Sunday Gator Stage Performers
11:00 am Janet Buehler
Janet Buehler, the Artist Formerly Known as Mom, lives in Hillsborough, NC. She recently discovered her lifelong interest in words and music should actually go together, like peanut butter and chocolate (who knew?). For her, songwriting is a way to process the beauty and the mystery of life, in ways both heartfelt and hilarious. She does most of her writing in the woods while walking her dogs (they are very generous with co-writing attributions) or driving her youngest son around. She has a wide range of influences from traditional ballad singers in the mountains of North Carolina such as Sheila Kay Adams and Donna Ray Norton, Irish singers Cathy Jordan (Dervish) and Cathie Ryan, and contemporary singer-songwriter Dar Williams. She sings and writes with The Carrborators, an acoustic quintet that delivers a rich blend of folk, rock, and jazz influences in true Americana style, all originals written by the band members. She also collaborates with singer-songwriter Leah Kaufman in the duo The Raven and The Remedy. She is forever grateful to her oldest son who gave her a Christmas gift of three guitar lessons in 2023, as he wanted to make sure she had a plan for when her three sons left the nest. In January 2025 she won the South Florida Folk and Acoutic Music Festival Songwriting Contest.
11:30 am Frank Critelli
Poet, philosopher, raconteur, busker, disc jockey, teacher, gardener — all these and more describe Frank Critelli. For more than 30 years, Frank has played in streets and subways, clubs and coffeehouses, barrooms and classrooms, colleges, festivals, theaters, and in his kitchen. Those who have seen him live know that’s when he’s in his element.
Currently, Frank is one-third of original music trio The Bargain. But whether you see him solo or with a band, you’ll come away entertained, energized, and possibly enlightened.
With Rick Allison, Frank co-hosts The Local Bands Show on WPLR 99.1 FM in New Haven and streaming on CygnusRadio.com. In addition, he contributes to the CT music scene with performances and interviews, and by organizing events.
12 pm Goldpine
Bold + gold harmonies straight from Nashville. Winner of the Rocky Mountain Songwriter Contest and seen on NPR’s ‘Mountain Stage with Kathy Mattea’ and the KC Chiefs National Anthem, Goldpine’s brand of “aggressive Americana” is a flawless channel for their bold and reminiscent compositions. Husband and wife of 16 years, Goldpine has just released their third album, appropriately titled Three, which collects stories of sorrow, tested-love and space-trips. Mastered by Dave McNair (Shovels & Rope, Brandi Carlile), the album was captured from a mash of actual live performances on the road in 2024, showcasing the duo’s live energy as you would experience it straight from the stage. “…sharing a sound that’s cast in honesty, emotion and homespun sentiment…the songs say it all, providing clear indication that Goldpine has established a precious standard.” -Lee Zimmerman (Goldmine Magazine)
12:30 pm Noah Proudfoot
Born with a deep passion for music, poetry, and the planet, Asheville based songwriter, Noah Proudfoot, has been crafting songs and melodies that resonate with listeners across the globe. With a sound that blends folk, soul, and electronic elements, Noah’s music takes listeners on a journey through the soundscapes of his imagination- exploring themes of unity, self-transformation, and redemption. With a growing discography and an ever-expanding audience, he remains dedicated to sharing messages of strength and hope through the universal language of music.
For more information, tour dates, and new releases, visit www.noahproudfoot.com
1:00 pm Tipps and Obermiller
Tipps and Obermiller: Strong. True. Vulnerable.
This dynamic musical duo have captivated audiences around the country with their heartfelt songwriting and emotive performances. Their tight vocal and guitar harmonies, folksy wisdom and unabashed emotional vocabulary combine with craft and charisma to create this unexpectedly magnetic experience.
Their journey as artists has been deeply intertwined with their personal lives. The couple met in 2011 and soon married. Over the next several years they navigated the challenges of caring for sick parents, raising teenagers, and pursuing graduate studies and career changes. In 2022, they made the decision to fully commit to songwriting and performing, marking a new chapter in their journey. Tipps and Obermiller are currently in pre-production for their third album, set for release in 2026.
1:30 pm Scott Low
Scott Low is a blues-driven singer, songwriter, and guitarist blending mountain soul with electric grit. After an eight-year hiatus focused on family and fly fishing, he’s returned with renewed purpose and a powerful new project. His upcoming album, Grateful Blues (November 2025), reimagines Grateful Dead classics through a deep blues lens, building on the momentum of The Appalachian Blues and Struttin’ Round Town. A recent winner of the Atlanta Blues Challenge and featured on Grateful Dead XM and worldwide radio, Low is stepping back onto national stages with solo, duo, and full-band performances. Rooted in storytelling and steeped in American roots tradition, his music bridges the past and present with raw honesty and heartfelt musicianship.
2:00 pm Heather Pierson
Heather Pierson is a New Hampshire based singer/songwriter, pianist, song leader, and performer with a passion for cultivating joy, both onstage and off. With a toe in each of the realms of New Orleans jazz, blues, vocal chants, instrumental piano, and folk, her multi-genre songwriting places her firmly in a category all her own, one honed by decades of diligent practice and curious exploration. Whether solo, as a duo, with her trio, or in a community sing, Heather’s live performances feature ease at the piano and her bell-tone voice that Americana Highways says ‘sounds like timeless wind moving slowly through the trees’.
2:30 -3:10 pm National Songwriter’s Winner Round
3:15 pm Jesse Ruben
Jesse Ruben is a singer/songwriter based in Atlanta. Best known for his lyrical storytelling and engaging live shows, his songs have been streamed more than 75 million times, and his single “This Is Why I Need You” reached the top 10 in 12 different countries. He has performed live on The TODAY Show, recorded live sessions for NPR and MTV Asia, and has been featured on PBS.
Ruben is also highly active in philanthropy. He has run the NYC Marathon eight times – three to support those with spinal cord injuries, and five to raise money for Lyme disease research. He is the co-founder of Generation Lyme, the world’s largest provider of online support groups for Lyme patients, and created The We Can Project, an initiative to help students discover their passions and give back to their communities. To date, over 500,000 young people have participated.
3:45 pm Gypsy Strings Revival
Gypsy Strings Revival’s rich tapestry of bluegrass, Americana, and country has become a staple of the South Florida folk and bluegrass scene. Known for their energetic performances and heartfelt harmonies, the band is currently recording an original album due to be released next year. Recent highlights include playing at the Everglades South Florida Bluegrass Association Festival, appearing at the South Florida Fair, lead singer Michelle Pennington being selected as a finalist with 2 of her songs in the South Florida Folk Festival and numerous gigs and festivals across West Palm Beach, Martin, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties. The Gypsy Strings Revival took their sound across the Atlantic with a 2025 summer tour in England, including a featured performance at the Maverick Festival and the Green Note in London as well as appearing at the Kitchen Garden Café in Birmingham, and are scheduled to return to Europe in the summer of 2026.
4:15 pm Danielle Ate the Sandwich
Danielle Ate the Sandwich is the stage name of Danielle Anderson, a singer-songwriter and performer based in Kansas City, MO. A self taught musician, Danielle has toured the US since 2009, created over 300 Youtube videos, and released eight full length albums of original music. Her most recent album, Fumbling, is a collection of songs on grief, loss and finding home. Danielle facilitates an online songwriting course called ‘Life as a Songwriter,’ teaching adults the art of songwriting and since 2016, Danielle has hosted The 24 Hour Album, a virtual songwriting experiment where fans help co-write an album in 24 hours. She has opened for Mumford and Sons, Jake Shimabukuro, and wrote the soundtrack to the Emmy nominated HBO documentary, “Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson.” Danielle’s songs and performances are a shared experience, celebrating grief, humor and happiness.
4:45 pm The Wire Jays
The Wire Jays are a five piece contemporary Newgrass band that prioritizes creative songwriting, musicianship, and fun in their music.They aim to bring Bluegrass into the 21st century, taking risks and creating new sounds with the classic string-band instruments associated with the genre.
Currently based in South Florida, The Wire Jays began playing together at the Frost School of Music, where they honed their sound and perfected their songs. The Wire Jays are dedicated musicians who just happen to be best friends.
They wish to spread their love of Newgrass music throughout Florida and beyond.
Listen
5:15 pm Grace Morrison (round)
If nerditude had a mascot, it would be Grace Morrison. She’s part pianist, part accordion slinger, part Renaissance Faire escapee, part cranberry bog gremlin, and 100% New England fangirl. She reads historical nonfiction for fun, drinks enough coffee to power a lighthouse, and somehow turns all that delightful chaos into songs.
Raised on the shores of Cape Cod, Grace eventually invented her own genre—Saltwater Country—because she was always “too pop for folk and too folk for country.” Turns out her music lives exactly where the ocean meets the pines: full of twang, storytelling, grit, and the stubborn charm of a true Swamp Yankee.
Grace Morrison is quirky, coastal, and completely herself—and once you hear her, you’ll remember exactly why.
5:15 pm Marc Douglas Berardo (round)
Marc Douglas Berardo is a thought-provoking songwriter as well as a fancy wooden guitar player who uses humor and deft storytelling to rally an audience and lead them into a deep and sometimes spiritual experience. After over 35 years of performing in every conceivable situation and winning awards and recognition for his songs in a boatload of national festivals like Rocky Mountain Folks, Telluride, Kerrville New Folk, Suwanee and Wiildflower as well as being voted “best interview and live performance feature” on Sirius/ XM Satellite Radio show The Village, Berardo has established himself as the real deal. A “lifer” that No Depression Magazine called: “sincere, fluid, charming, and above all gripping.”
John Apice of Americana Highways wrote: “There’s a seriousness to Marc’s compositions that’s not apparent in the slew of artists who seem to have a lot of nothing to say in an album’s worth of music.”
6:00 pm Nigel Wearne
Nigel Wearne saunters after dark in the music of the night, blending blues, jazz and Americana-noir. Hailing from Gunditjmara country in the deep south of Australia, he’s a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist with diverse influences such as Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Rickie Lee Jones.
Nigel has played some of the world’s most prestigious music festivals, including Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, MerleFest, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, Cambridge Folk Festival (UK) and the Adelaide Guitar Festival (Australia).
A deep thinker and truth seeker with a penchant for all things peculiar, he sings of human frailty, grace and the cosmos; songwriting that cuts to the bone. “Tailor made for fans of Tom Waits… with fire and brimstone lyrics that recall Nick Cave” – Rhythms Magazine. “Poignant and mysterious” – Maverick Magazine UK. “Vocal swagger of Van Morrison and dark spirituality and intelligence of Nick Cave” 4 STARS – The Australian.
6:45 pm The Janzen Boys
The Janzen Boys are a harmony-driven folk roots trio from Winnipeg, Canada. Formed in 2012, their journey began as a busking act before quickly growing into a full-fledged family band. Known for heartfelt originals, familiar covers, and tight family harmonies, they’ve built a reputation for delivering both warmth and energy on stage.
The Janzen Boys have built a strong reputation, with a mailing list of over 7,000 fans and more than 50,000 social media followers, fueled by a savvy online marketing campaign centered on their distinctive songwriting and traditional covers. The Janzen Boys have toured relentlessly, selling out venues in markets where their only prior presence was online. Their physical record sales exceed 11,000, a testament to their digital presence and loyal fanbase.
This funding is now fueling their upcoming EP, The Great Unknown, set for release in 2026.
7:30 pm John McCutcheon
From such inauspicious beginnings, John McCutcheon has emerged as one of our most respected and loved folksingers. As an instrumentalist, he is a master of a dozen different traditional instruments, most notably the rare and beautiful hammer dulcimer. His songwriting has been hailed by critics and singers around the globe. His thirty recordings have garnered every imaginable honor including seven Grammy nominations. He has produced over twenty albums of other artists, from traditional fiddlers to contemporary singer-songwriters to educational and documentary works. His books and instructional materials have introduced budding players to the joys of their own musicality. And his commitment to grassroots political organizations has put him on the front lines of many of the issues important to communities and workers.
The Washington Post described John as folk music’s “Rustic Renaissance Man,” a moniker flawed only by its understatement. “Calling John McCutcheon a ‘folksinger’ is like saying Deion Sanders is just a football player…” (Dallas Morning News). Besides his usual circuit of major concert halls and theaters, John is equally at home in an elementary school auditorium, a festival stage or at a farm rally. He is a whirlwind of energy packing five lifetimes into one. In the past few years alone he has headlined over a dozen different festivals in North America (including repeated performances at the National Storytelling Festival), recorded an original composition for Virginia Public Television involving over 500 musicians, toured Australia for the sixth time, toured Chile in support of a women’s health initiative, appeared in a Woody Guthrie tribute concert in New York City, gave a featured concert at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, taught performance art skills at a North Carolina college, given symphony pops concerts across America, served as President of the fastest-growing Local in the Musicians Union and performed a special concert at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. This is all in his “spare time.” His “real job,” he’s quick to point out, is father to two grown sons.
