2024 LINE-UP

The Walking Roots Band

Saturday, August 10, 6:00-7:15pm

Festival co-hosts the Walking Roots Band are back to celebrate music and faith with their signature style of acoustic, Americana, folksy, blue-ish-grassy, roots music with generous portions of lyricism, harmony, humor, and love -- as well as a few dashes of Appalachian rap thrown in for good measure. The Walking Roots Band (TWRB) is a group based in Harrisonburg, VA, steeped in Anabaptist hymn-singing traditions, the band’s original folk music and reclaimed hymns are supported with lush vocal harmonies. The music speaks of hope, whether through sacred words written hundreds of years ago or in the honest voice of one of the band’s songwriters. TWRB doesn’t make music full-time, but when they are able to tour, perform, record, or even just get together to practice and arrange new music, they are thankful for the fans, family, and friends who make it all possible.

Caleb Stine

Saturday, August 10, 7:30-8:30pm

Caleb Stine is a singer, guitarist, songwriter, and visual artist. His songs seek to uncover the mysteries of our shared humanity that live just below the surface of everyday experiences. His music has drawn comparisons to Townes Van Zandt and Willie Nelson, but Caleb’s songs are uniquely his own. Flying just below the mainstream radar, Stine has self-released a dozen albums, opened shows for artists like Jason Isbell, Bombino, and Sam Bush, acted Off-Broadway, and drawn story-boards for John Waters, while dynamically keeping the live shows rolling for fifteen years, ‘Stine’s upfront personality seeking to make a personal connection with everyone in the venue’ (Americana UK) Catch a Caleb Stine performance and you’ll leave inspired.

Shekinah

Saturday, August 10, 11:00-11:45am

Shekinah is an independent women’s vocal ensemble specializing in a cappella music. For two decades Shekinah has filled a unique musical niche in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, delighting audiences from sing-off competitions and community events to Christmas coffeehouse benefit concerts and church services.

Although many Shekinah members have roots in the Mennonite church’s traditional a cappella harmonies, the group continually expands its repertoire to include music from around the globe, from ancient to contemporary. Shekinah enjoys performing a wide variety of musical genres and challenging themselves to grow as a community of singers. 

Ebony Nicole

Saturday, August 10, 12:00-2:40pm

Ebony Nicole is a local Harrisonburg, va singer songwriter. She was born in Tacoma, WA and has lived in NJ, NYC, Seattle and spent a summer studying worship music in Australia. All of those many places have influenced her musical taste and sonic vibe. She has been writing music since age 12 and was recognized for an original song titled “show me” at a Richmond, VA talent showcase at age 13. Her 2018 single ‘High and Dry’ was awarded a special mention in the United Kingdom Songwriting Contest in the singer-songwriter category. Her first Ep ‘It’s complicated’ dropped in 2016, Her second EP- ‘Feels, this way’ was released January of 2021, as a series of downloadable singles that you can find on any major music platforms online. She recently released her first full length album called “I’m Fine” September 19,2022. You can also find Ebony Nicole featured all over the Soul and seed music project lending lead and background vocals. Check out this acoustic singer songwriter with indie RnB vibes.

Spectator Bird

Saturday, August 10, 12:00-2:40pm

“Sisters, Rachel and Lindsey FitzGerald, make their home in the mountains of Virginia...Together they’ve hewn out a sound that is at once honest and elegant, sincere and captivating. Weaving sibling harmonies with award winning songwriting to produce a tapestry of sound as ancient and ambient as the hollows themselves.” - Heather Hannah

Andrew Pauls

Saturday, August 10, 12:00-2:40pm

Andrew writes songs about everything from rainy days to Spain to space travel. But all of his songs have one thing in common: they’re about the relationships we have with ourselves, each other, and the places we call home. In Andrew’s music, listeners will hear the influence of songwriting veterans like John Prine and Joni Mitchell swirled with the flavors of contemporary artists like Watchhouse (FKA Mandolin Orange), The Tallest Man on Earth, and Hiss Golden Messenger.

Raised amidst the fertile farmland of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Andrew grew up on a steady diet of Mennonite four-part hymn singing and Paul Simon. From the very start, Andrew wasn’t satisfied learning and singing other peoples’ songs – soon after receiving his first guitar for Christmas at age 11, he wrote his first song. Over fifteen years later, Andrew is still writing songs, inviting people to lean in close and bear the weight of the world together.

Juniper Tree

Saturday, August 10, 3:00-4:00pm

Juniper Tree is an indie folk duo composed of Taylor Bess and Valerie Westerman Bess. Their introspective, nature-immersed songwriting and electric harmonies draw listeners into a peaceful environment. The duo resides in Richmond, Virginia and is currently recording their first studio album in Taylor's space at In Your Ear Studios in Shockoe Bottom.

Ears to the Ground Family

Saturday, August 10, 4:30-5:30pm

Ears to the Ground Family is a group of friends from Harrisonburg, Virginia with a serious focus on lyrical content and vocal harmonies. We make music of resistance to oppression and empire, of communities of hope, and of a faith that sustains us. Our tunes draw from R&B, spirituals, soul, folk/Americana, chant, hip-hop, Taize, and Anabaptist hymns, especially from the Mennonite tradition. For seven years as a band we chose to share our music almost exclusively live, in small settings, un-plugged, locally or regionally—traveling from home by bicycle in the "Petrol-Free Jubilee Bicycle Tour" as far as 300 miles away each summer to share our music. We have always preferred the outdated and peculiar model of the elusive traveling troubadour, sharing our music seasonally, as this enabled us to root ourselves deeply within our home communities and invest in the valuable work that inspires our music. Since this approach to music meant that we didn't have recorded music to leave in our wake, we decided to take the leap in 2017 and share the beautiful gift that is created when we come together as Ears to the Ground Family. Our debut album, Full Moon in June, is a collection of nine songs that we have been playing together for more than a decade, and we look forward to sharing our music with friends old and new at Sing Me High.