Fundraiser at Yee Haw for Mountain Ways.

WDVX is a media sponsor of “Pickin’ Up The Pieces”. A benefit for Southern Appalachia Tuesday October 22nd at Yee Haw Brewing Company on North Broadway in Knoxville. This special event will feature East Tennessee’s Own Wyatt Ellis and, Alex Leach with the Bluegrass All Stars featuring Justin Moses, Barry Bales, Sierra Hull, Tim Stafford, and Biscuit Davis! Plus Robinella,   Cruz and Billy Contreras, Jay Clark and more. More information coming soon.

Mountain Ways is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing the hospitality and values of the Appalachian region to those facing natural disasters and tragedies.
Inspired by the community spirit that brought neighbors and friends together during the 2016 Great Smoky Mountain wildfires, Joe and Jessi Baker founded the organization to share the core mountain values of hospitality and helping your neighbors. The Bakers’ commitment to the foundation is to cover every penny of the administrative costs, ensuring that 100% of all donations will go directly to those in need. If you can’t make the show click on the logo to donate.

Wyatt Ellis
Born not far from the Great Smoky Mountains, Wyatt Ellis’ first recollection of hearing the mandolin was Bobby Osborne’s iconic solo on the Osborne Brothers’ bluegrass classic “Rocky Top.” Hearing the Tennessee bluegrass anthem echo throughout the early years of his childhood is what led Wyatt to set his sights on learning to play mandolin. With his schedule packed with school, Boy Scouts and team sports, it was hard to find time for music.

When he was almost 10 years old, Wyatt talked his dad into buying him a used mandolin so he could learn to play it just like Bobby. Soon, he began weekly mandolin lessons in his hometown and quickly developed a strong desire to attend local bluegrass jams. He told his non-musical parents that he wanted to play his new mandolin alongside other bluegrass pickers.

Alex Leach
Musician & East Tennessee’s Own show host Alex Leach bring some bluegrass as well to this event.

Justin Moses
Justin Moses is an award winning multi-instrumentalist celebrated as one of the most versatile musicians in all of acoustic music. A prominent Nashville session musician, he has appeared on stage or in the studio with an endless diverse list of artists such as Alison Krauss, Del McCoury, Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Bruce Hornsby, Béla Fleck, Peter Frampton, Rosanne Cash, Marty Stuart and Barry Gibb among many others. He has been named Dobro Player of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association five times and once by the SBGMA (2023), and was nominated for Musician of the Year by the Americana Music Association in 2022.

Justin’s full-length solo album “Fall Like Rain” was released on Mountain Fever Records in 2021, garnering IBMA Album of the Year, Collaboration of the Year and Instrumental of the Year nominations. No Depression said “Fall Like Rain showcases Moses’ astonishing range as a musician and contains a dazzling musical variety. Fall Like Rain is, and will be, one of the best albums of the year.”

Sierra Hull

In her first 25 years alone, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Sierra Hull hit more milestones than many musicians accomplish in a lifetime. After making her Grand Ole Opry debut at the age of 10, the Tennessee-bred virtuoso mandolinist played Carnegie Hall at age 12, then landed a deal with Rounder Records just a year later. Now 28-years-old, Hull is set to deliver her fourth full- length for Rounder: an elegantly inventive and endlessly captivating album called 25 Trips.

Revealing her profound warmth as a storyteller, 25 Trips finds Hull shedding light on the beauty and chaos and sometimes sorrow of growing up and getting older. To that end, the album’s title nods to a particularly momentous year of her life, including her marriage to fellow bluegrass musician Justin Moses and the release of her widely acclaimed album Weighted Mind—a Béla Fleck- produced effort nominated for Best Folk Album at the 2017 Grammy Awards.

Robinella
Robinella’s career began with a sort of luck that rarely comes to most artists within their lifetime. What started out as a simple husband-and-wife duo fresh out of college quickly grew to a full-fledged band that blended Bluegrass, Country and Jazz. The combination of Robinella’s honey-sweet vocals with violin, mandolin, bass, drums and piano captivated audiences, thus creating the ever popular Robinella & the CC Stringband.

They released their first album, self-titled Robinella and The CC Stringband, in 2000, which quickly followed, No Saint, No Prize in 2001. Both were on the independent label Big Gulley Records. With a few simple twists of fate, what followed was a whirlwind of rapid success – Columbia Records liked what they heard and signed Robinella in 2002. The label took seven songs from the band’s two prior albums and released them as the CD Blanket for My Soul and then released a full album in 2003, Robinella and the CC Stringband. This led to a national tour including opening for such artists as Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Earl Scruggs, Nickel Creek, Robert Earl Keen, Kasey Chambers, Del McCoury and Rodney Crowell as well as an appearance on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and a music video on CMT for their hit single, “Man Over”. She also performed on NPR’s “Mountain Stage,” appeared on the Grand Ole Opry and performed on PBS’s “SoundStage.” In 2006, Robinella was nominated for “Emerging Artist of the Year” at the Americana Music Awards and released her fourth album, “Solace for the Lonely”, on Dualtone Records in Nashville.

Tim Stafford
Tim was born and raised in Kingsport, Tennessee. His mother’s Browder side of the family was musical, and his twin sisters play piano and sing. After starting out on drums, Tim discovered bluegrass in the mid-1970s as a freshman at Ketron High School, becoming a banjo player. He switched to guitar in the late 70s and became a member of several groups, including Mountain Memories and The Boys in the Band. In the late 1980s, Tim formed Dusty Miller with Adam Steffey and Adam’s wife at the time, Tammy Rogers (later a founding member of the Steeldrivers), Brian Fesler (Band of Ruhks) and Barry Bales. Alison Krauss hired Tim, Adam and Barry in 1990 and Union Station proceeded to record a Grammy-winning CD, Every Time You Say Goodbye (Rounder, 1992). After leaving the band in 1992 to spend more time with his family, including his infant son Daniel, Tim worked odd jobs and taught at different colleges and universities until he formed Blue Highway in 1994 with Wayne Taylor, Shawn Lane, Rob Ickes and Jason Burleson. The band is one of the most decorated and influential in bluegrass history, having been nominated for 3 Grammys, winning a Dove Award, and 32 IBMA Awards. In March 2016, Blue Highway was named the most popular bluegrass artist in history in an online poll by Bluegrass Today. “Lonesome State of Mind,” written by Tim with Bobby Starnes, was named the most-played song of 2023. The song is the title track of their most recent album–their 13th–released on Down the Road Records in 2024.

Tim is a prolific songwriter, with over 300 songs recorded. He co-wrote IBMA’s 2008 Song of the Year, “Through the Window of a Train,” and was named IBMA’s Songwriter of the Year in 2014, 2017 and 2023. In addition, he is a sought-after studio musician, having recorded with over 75 artists in addition to Blue Highway, including Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney, Jorma Kaukonen, Jesse McReynolds, Benny Sims, Marty Raybon, Joe Isaacs, Ronnie Bowman, Charles Sawtelle, Tony Trischka, Larry Sparks, Jim Mills and many others. Tim was named SPBGMA Guitar Performer of the Year in 2001 and 2015. He has produced many award-winning records for various artists, including Kenny Chesney, The Infamous Stringdusters (IBMA 2007 co-album of the Year) , and Knee Deep in Bluegrass, the Acutab Sessions (IBMA 2001 Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year). Tim performed many times with Hazel Dickens, including the Lincoln Center in New York (2006), Sundance Film Festival, Park City, UT (2005), Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, San Francisco, CA (2010), and Wintergrass, Tacoma WA (2003). He has taught at nearly all the bluegrass-oriented camps, including Rockygrass Academy, Camp Bluegrass (South Plains College, TX), Augusta Heritage, Wintergrass Academy, Sore Fingers (UK), Bluegrass at the Beach, Nashcamp, Kaufman’s Flatpicking Camp, California Bluegrass Association Camp at Grass Valley, St. Louis Flatpick, Resosummit, Summergrass Academy, Grand Targhee, Great Lakes Music Camp, Bluegrass Masters Weekend, Ashokan Bluegrass Camp, MBOTMA Fall Jam Songwriting workshop intensive and Nashville Flatpick and Songwriting Camp.

Barry Bales
Barry Bales is an American musician best known as the long time bass player[1] and harmony vocalist for Alison Krauss and Union Station. He has been in the band for around 25 years. The 2012 Grammy was awarded as a member of the Union Station band on Paper Airplane. He is also a member of The Earls of Leicester.

Biscuit Davis
Gary “Biscuit” Davis is a world-class musician and banjo champion. He holds a total of five National Banjo titles and is known throughout the world for his accomplishments.

Starting at the age of ten, Gary has always enjoyed banjo and bluegrass music. He began his path to becoming the only five-time national banjo champion with a love of his craft, and a determination to succeed.

Gary’s experience speaks for itself. He played for Dolly Parton for more than 20 years and spent much of that time as her band leader. He was not only a staple at Dolly’s Stampede and Dinner Pre-show but has performed in Dolly’s Kin folks Show at Dollywood, as well as the park’s Smoky Mountain Jubilee and has played all over the world, with recent tours in Australia, Asia, and Europe.

Cruz Contreras

Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, and producer Cruz Contreras has roots in Tennessee and Michigan, but has impacted Americana music worldwide.

The frontman, founder, and driving force behind The Black Lillies’ raw and rootsy sound also co-founded Robinella and the CCstringband, and has collaborated with musicians ranging from John Oates and Jim Lauderdale to Langhorne Slim and The Turnpike Troubadours. His projects have topped both the Billboard and Americana radio charts, won Independent Music Awards, and been nominated for the Americana Music Association’s Emerging Artist of the Year award. After over a decade touring under the name The Black Lillies, Contreras wrapped up the band in 2019 and is performing under his own name.

Over the years, Cruz has appeared on nationally broadcasted television including Late Night with Conan O’Brien, CMT, VH-1, GAC, Bluegrass Underground and PBS Television’s Sun Studio Sessions. His music has been lauded by outlets as diverse as American Songwriter Magazine, Rolling Stone, NPR’s Morning Edition and Vanity Fair, among others. As an independent artist, Cruz has played Nashville’s lauded Grand Ole Opry 40 times over the years. Contreras is currently at work on his debut solo album, ‘Cosmico’.

Billy Contreras
Billy is a fiddler from Nashville TN. He grew up learning from and playing as fiddle partner to Buddy Spicher. He plays fiddle with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder. Billy has played or recorded with Lionel Hampton, George Jones, Zach Bryan, and Bela Fleck among others. He enjoys playing, teaching, recording, and composing music.