2019 ARTIST LINEUP

DONNA ULISSE

Donna Ulisse is a key figure in the bluegrass, folk and acoustic music scene as a singer and songwriter. Her single “It Could Have Been The Mandolin” topped the Bluegrass Unlimited chart at #1 for two months in a row in 2016 and in the same year she was also named 2016 IBMA (Int'l Bluegrass Music Association) Songwriter of the Year. She won the IBMA award for Song of the Year in 2017 as co-writer of the bluegrass hit "I Am A Drifter" recorded by Volume Five. In February of 2018 she won the SPBGMA (Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America) Songwriter of the Year Award. Her eleventh album “Breakin’ Easy” was released September of 2017 by Mountain Home Music Company and was produced by bluegrass legend Doyle Lawson. Edward Morris, writer for CMT.com has hailed her as “one of the most commanding voices in Bluegrass music” while Wade Jessen of Billboard Magazine wrote, “It’s hard to know which is more exciting, Donna’s singing or her songwriting”. Her TV credits include Hee Haw, she was a regular guest on The Nashville Network's Nashville Now show as well Crook and Chase. She appeared on NBC's Hot Country Nights with Merle Haggard, Crystal Gayle and Steve Wariner. Most recently she was also a guest on RFD-TV's Simply Bluegrass show hosted by Ricky Skaggs featuring a "who's who" of bluegrass and has hosted Bluegrass Ridge for the Heartland Network which has several of her videos in rotation. As a songwriter Ulisse has had songs recorded by bluegrass artists Claire Lynch, Darin and Brooke Aldridge, Doyle Lawson, Larry Stephenson Band, Volume Five and many more. Her song “Butler Brothers” was on the 2014 Grammy winning album Streets of Baltimore by the Del McCoury Band. She authored the book The Songwriter in Me: Snapshots of My Creative Process and is a sought after songwriting instructor at workshops across the country when she is not touring with her talented band of musicians, The Poor Mountain Boys. For more information visit