN DAVIS; and NYC’s very own MARKY RAMONE. 

A Spotify playlist of the artists performing at Lead Belly Fest is here.

Photos of artists performing at Lead Belly Fest are here.

+ Born in Shreveport, the same town where Lead Belly was born, Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s provenance virtually destined him to become a great bluesman. Twenty years into his recording career he continues to create genre-defining blues-infused rock n' roll. Shepherd has built an enviable resume as an accomplished recording artist, a riveting live performer and one of the most talented and distinctive guitarists of his generation. He has been dubbed “the guitarists’ guitarist”. Shepherd has sold millions of albums worldwide, received five GRAMMY® nominations, two Billboard Music Awards, as well as a pair of Orville H. Gibson awards, the Blues Foundation's Keeping The Blues Alive award and two Blues Music awards. He's had seven #1 blues albums and a string of #1 mainstream rock singles. As part of his GRAMMY Award-nominated CD/DVD ‘10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads’, he jammed with fellow blues musicians at Lead Belly’s grave.

+ Dom Flemons is the "American Songster," pulling from traditions of old-time folk music to create new sounds. Having performed music professionally since 2005, he has played live for over one million people just within the past three years. As part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, which he co-founded with Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson, he has played at a variety of festivals spanning from the Newport Folk Festival to Bonnaroo, in addition to renowned venues such as the Grand Ole Opry and such radio shows at NPR Fresh Air. Flemons was both host and performer at the recent Lead Belly 125 tribute concert at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC.

+ From Edgar Winter’s critically acclaimed 1970 debut release, Entrance, he has demonstrated his unique style and ability to cross the genre lines and do the unexpected. His early recording of "Tobacco Road" is a powerful, emotionally devastating masterpiece that propelled him into the national spotlight. With over 20 albums and numerous collaborative efforts to his credit, Edgar Winter has appeared in the film "Netherworld", and the TV shows The Late Show with David Letterman, and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

+  Guy Davis is an artist who has excelled in many disciplines; he is a musician, composer, actor, director, and writer. He has received accolades and praise for his performance off-Broadway as the legendary Robert Johnson in “Robert Johnson: Trick The Devil,” winning the Blues Foundation's "Keeping the Blues Alive Award”.  Likewise, he received rave reviews for his appearance on Broadway in “Finian's Rainbow”, playing the part originally played by the legendary Sonny Terry.  He has been nominated for nearly a dozen Blues Awards and has performed on such shows as Prairie Home Companion, Late Show With David Letterman and Late Night With Conan O'Brien. Most recently, he is nominated for two 2016 Blues Music Awards. A friend of Pete Seeger’s, the two used to perform “Midnight Special” in concert frequently. 

+ With his latest Newport Classic recording, Halley’s Comet: Around the Piano with Mark Twain & John Davis, pianist John Davis pays musical tribute to our country’s most celebrated and influential author whose career, like Davis’s, lies at the intersection of white and black culture and high and low culture in American society. The Twain-related works included on the CD, “played powerfully and with a rich palette” according to The New York Times, further Davis’ effort to define, excavate, and disseminate a previously-unacknowledged American roots music initiated by two earlier hit recordings on Newport Classic.

+ Marky Ramone is a New York original, best known for the 15 years he spent drumming for Rock & Roll Hall of Famers and MTV’s Lifetime Achievement Award winners The Ramones. He has also been a member of Richard Hell & the Voidoids, ayne County and The Backstreet Boys, and presently fronts Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg.

MUSIC MAKER RELIEF FOUNDATION EARNS PRAISE FROM NEW YORKER, THE NATION, WALL STREET JOURNAL AS WELL AS KUDOS FROM B.B. KING, BONNIE RAITT, TAJ MAHAL, DEREK TRUCKS, & MORE

Of late, the Music Maker Relief Foundation’s twentieth anniversary has earned press in the New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Wondering Sound, and more. But musicians are also praising the non-profit organization and record label. Here’s what some of roots music’s leading lights have said:

“We are the Music Makers [the book] highlights an essential part of our culture, providing us a glimpse into the lives of the amazing, and often little known, musicians of the American South. Tim Duffy has taken every opportunity to sustain a dimension of Blues culture that could easily be lost forever, and nowhere is that more apparent than in his new book.” –BB King

Clapton said, "Music Maker is a fabulous project, real evidence that the music I have always loved is alive and well." –Eric Clapton

“I think they’re doing wonderful work and I support them for keeping not only interest in the blues alive but the musicians themselves... The photographs in this book are not only beautiful, but reflect the deep love and dedication The Duffys have for both preserving traditional Blues culture and providing real support and opportunity for these wonderful musicians who might otherwise be forgotten.” –Bonnie Raitt

“Some of the best blues comes from unlikely places. Thanks to Music Maker for seeking out the real blues artists.” –Derek Trucks

“Having worked extensively with The Music Maker Relief Foundation, I can say without a doubt, it is one of the most amazing organizations I have dealt with. Tim's and Denise's dedication to preserving the quality of life and the music of these essential and historic musicians is unsurpassed. Congratulations on 20 years!” –Kenny Wayne Shepherd

"Through the efforts of the Music Makers Relief Foundation, these amazing people and artists have been able to live dignified lives. In many cases they were rediscovered during their golden years by Tim and Denise Duffy, then given the joy of new recognition by their families, peers and fans world-over!" –Taj Mahal

“I have never seen photographs generate so much of the atmosphere and personalities of blues music.” –John Cohen, The New Lost City Ramblers

Next up is "We Are The Music Makers," a new book out next week on Nautilus Press; ‘We Are the Music Makers,’ a 2CD set out September 30; and the Homecoming October 3-4 in North Carolina, featuring over 40 musicians performing in concert.