As a young child, Stuart Duncan hung out in the Escondido, California, folk club where his father was the soundman. He was inspired by the music of Vassar Clements, Byron Berline, Dan Hicks and others. At age seven, he took up playing fiddle and now, more than four decades later, he has chalked up a career that includes two Grammy Awards and being named the International Bluegrass Music Association's Fiddle Player of the Year eight times, to date! He was a founding member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band and is perennially one of Nashville's most sought-after session musicians. His CD Stuart Duncan is on the Rounder label.

Suzy Bogguss

Growing up in Aledo, Illinois, Suzy Bogguss loved music. She joined the church choir, played the piano and drums, and bought her first 12-string with the money she earned from babysitting. She moved to Nashville in the mid-'80s and paid the bills by singing demos by day and performing three nights a week at a local rib joint. Now, more than a dozen albums later, and awards ranging from the Academy of Country Music's Top New Female Vocalist of 1989 to a Horizon Award given by the Country Music Association, Suzy has won acclaim in both country and contemporary music circles. Her new CD is Sweet Danger (Loyal Dutchess Records).

Nappy Brown

R&B pioneer Nappy Brown grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. He started singing in the choir when he was about nine years old. When he was 16, he and his cousins formed a gospel group, the Golden Crowns. He went on to sing with the Golden Bell Quintet, the Selah Jubilee Singers and the Heavenly Lights. But he always loved the blues, even though his mother called it "the devil's music." Among his early hits were "Don't Be Angry" and "I Cried Like A Baby." And there was "Night Time Is the Right Time" — written and recorded by Brown and a chartbuster for Ray Charles. His new CD, released more than 50 years after his first recording, is titled Long Time Coming (Blind Pig).

Ethan Uslan

Born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, Ethan Uslan studied classical piano at Indiana University and moonlighted as accompanist for an improv comedy troupe called Full Frontal Comedy. Now, this ragtime and classic jazz pianist makes his home in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he serves as visiting lecturer of music at UNC–Charlotte. He plays concerts, private events, silent-movie screenings and festivals. And this year, he walked away with the first-place trophy at the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, a competition held each May in Peoria, Illinois. Uslan's first CD, Carolina Moon, was released in 2006 on Rivermont Records.

Charles Wood

From the time he was five, Charles Wood practiced piano. Then everything changed: He heard Flatt and Scruggs, got a banjo for his 15th birthday, and learned Earl Scruggs' "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" note for note. Fast-forward several decades, and this Seneca, South Carolina-based five-string wizard has taken first prize at the National Bluegrass Banjo Championships held in Winfield, Kansas — twice. He teaches banjo, performs with several bands — Curtis Blackwell and The Dixie Bluegrass Boys, The Wild Hog Band, The Lonesome Road Band, and Doug McCormick and Southern State of Mind — and has recorded four albums. The most recent, Halo Over the Banjo, is a collection of gospel favorites.

Peter Johnson

Peter Johnson has played Klezmer music with Doc Severinsen and jazz with Dave Brubeck. He was a drummer for The Manhattan Transfer and for Gene Pitney. He has toured the world, but he always comes back to home base: St. Paul.