Much like community, music nourishes us mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It also invites us to come together under the same roof and in a shared moment. In similar fashion, John Craigie rallies a closeness around music anchored by his expressive and stirring songcraft, emotionally charged vocals, lively soundscapes and uncontainable spirit. The Portland, Oregon-based singer, songwriter and producer invites everyone into this space on his 2024 full-length album, Pagan Church. Following tens of millions of streams, sold out shows everywhere, and praise from Rolling Stone and more, he continues to captivate.

“The music is always evolving and devolving with each new record,” he observes. “With my last album Mermaid Salt, I really wanted to explore the sound of isolation and solitude as everyone was heading inside. With this record, I wanted to record the sound of everyone coming back out.”

In order to capture that, he didn’t go about it alone.

Instead, he joined forces with some local friends. At the time, TK & The Holy Know-Nothings booked a slew of outdoor gigs in Portland and they invited Craigie to sit in for a handful of shows. The musicians instinctively identified an unspoken, yet seamless chemistry with each other. Joined by three of the five members, Craigie cut “Laurie Rolled Me a J” and kickstarted the process.

With the full band in tow, they hunkered down in an old schoolhouse TK & The Holy Know-Nothings had converted into a de facto headquarters and studio, and recorded the 11 tracks on Pagan Church.

An incredible journey has brought Craigie to this point. He has consistently packed venues across the country, gracing bigger stages each time he rolls through town. His annual #KeepItWarm Tour has become a holiday tradition as it supports regional non-profits focused on fighting food insecurity with a donation of $1 from each ticket purchased.

Showcasing another side of his voice, he has recorded “Beatles Lonely” versions of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road,  recording these seminal albums live to sold out audiences, and releasing them on vinyl for Record Store Day 2022 & 2023. Beyond touring with Langhorne Slim, Brett Dennen and Bella White, he has also sold out his annual river trip on the Tuolumne River, just outside of Yosemite in California and graced the bills of Newport Folk Festival, Pickathon, Mariposa Folk Festival, High Sierra Music Festival and many more.

Born and raised in Morrison, Colorado – a tourist town in the foothills outside of Denver that’s home to Red Rocks Amphitheater – Jobi Riccio grew up surrounded by music and found inspiration in artists ranging from Sheryl Crow to Joni Mitchell. Sonically, Jobi’s music exists between worlds, melding the classic craftsmanship of her songwriting with modern indie-leaning production to forge a lush, expansive sound that feels traditional and experimental all at once.

She has received significant acclaim for her songwriting, including winning the 2019 NewSong Music Competition and the 2019 Lee Villiare Scholarship from her alma mater Berklee College of Music. More recently Jobi was awarded the 2023 Newport Folk Festival John Prine Fellowship, chosen as a 2024 Luck Reunion Artist On The Rise and is nominated for the Americana Music Association’s 2024 Americana Honors and Awards in the category of Emerging Artist of the Year.

Her debut album, Whiplash (out now on Yep Roc), has garnered praise from The New York Times, Billboard, NPR, and The Nashville Scene to name a few. “This is the kind of album where you leave knowing an artist better than you ever thought you could in less than 40 minutes, and learn a thing or two about yourself in the process,” says Marissa R. Moss, who named Whiplash her number one Country album of 2023 for Stereogum. Not one to be confined into any one mold, Riccio’s Whiplash introduces influences from a variety of genres, while still holding space for her love for all decades of country and Americana music.

Shelly C. Lowe is Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Lowe is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and grew up on the Navajo Reservation in Ganado, Arizona. From 2015 to 2022 she served as a member of the National Council on the Humanities, the 26-member advisory body to NEH, an appointment she received from President Obama. Lowe’s career in higher education has included roles as Executive Director of the Harvard University Native American Program, Assistant Dean in the Yale College Dean’s Office and Director of the Native American Cultural Center at Yale University. Prior to these positions, she spent six years as the Graduate Education Program Facilitator for the American Indian Studies Programs at the University of Arizona.

Lowe has served in a variety of leadership roles nationally, most recently as a member of the University of Arizona Alumni Association Governing Board and of the Challenge Leadership Group for the MIT Solve Indigenous Communities Fellowship. She has served on the board of the National Indian Education Association and as a trustee on the board for the National Museum of the American Indian.

Lowe holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, a Master of Arts in American Indian Studies and has completed doctoral coursework in Higher Education from the University of Arizona.