Mother Banjo + Megan Bee at Icehouse

Featuring Ellen Stanley on banjo and vocals, Mother Banjo is a New England-raised, Minneapolis-based songwriter. Called “an outstanding poet” (Inside Bluegrass), she was a Midwest Finalist for the prestigious NewSong Contest and has been featured nationally on SiriusXM Radio, CMT.com and Americana UK. Her latest album Eyes on the Sky artfully mixes her signature blend of folk, bluegrass and soulful Americana that has become a hallmark of her live shows. Whether performing solo or with her award-winning band, she is an engaging performer that brings a playful energy to the stage even when singing the saddest of songs. As a host of the (now syndicated) Womenfolk Radio Show for the last 20 years, she has been a regular host on KFAI and a frequent guest on The Current, MPR News, Jazz88 and Twin Cities Public Television. A tireless champion of other artists' music, she's so excited to be sharing the stage with Megan Bee--one of her favorite musical discoveries of the last couple years.

Ohio singer-songwriter Megan Bee writes with an unquenchable wanderlust and a deep love for the land. Her 2022 album Cottonwood has been called "as real as it gets – a raw and real telling of engaging, relatable stories." The track "Never Known" received an Honorable Mention in American Songwriter’s lyric contest. Bee has won The Ohio Music Awards Best Americana and Best Singer-Songwriter Albums along with a finalist spot in the USA Songwriting Competition. Her music is a blend of distinctly homespun vocals, acoustic simplicity, yearning soulfulness, and winsome storytelling. Her background as an environmental educator, traveling farmhand, and vagabond once took her into a desert wilderness where she found her voice around a campfire. She is based out of the rolling hills of Athens, Ohio and draws influence from the collision of Appalachian folk and modern songwriting.