An exceptional evening of Americana, with the down-home simplicity and honesty of husband-and-wife duo Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart (impossible not to get swept up by the energy and enthusiasm with which these hard-working folks deliver their warm performances!), and adding a compelling counterpoint, Red House Recording artists folk-blues duo The Pines.

Stacey Earle's first show was on an arena stage in Sydney, playing rhythm guitar in her brother's band, Steve Earle & the Dukes, on "The Hard Way" tour in 1990. "I would learn a lot from him; first of all I was allowed to grow up understanding what a songwriter was. Then "I got a major crash course in touring as a musician" “Playing for Steve as a Duke, with the first show before thousands of fans in a foreign country, was not terrifying”, she said. "It was magical," she said. "I knew right there and then I'm supposed to be doing this." She spent about a year and a half on tour with her brother, and then returned to Nashville to start a career of her own as a country/folk singer/songwriter. It was there she found she had a lot more to learn, and a risk to take and lots of dues to pay.

Mark Stuart went to the finest of Music schools. Mark started his schooling listening and admiring his uncle’s guitar playing and his Dad’s fiddling. Learning and listening to the greats, Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, John Fogerty, The Beatles and many more players and singers of all genres. He would find himself playing in the School of Honky Tonks and Beer Joints in and around Nashville by age 15 in his Dad’s band. Managing somehow to stay awake in high school after playing late nights polishing every riff and bend and vocal chord, he would go on by age 17 to form his own band, make a record and still find the time to play on the road as lead guitar and vocals for acts like Freddy Fender and more.

Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart met for the first time 1991 at a songwriters night in Nashville TN. They knew that night it was one of them things that are just meant to be. They were married in 1992 while raising 2 children from Stacey’s first marriage,"When we got married I knew Mark understood he was marrying all three of us, and on that day he did." Stacey waiting tables, Mark playing night after night in and around Nashville from gigs to sessions balancing time to play their own music. Stacey and Mark each had their own solo carriers that started to make a move by opening their own Indie record label Gearle Records in 1998 with the release of Stacey’s Simple Gearle CD followed by Mark’s 1999 release Songs From A Corner Stage and continuing on with Stacey’s 2002 Dancing With Them That Brung Me, before Stacey and Mark would announce their husband and wife duo in 2001 with the release of their (Double Live CD) Must Be Live. “It would be quite a balancing act at that time raising a family and trying to make a living along with all the other stuff that came with getting by, “but we managed” Stacey said, she looks back at her first encounter with the world of touring.

Stacey and Mark over the years have lived and learned so much from each other. They have always found themselves inseparable from the beginning. It is playing music day in and out together that locked in the sound and love they could not unlock if they tried. Their songs are the diaries of their life good times and bad, completing the love they have. They share the full load together of getting by day by day. They live in Ashland City TN west of Nashville but call home the road most of the time. “Our children are all grown so we left home” for the past three years. They've gone on to release their Duo albums, together 2003 Never Gonna Let You Go and now 2005 “S&M Communion Bread. Stacey and Mark are no doubt together till death do them part.

Minneapolis based duo The Pines comprise Benson Ramsey, son of Trailer Records artist, producer, and guitar-slinger Bo Ramsey, and songwriting partner David Huckfelt. Mixing beautifully crafted love songs, brooding instrumentals, and spooky rockers, The Pines evoke the spirit of Dylan and Greg Brown, but also bring to mind genre-bending acts such as Calexico.

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