Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as the “pros’ top banjo picker," Noam Pikelny is a founding member of Punch Brothers, a string ensemble which the Boston Globe calls “a virtuosic revelation" and the New Yorker describes as “wide-ranging and restlessly imaginative." In September of 2010, Noam was awarded the first annual Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass.Noam continues to broaden the awareness of the banjo in the mainstream through recent collaborations with Wilco, Fiona Apple, Norah Jones, Lindsey Buckingham, and Punch Brothers’ feature song on ”The Hunger Games” soundtrack. He's also a formidable traditional player who amazed the bluegrass world last year with his album "Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe."

Aoife O'Donovan (say EE-fa) hit the road as the lead singer and principal songwriter/song-finder of Crooked Still, which grew into one of the world’s most acclaimed progressive string groups over the last decade. The versatility and appeal of her voice brought her to the attention of some of the most eminent names in music and led to collaborations across a wide variety of genres with everyone from Alison Krauss to Dave Douglas, along with a role as vocalist on the Grammy-winning Goat Rodeo Sessions alongside Chris Thile, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Stuart Duncan. he making of Aoife O’Donovan’s debut album Fossils has hardly been a glacial affair, but it has spent rather more than a decade forming about in her creative subconscious. It was time well spent, for she’s crafted a beautiful, timeless record, the natural evolution of an accomplished singer and songwriter.