Narrows Center for the Arts

Kinky Friedman
Who else could have written a country song about the Holocaust ("Ride 'Em Jewboy"), or about a human being kept in a cage as part of a circus "Wild Man From Borneo"? Outrageous and irreverent but nearly always thought-provoking, Kinky Friedman wrote and performed satirical country songs during the 1970s and has been hailed as the Frank Zappa of country music....

Ronnie Earl
One of the finest blues guitarists to emerge during the '80s, Ronnie Earl often straddled the line between blues and jazz, throwing in touches of soul and rock as well. His versatility made him one of the few blues guitarists capable of leading an almost entirely instrumental outfit, and his backing band the Broadcasters became one of the more respected working units in contemporary blues over the course of the '90s, following Earl's departure from Roomful of Blues....

Tim O'Brien
Tim O'Brien is one of the spearheads of contemporary bluegrass. As co- founder and lead vocalist of Hot Rize and Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers, O'Brien served as a bridge between the traditional sounds of the hill country and the modern styles of bluegrass in the 1980s....

Chuck Prophet
Chuck Prophet hit the road straight out of high school in the '80s with the psychedelic roots band Green on Red and never looked back. In addition to working as a singer/songwriter, guitarist, bandleader, and musical collaborator with artists as diverse as Cake, Kim Carnes, Solomon Burke, and Alejandro Escovedo, Prophet's deepening solo catalog of self-produced "sideways" roots rock has steadily become his calling card....

Chris Smither
Having distilled his own signature sound of blues and folk for over 40 years, Chris Smither (http://www.smither.com) is truly an American original. A profound songwriter, Chris continues to draw deeply from the blues, American folk music, modern poets and philosophers with this 14th record of his lengthy career....