Mark O’Connor is a product of America’s rich folk tradition as well as classical music. Grammy Award-winning violinist Mark O’Connor’s creative journey included 4 first place, 2 second place and one third place win at Walnut Valley in the Fiddle, Flat Pick Guitar and Mandolin Championships. Mark has performed numerous times at major bluegrass festivals in the United States, both solo as well as with Strength In Numbers and Tony Rice. Over the last 25 years, he has successfully branched out into classical and jazz realms, composing numerous violin concertos. Mark has recorded over 40 albums and sold more than two million units as a solo artist.
Maggie O’Connor learned to play the violin at the age of 7 in the family band, True Dixon. They collaborated with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra to perform their original material. Maggie O’Connor is fluent in classical, bluegrass, and jazz and regularly appears with her husband, Mark. Maggie performs and records with the rock group The Radio Birds, and performs original pieces with her family band, True Dixon.
Singer-songwriter, mandolinist, and zouktarist, Forrest O’Connor is a founding member of the folk rock duo Wisewater with Kate Lee (vocals/fiddle). In the last year, Wisewater has toured across the country, hitting venues such as The Grand Ole Opry, The Station Inn, and Joe’s Pub in New York city. They’ve also shared the stage with Emmylou Harris, Ricky Skaggs, and many others. Their debut EP, The Demonstration, reached #13 on the iTunes Singer-Songwriter charts in November 2014 and was hailed as “beautifully poetic”. In March 2014, Forrest won the Tennessee State Mandolin Championship in Clarksville, TN.
Kate Lee’s passion and dedication has afforded her great respect in the music community as a vocalist, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Whether performing her original material or backing up a major entertainer, Lee brings a wealth of stylistic understanding and a unique, discerning sense of phrasing to both the stage and studio. Kate has recorded several solo albums, the most recent featured some of Nashville’s top session musicians, including Bryan Sutton, Viktor Krauss, Gary Prim, and Tim Lauer. She has played violin and sung background vocals for many world-class entertainers, including Rod Stewart, Keith Urban, Kelly Clarkson, Vince Gill, Lady Antebellum, John Cowan and Emmylou Harris.
Playing with the O’Connors will be Geoff Saunders and Joe Smart.