Hexfest Performers

Mike Cross North Carolina's favorite fiddling storyteller thrills audiences with 12-string bottleneck blues, fiery Irish jigs, and a wealth of his own music and stories filled with backwoods humor. Mike has headlined at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Spring Gulch Folk Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Merlefest, Walnut Valley Festival, and is in constant demand at major events throughout America. Picking, fiddling and joking, Mike Cross lives to delight and entertain, and we are proud to feature him for a return performance at Hexfest.

Steve Kimock is one of the finest improvising guitarists on the planet. Steve has been the lead guitarist for Bruce Hornsby, Phil Lesh, the Other Ones, the Steve Kimock Band, and has been the featured instrumentalist with a multitude of notable artists on many recordings and tours. In 1988 Jerry Garcia called him "my favorite unknown guitarist" but he is well known now. Steve will be doing a performance set and a rare guitar workshop on Sunday. You do not want to miss this opportunity to learn the unique harmonic concepts of this Guitar Master!

Dave Fry been up to his ears in roots music for a long time. He's been integral in many groups: the Shimersville Sheiks, Steppin' Out, and Pavlov's Dawgs, to name just a few. But it is as a solo performer that Dave revels, mixing blues, swing, bluegrass, Celtic, and rock and roll on guitar, banjo and mandolin. As a solo entertainer, there are few that have his ability to engage any audience with his stage craft, with his wry and spontaneous commentary on American life from a working-class entrepreneur. Instrumentally, Dave is adept at flat picking, finger picking and plays a remarkably percussive rhythm guitar. Dave adds mandolin and banjo, and will often put down his instruments for a raucous a capella song. Dave also founded and was Artistic Director of Godfrey Daniels, the nationally recognized legendary Bethlehem folk club, for 25 years.

Druckenmillers are a family Old-Time band featuring banjo, guitar, fiddle and mandolin. Tom, Betty, Nathan, and Stacy sing and perform early country and dance music from back before Bluegrass was invented. Expect a real good time!

Steve Walker The host of the Hexfest, Steve Walker has shared the stage with such noted and diverse performers as Tom Rush, New Riders of the Purple Sage, McCoy Tyner Trio, Merl Saunders, and Dark Star Orchestra. Steve plays original and traditional music on six, twelve string, and slide guitars, banjo, mandolin, and harmonica. He'll be hosting the Open Stage on Saturday, teaching a Harmonica Workshop Sunday, and keeping the jams smoking in the campgrounds at nite.

Boris Garcia is quickly becoming a national favorite with their distinctive blend of folk, roots, jam/grass, backporch, and pop. The songwriting talents of Bob Stirner, Jeff Otto, and Gene Smith seamlessly blend timeless, traditional music with honest stories. Multi-instrumentalists all, a typical Boris Garcia performance features a bevy of textural, stylistic, and instrumental shifts. Their genre-bending music yields a sound that can only be described as Boris Garcia.

Vuja De is something you’ve never experienced before. Killer vocals, smokin’ yet sweet guitar, bass that rises you up off your feet, and drums that ignite your inner fire. This band from the Boyertown/Reading area has been playing to happy people for almost eight years. They started out as a cover band, interpreting the likes of Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin and plenty other obscure but classic covers you don’t hear in a club, or on the radio for that matter. Their foray into original music has been just what you’d expect-different, exciting, soulful. Their sound is their own, but they’re more than happy to share it. They are four people with the same desire: breathe life into music so that the people may dance and sing!

Born Cross-Eyed has been playing the music of the Grateful Dead, classic rock and folk, and their own sparkling original compositions throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania and beyond for 28 years. Their jams range from mellow acoustic tunes to foot stomping bluegrass to swinging jazz to grooving blues to powerful rock, creating both enjoyable listening and exciting dance music. After a hiatus from performing, Born Cross-Eyed is back with all original members: Jody Neifert on guitar and vocals, Rick Palski on bass and vocals, Mark Ervin on drums and percussion, and Steve Walker on guitar, mandolin, harmonica, and vocals. Be there as they shake it down on Friday night at Hexfest!

Berks Jazz Project is a group of three musicians who combine an encyclopedic knowledge of songs and genres with a "jam-band" mentality. They play an eclectic mix of staight ahead jazz, roof-raising blues, and progressive rock. They mix genres in spontaneous and unique ways. Dave Carlino, Gary Wenzel, and Gerry

Werner might play a funk jam version of "Eleanor Rigby" or sound like Ray Charles, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Buddy Rich playing "My Favorite Things" that is part John Coltrane and part Iron Butterfly. They are ultimate masters of groove. They are joined by the incomparable Rose Hudson, whose gut-wrenching vocals and in-your-face stage

presence grab you by the soul and don't let go.

Kris Kehr has been performing live music for almost twenty years now, a lot of it spent either locally (Solo, Electric Farm, Pavlov’s Dawgs) or in State College (solo, Stone Poets). For the last 4 years he has been travelling around the eastern United State performing either by himself, with bassist Chris Q as LOWdOGS or with The Recipe. He has sat in with the likes of Vassar Clements, Tom Paxton, Mike Gordon, Vince Welnick, and Tom Constanten but will be performing a set of his own songs solo on the guitar at Hexfest this year.

Bushmans Blend Out of the Lehigh Valley comes an explosive sound strong enough to back a musical renaissance. A live and ever evolving musical tree,Bushmans Blend is the band
seeking new levels in the entertaining enlightment of all people. Tribal rhythms are the Blend's epicenter,the guitars & bass seap; jazz, rock, reggae, blues, folk, funk, punk, just to name a few. With a live & internet following continuly expanding, Bushmans Blend is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. Join the tribe today!

Dakini is a four - piece original band from Hegins, Pennsylvania. They create a flowing musical experience which is truly unlike anything else. With influences from all genres of music, Dakini is pure Rock with a driving energy that can satisfy any and all who come to experience the show. Together for eight years, Dakini has established themselves as one of Pennsylvania's most original, exciting, diverse, everchanging, improvisational bands

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