Les Bon Temps Bluegrass Fete

Growing up in Eastern Kentucky, Don Rigsby discovered bluegrass music early on. At age 5, Don learned to sing from a 1959 tape of Ralph Stanley singing “Hills of Home” and “Little Maggie.” Later, Don befriended two of Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys: Ricky Skaggs (Don’s cousin) and Keith Whitley. He learned guitar at age 12, then fiddle, dulcimer, and mandolin. While attending Morehead State University, Don was a member of TruGrass, and then in 1987, he joined Charlie Sizemore’s bluegrass band and stayed for two years. When he graduated in 1990, Don moved to Nashville and joined Vern Gosdin’s road band. Don’s first national exposure was with Bluegrass Cardinals from 1991 until 1993, then he joined J. D. Crowe and the New South from 1993 until 1995. Don joined the Lonesome River Band when Dan Tyminski left the band. Don stayed for six years and appeared on three of their albums: One Step Forward (1996), Finding The Way (1998), and Talkin’ To Myself (2000). The band included Don, Ronnie Bowman, Sammy Shelor, and Kenny Smith. When John Duffey suddenly died, Don filled in with the Seldom Scene. He was also part of the band Longview, with Dudley Connell and James King. The band released three albums: Longview (1997), High Lonesome (1999), and Lessons In Stone (2002). Other members included Joe Mullins (banjo), Glen Duncan (fiddle), and Marshall Wilborn (bass). Don and Connell sang Stanley Brothers-style high-baritone harmonies behind King. Don’s first solo album A Vision, released in 1999, was a collection of bluegrass gospel music. J. D. Crowe, Ralph Stanley, Sammy Shelor, Roy Huskey Jr., and Ricky Skaggs provide support. The album won the Association of Independent Music’s Gospel Album of the Year award. He also received the 1999 Bluegrass Now Magazine Fans’ Choice Award for Vocal Tenor of the Year, and the 2001 Governor’s Kentucky Star Award. In 2000, the title track from the album Empty Old Mailbox won the 2001 SPBGMA Song of the Year award. Guest artists on the album included Jerry Douglas, Tim Stafford, Stuart Duncan, J. D. Crowe, and Larry Sparks. Don recorded two albums with Dudley Connell (The Seldom Scene) in the Appalachian brother duet style: Meet Me By The Moonlight (1999) and Another Saturday Night (2001). In 2001 Don accepted a director position at the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music at Morehead State University. He remastered a series of local radio shows hosted more than three decades ago by Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley to be released on Sugar Hill. He also taught vocal harmony and folk/country music listening. Rock County was formed by Don in 2001. Other members included Glen Duncan (fiddle), Dale Vanderpool (banjo) Ray Craft (guitar), and Robin Smith (bass). They released two albums: Rock County (2002) and Rock Solid (2003). In 2003, Vanderpool was replaced by Scott Vestal, and Ray Craft was replaced by Keith Tew. The band broke up in 2004. 2003’s The Midnight Call featured Jim Hurst (guitar), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Carl Jackson, Rob McCoury (mandolin), Kenny Malone (percussion), and Vassar Clements. In 2006, Don released Hillbilly Heartache, his first album as the leader of his new band Midnight Call. The band includes Shayne Bartley (guitar), Jesse Wells (fiddle), Robert Maynard (bass), and Dale Vanderpool (banjo). In 2010, Don left the program at Morehead State to pursue music full time. He released Doctor’s Orders: A Tribute to Ralph Stanley. Stanley appears on the album, as do former Clinch Mountain Boys Larry Sparks, Ricky Skaggs, Charlie Sizemore, Steve Sparkman and Stanley’s lead guitarist, James Alan Shelton. In 2016, Don and David Thom collaborated on the album New Territory which also featured Peter Rowan, Randy Kohrs, and Tim Crouch. Also in 2016, Don formed Flashback, a band consisting of former members of The New South. The band consists of Don, Richard Bennett (guitar, lead vocals), Phil Leadbetter (resonator guitar), and Curt Chapman (bass). The band name was inspired by the title of the album J. D. Crowe released in 1995. Production and session work Don produced the album 40 by Larry Sparks, which in 2005 was awarded Recorded Event of the Year and Album of the Year by the IBMA. Don sang on Alan Jackson’s The Bluegrass Album in 2013, and a tour with Jackson included an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman on CBS.

Edgar Loudermilk, a two-time back-to-back SPBGMA “Bass Fiddle Performer of the Year” Award winner (2023 & 2024) , the 2024 Josie Music Awards “Bass Player of the Year” winner, and the 2016 BMAI Male Vocalist of the Year, is the proud bandleader of the Edgar Loudermilk Band. The Pinecastle Recording artist has garnered over 40 industry nominations and awards. 2024 Josie Music Awards “Musician of the Year, Bass/Upright Bass” Award 2024 SPBGMA “Bass Fiddle Performer of the Year” Award 2023 SPBGMA “Bass Fiddle Performer of the Year” Award 2023 SPBGMA “Songwriter of the Year” Nominee 2023 Five-Time Josie Music Awards Nominee 2023 Seven-Time ISSA Music Awards Nominee 2016 BMAI “Male Vocalist of the Year” Award 2016 BMAI “Bass Player of the Year” Nominee 2016 BMAI “Album of the Year” Nominee for “Georgia Maple" 2015 IBMA “Emerging Artist of the Year” Nominee "Among contemporary lead bluegrass singers, Edgar Loudermilk has one of the most distinctive, recognizable, and enjoyable voices in the business. His crisp baritone lead is powerful, cutting, and expressively tuneful. As with Russell Johnson and Junior Sisk, similarly strident voices, you can always find him in the mix and always want to." --Bluegrass Unlimited

Bluegrass and Gospel Music. Devon Avery Banjo-Vocals, Tres Nugent Bass-Vocals, Dennis Stewart Mandolin-Vocals, and Jamey Alwell Guitar-Vocals

For 35 years, Jonathan Causey has ministered across the country sharing his love for the LORD through his music. Throughout the 1980's, along with Jerry and Tammy Sullivan, Jonathan has shared the stage with some of the greatest Country and Gospel Artists such as Marty Stuart, Ricky Skaggs, Emmylou Harris, the Chuck Wagon Gang, the Hinson's, The Isaac's and many more. Now, he shares that experience with his partner and son, Jon Gideon, carrying on the mission and the ministry of the family with fervor and conviction. Jon Gideon has not only excelled as a talented musician but is also a walking miracle and a perfect example of God's healing grace. In 2004, Jon Gideon, was born with spina bifida and has exceeded all medical expectations. In 2019, Jon Gideon, at the age of fifteen, was presented with an award from the state of Alabama for excelling in his health, education, and music.

Growing up in rural Mississippi, music was always a part of the Sibley home. Many of Alan’s earliest memories are of listening to his mother play the piano and accordion while singing some of the same Gospel songs that Alan still sings today. As a small boy, Alan first started trying to play music by learning to play songs on the piano and harmonica. When he was thirteen years old, Alan began learning to play the acoustic guitar and took an interest in other stringed instruments as well. Soon after, he discovered the wonderful sounds of Bluegrass music and decided he would learn to play all of the instruments used in Bluegrass. Alan began his career in Bluegrass music playing mandolin with the Legendary First Family of Bluegrass Gospel “The Sullivan Family” in 2001 at the young age of fifteen. During the first four years of his musical career, Alan toured almost continuously and played Bluegrass Gospel music in thirty states. After leaving “The Sullivan Family” Alan worked with two of the Deep South’s more prominent bluegrass bands, “The Larry Wallace Band” and “Jerry & Tammy Sullivan”. A New Direction After seven years of being a sideman in other groups, Alan decided to form his own band. With musical roots deep in Bluegrass and Gospel music, Alan Sibley & The Magnolia Ramblers have performed at music festivals, concerts and churches across the United States since 2008. Alan has won multiple awards in his home state of Mississippi from the Magnolia State Bluegrass Association. He is a four time recipient of the Male Vocalist of the Year Award and an eight time recipient of the Mandolin Player of the Year Award. His band was also voted MSBA Band of the Year in 2014, 2016 and 2017. Alan Sibley & The Magnolia Ramblers were first featured on the RFD-TV network in 2011 as guests on The Cumberland Highlander’s Show. Alan Sibley & The Magnolia Ramblers now host The Bluegrass Trail, a nationally televised music series on the RFD-TV network. The group has an excellent repertoire consisting of standard and original Gospel material, as well as traditional ballads and instrumentals.