Sam & Ruby is the Nashville-based duo of Sam Brooker and Ghanaian-born Ruby Amanfu. Both accomplished performers and songwriters in their own right, they met at a writer's night in Nashville in 1999, began working together, and became what they call musical soulmates. Their song "Heaven's My Home," was nominated for a Grammy in its recording by the Duhks and was featured in the film "The Secret Life of Bees." Sam & Ruby gently blend R&B, folk, and pop into a sound that's immediately warm and welcoming, but, Ruby says, "We try not to fear honesty in our writing and tackle the things that hurt, the things that aren't always pretty. Sam & Ruby were recently named Discovery Artist of the Year by Sirius-XM radio's Coffee House channel. They're joined on tonight's show by Sweden's Abalone Dots, who mix bluegrass, country music, Swedish folk sounds, and harmony singing. Recording for the major label Sony/BMG, they performed at Nashville's legendary 12th & Porter club and basically blew away the crowd of assembled country music industry heavyweights. Naming Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek, Eva Cassidy, Joni Mitchell, the Trio (Dolly, Emmylou, and Linda), and the Be Good Tanyas as influences, they're poised to become Sweden's next big musical export, and they recently appeared at San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.