This week on Tent Show Radio, living legend, songwriter and singer, Arlo Guthrie. Mr. Guthrie has performed everywhere from Carnegie Hall too, well, just about everywhere! Born in Coney Island, Brooklyn, Arlo is the eldest son of America’s beloved singer, songwriter and philosopher Woody Guthrie. Arlo grew up surrounded by dancers and musicians like Pete Seger, Leadbelly, Ramblin Jack Elliott, and Brownie McGee. Arlo gave his first...

From houses of worship to houses of blues, Ruthie Foster has always been a rafter-rattler. And with a soul-filled voice honed in Texas churches, she can move audiences to tears or ecstasy – sometimes in a single song. Her two albums, 2009’s The Truth According to Ruthie Foster and 2012’s Let It Burn, moved the Recording Academy to deliver Best Blues Album Grammy nominations. Her latest release, Promise of a Brand New Day on Blue Co...

If joy were a person, he’d bring both peace and frenzy. He’d be full of music, light, and energy that soothes even as it stirs us up. Eyes closed, wire-rim glasses in place, mandolin pressed against his ribs, joy would be Sam Bush on a stage (info from @sambush). For this week's Tent Show Radio episode, we bring to you The Best of The Sam Bush Band. Live from Big Top Chautauqua, this show consists of two acts recorded in Ju...

Joan Baez is a singer, songwriter, musician and activist, whose music encompasses genres including folk, rock, pop, gospel and country.  Joan performed music for over 60 years and released over 30 albums, in which her first three achieved gold record status.  A long and impressive list of awards, Joan has received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 49th annual Grammy Awards® in 2007, Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscienc...

In 1980 the Lost Nation String Band moved to the Bayfield Peninsula and quickly became the band to see and dance to. In 1986 at the founding of Big Top Chautauqua they were the heart of the shows. Come join us as we celebrate their legacy with members of the original group and special guests.

Kathy Mattea is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 single...

An easily confused and very shy individual, Charlie Parr has been traveling around singing his songs ever since leaving Austin Minnesota in the 1980's in search of Spider John Koerner, whom he found about 100 miles north at the Viking Bar one Sunday night. The experience changed his life, made him more or less unemployable, and brings us to now: 13 recordings, 250 shows a year or more, 200,000 miles on a well broke in Kia, and ...

Bill Miller is an award-winning Native American recording artist, performer, songwriter, activist, painter, and world-class native flute player. Over the entirety, Miller has produced over a dozen albums, received three GRAMMY® Awards, numerous Native American Music Awards & Association (NAMA) awards (including a “Lifetime Achievement” Award) and led Wisconsin’s La Crosse Symphony Orchestra. He has long been one of the most adm...

The Whites is an American country music vocal group from Fort Worth, Texas. It consists of sisters Sharon White and Cheryl White, and their father, Buck White. Active since 1972, the group has recorded multiple albums and charted multiple songs on the Hot Country Songs charts.

Delano Floyd McCoury is an American bluegrass musician. As leader of the Del McCoury Band, he plays guitar and sings lead vocals along with his two sons, Ro...

Blue Canvas Orchestra
Join us for our own unique brand of shows that feature songs and stories performed by Big Top’s Blue Canvas Orchestra and Singers that bear the hallmark of exquisite musicianship illustrated by big-screen visuals. The Blue Canvas Orchestra (BCO) is Chautauqua’s house band that, together with Co-Founder and Visuals Director Betty Ferris and a multitude of talented guest artists, provides the entertainment engine...

Nanci Griffith got an early start on her path to performing and songwriting. At the age of 6 she began to write songs, thinking of it as “part of the process of learning how to play guitar.” While she doesn’t remember many of her earliest songs, she does recall that “the first original song my mother commented on…was a song about Timothy Leary.” Then at the age of 14, when a campfire turn at the Kerrville Folk Festival caught the e...

The word “legend” usually makes an appearance at some point when discussing Merle Haggard. It’s an acknowledgement of his artistry and his standing as “the poet of the common man.” It’s a tribute to his incredible commercial success and to the lasting mark he has made, not just on country music, but on American music as a whole. He performed under the Big Top in 1999 and again in 2013 to adoring audiences.  This week's Tent Sho...

In 2019 we cut the band loose on some of their favorite songs from the season and from summers past. Severin Behnen leads the famed house band that has graced the Big Top stage since its founding in 1986. They are an eclectic blend of string instruments, driving rhythm section, and stunning voices that together rock the tent with their unique fusion of bluegrass, folk and jazzy blues.

Available for free and airing continuously for ...

This week, Drifferent Drums of Ireland joins us on Tent Show Radio.  Different Drums brings the indigenous drums of Ireland, the Lambeg and the Bodhran together for the first time ever in celebratory performance.

The music also features the Uilleann or elbow pipes,whistles, guitar, snares, long drum, 4 voices and is driven by the engine of the African djembe. Adding myriad percussion and other instruments to original and traditiona...

Multi-Grammy Award winners: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country rock band that has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California in 1966. The group's membership has had at least a dozen changes over the years, including a period from 1976 to 1981 when the band performed and recorded as the Dirt Band. Constant members since the early times are singer-guitarist Jeff Hanna and drummer Jimmie F...