Tim May began playing guitar and banjo at age 11, and by thirteen he was performing at the Bluegrass Festival of the United State in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1989, Tim founded Crucial Smith, a progressive acoustic bluegrass band based in Nashvill, which produced three well-recieved albums and performed regularly at high-profile festivals including Telluride, the Walnut Valley Festival, and Winterhawk. He was the solo guitarist on I'll Fly Away, nominated for the 2006 Country Instrumental of the Year Grammy Award. In 2006, Tim toured Japan with the John Cowan Band. Time saw a lot of the Grand Ole Opry in 2006/2007, performing with Mike Snider's Old Time String Band.
Steve Smith is not only known as one of this country's top mandolin players, but also as an outstanding educator. Smith has appeared at festivals and venues including Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, High Mountain Hay Fever, Rocky Grass, Swallow Hill, the Freight&Salvage, Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival, the Big Horn Mountain Festival, and the Minnesota Old-Time and Bluegrass Festival. Along with thirty years of coast-to-coast touring, Smith has performed in Ireland, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Cuba, and the US Virgin Islands. Steve has appeared on over 30 albums as performer and producer including guitar legends Jim Hurst, Mitch Perry, banjoist Bill Evans, Alan Munde, and Tim O'Brien.