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April 4-6, 2025

Word of South

Lauren Sevian

Grammy award winning baritone saxophonist Lauren Sevian is one of the most in demand musicians on the scene today. Ms. Sevian came to NYC in 1997 to attend the Manhattan School of Music, and soon thereafter began touring with groups such as Diva and the Artie Shaw Orchestra. She can be seen performing as a […]

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Larry Mitchell

Larry Mitchell exemplifies the success that can be achieved when one chooses to follow his passion. The gifted Grammy Award winning performer, producer, and engineer continues to amaze. Larry’s guitar textures demonstrate his abilities as a solo artist and as an ensemble player. Larry has had the opportunity to tour with Tracy Chapman, Billy Squier, […]

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Ladee Hubbard

Ladee Hubbard is the author of two novels: The Talented Ribkins– which received both the Ernest J. Gaines Award and the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction—and The Rib King. Her collection of short stories, The Last Suspicious Holdout, was published in March 2022. She is a recipient of a 2022 Guggenheim fellowship and has […]

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Jose Serrano

Upright and electric bassist specialized in sultry, Venezuelan infused, jazz music, Jose Serrano currently teaches at FSU as graduate assistant, pursuing his Master’s in Jazz Performance. Raised in Venezuela, he was brought up in the classical scene, playing in orchestras since age 10. By age 16, he was able to move to the U.S., and […]

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Jon Meacham

Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham is one of America’s most prominent public intellectuals. With a depth of knowledge about politics, history, religion, and current affairs, Meacham has the unique ability to bring historical context to the issues and events impacting our daily lives. The author of several #1 New York Times bestsellers, […]

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Helen Sung

Helen Sung is an acclaimed jazz pianist and composer and a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow. A native of Houston, Texas, and alumna of its High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (where she studied classical piano and violin), she eschewed her classical upbringing after a jazz epiphany during undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at […]

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Hannah Duhon

Hannah Duhon is a jazz trombonist hailing from Fort Walton Beach, Florida. She began her music career at the age of thirteen years old, and by fifteen had become completely enamored by the artistry of jazz music and composition. A senior at Florida State University, Duhon is pursuing her B.M. in Jazz Studies and Music […]

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Feufollet

The young and vibrant Southwest Louisiana band Feufollet takes Cajun, honky-tonk, and string-band music as their starting point, and keeps an open mind about where their song craft will lead them. On Two Universes, their first studio album in over five years, Feufollet proves their Cajun roots don’t define them as much as propel them forward; […]

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Duquette Johnston

In 2014, Duquette Johnston and his artist wife Morgan had their first child, after many years together. But their joy became complicated, as Morgan fell ill with a bacterial infection and nearly died. When Duquette, who’d been gearing up to promote his third solo album, stepped away from the music business to take care of […]

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Carmen Bradford

Carmen Bradford is jazz royalty, a four-time Grammy Award nominee (most recently in 2022, for “Live At Birdland – The Count Basie Orchestra with Carmen Bradford”) and the recipient of the Los Angeles Jazz Society’s Jazz Vocalist Award. With her body of work, which reflects her vast experience, versatility, and technical brilliance, she has carved […]

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