Stacy Mitchhart began his professional career in Cincinnati, Ohio, playing the club circuit there and gaining widespread attention in the early 1990s. In 1996, he moved to Nashville to take up residence as house band at the Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar in famous Printer’s Alley.

In 2003, Mitchhart received the ‘Albert King Most Promising Guitarist Award’ at the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee. His album, Gotta Get The Feeling Back Again album was considered for a Grammy Award in 2008. Stacy Mitchhart was inducted into the South Canadian Blues Hall Of Fame in 2016.

Stacy is married to wife, Tawana Mitchhart, and has three step-children, Kenzie, Milan, and CJ. They currently reside in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Otha Turner Boys Fife and Drum Band (OTB) consists of three members: Otha Andre Evans, DeMarcus Bowen, and Michael Wooten.

About Otha Andre Evans: Otha is the oldest grandson of the late Otha and Ada Turner. He began his musical journey at age 13, playing drums alongside his grandfather, the legendary Otha Turner. Otha’s passion for music developed early as he grew up watching his grandfather and his mother, Bernice Turner, perform Historical Folklore and Hill Country Blues music. He has been rooted in fife and drum music for many years, performing across the country, including a tour with the North Mississippi All-Stars in 2004. In 2020, Otha founded OTB, where he further honed his fife-playing skills. Committed to his music, he aims to uphold the legacy started by his grandfather. Otha is also a devoted family man, married to his wife, Larletha, for over 20 years. He is a man of faith who believes in keeping God first, and he is very grateful for the foundation laid by his grandfather and mother.

About DeMarcus Bowen: DeMarcus is a Mississippi folklore drum artist rooted in the raw, rhythmic soul of Delta and Hill Country traditions. Drawing inspiration from historic Black fife-and-drum legacies—such as communal picnics, goat roasts, and ancestral call-and-response beats—he channels African-derived polyrhythms, work songs, and spiritual energy into powerful, storytelling percussion that keeps Mississippi’s living folklore alive. Based in Memphis, Tennessee, DeMarcus blends deep cultural heritage with contemporary fire, creating immersive drum experiences that honor the past while resonating in today’s creative economy. Whether performing solo or collaborating across music, dance, and community events, his beats celebrate resilience, joy, and the unbreakable spirit of the South. DeMarcus is a proud carrier of tradition.

About Michael Wooten: Michael is a lifelong musician whose passion for rhythm began at age 8. As a skilled drummer with roots in folklore, gospel, and blues/soul music, he has spent years shaping his sound through tradition, culture, and experience. For the past 15 years, Michael has also performed fife and drum music, sharing his craft globally. His music has taken him overseas six times, with performances in Africa, Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, and throughout Europe. Dedicated to his craft and his faith, Michael also plays drums every Sunday at two churches, bringing energy and soul to worship through music. Coming from a deeply musical family, Michael’s talent is no surprise—his grandfather, Glen Faulkner, known as the King of the 1 String Guitar, helped lay the foundation for the musical legacy he proudly carries today.

Individually, JD Simo and Luther Dickinson are building their own legacies as solo artists, sidemen, songwriters, and guitar heroes. Together, they’re a creative force to be reckoned with, making their own version of amplified American roots music. On the pair’s first collaborative album, Do The Rump, the musicians trade blistering guitar solos, take turns at the microphone, and turn their classic influences — including hill country blues, spirituals, swamp rock, and Afrobeat — into something contemporary, reinterpreting a number of their old-school favorites into eclectic, electrifying anthems.
The partnership began onstage, where Simo and Dickinson first shared the spotlight as touring members of Phil Lesh and Friends. Dickinson had already established himself as co-founder of the Grammy-winning duo North Mississippi Allstars, as well as a celebrated guitarist for acts like Black Crowes and John Hiatt. Similarly, JD Simo had built an audience not only with his solo project, but also as a session musician for Jack White, Beyoncé, Chris Isaak, and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvismovie. Occupying the same stage felt different, though. “Playing with Luther immediately felt as easy as water flowing down a river,” Simo remembers. “We had all the same influences but we played nothing alike. Our styles just fit together. We didn’t have to think about it —it was just instinctual.”
Those instincts take center stage on Do The Rump, whose eight songs were recorded at House of Grease, Simo’s home studio in Nashville during a series of live-in-the-studio performances. There were no overdubs. No production tricks, either. Joined by drummer Adam Abarashoff — whose background in Afrobeat and jazz helped push Do The Rump’s music into unexpected directions — the friends captured spontaneity in its purest form, recording most of the songs during a single take, allowing a natural combination of grooves and guitars to lead the way.

From the bluffs of Memphis to the mountains of East Tennessee, through the Mississippi Delta, and with 21 years in Nashville, Blue Mother Tupelo oozes a deep kind of blue southern soul and rootsy country rock–a sound that’s been described as truly Americana. The married songwriting and recording duo of Ricky and Micol Davis, known as Blue Mother Tupelo, have been recognized for their natural way of playing off of each other’s voices, and their live performances are both soulfully raucous and tender.

With 7 albums to their credit, Blue Mother Tupelo’s songs and albums have achieved noteworthy recognition, charted at #5 in Americana, #2 in Euro-Americana, and reaching the Top 40 of U.S. Country. The duo was named Music Artist of the Year 2022 by The Southland Music Line and has been honored by Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) for being among ten featured songwriters to perform on “The New Sounds of Nashville” concert.

Blue Mother Tupelo

John Jackson is a Nashville guitarist with a road résumé that speaks for itself. His band John Jackson and the Rhythm Rockers was a Nashville staple through the 1980s and into the mid-’90s, while he also toured with Terri Gibbs, Kathy Mattea, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, and Jo-El Sonnier. He spent sevenyears as lead guitarist for Bob Dylan, joined Lucinda Williams for herCar Wheels on a Gravel Road tour, and anchored Shelby Lynne’s band for nearly two decades. He has also toured with Tom Jones.
Joining Jackson at Ode to Otha is a band of Nashville heavyweights: Joe V. McMahan, guitarist and producer; Bryan Owings, session drummer and longtime member of Emmylou Harris’s band; Ron Eoff, bassist for The Cate Brothers and The Band; Bob Delevante, songwriter and co-founder of The Delevantes; Rita Pfeiffer on fiddle; and Chip Greene on piano.

Raised on the southern outskirts of Nashville, Chip Greene grew up with a very different kind of Music City looming in the distance. The construction cranes and high-rise condos— now a ubiquitous part of Nashville’s ever-growing skyline — wouldn’t pierce the horizon for another decade or more, and creative-minded people were still in charge.

It was there, in a city fueled by art and filled with starry-eyed musicians, that Greene launched his career as a piano-pounding songwriter, reshaping the influences of his childhood — including Billy Joel, Charlie Rich, U2, and Bruce Springsteen — into his own brand of smoky, salt-of-the-earth rock & roll.

The Lineup for Otha!!