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April 24-26, 2026
Katie Skene is a blues and Americana singer, guitarist and songwriter, based in Ventura, California, and originally from Tallahassee, Florida. Katie received a B.M. in Popular Music Performance from the University of Southern California. Since graduating in 2015, Katie has worked primarily on the West Coast, performing in the Jam-Band & Americana scene and collaborating […]
Karl Barton is Professor of Music at Thomas University and coordinator of Arts for Community at Thomas University (ACTU). He serves on the Board of Trustees as Vice President of Production for the Thomasville Entertainment Foundation concert series and is a frequent guest on the Classical-music, public radio station WFSQ in Tallahassee. He is also […]
Jonah Goldberg is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he holds the Asness Chair in Applied Liberty. In 2019 he left National Review magazine after a 21-year stint to cofound The Dispatch, where he is Editor-in-Chief. He has been a weekly columnist for the Los Angeles Times since 2005 and a nationally syndicated columnist […]
Jennifer Portman is managing editor for national news at USA TODAY. A 30-year daily newspaper journalist, she previously worked as an editor and reporter at the Tallahassee Democrat. She be appearing as part of the tribute to the work of the late historian Ed Gray at this year’s Word of South. […]
Hotel Fiction is an Athens, Georgia-based band comprised of Jade Long and Jessica Thompson. Both women have been playing music for over ten years and began writing, performing, and playing together in January 2019. In August of that year, Hotel Fiction released their debut single “Astronaut Kids,” which received a warm welcome from the indie […]
Ginny Myers Sain is the author of Dark and Shallow Lies (2021), Secrets So Deep (2022), and One Last Breath (March 2024), all from Razorbill Books/Penguin Teen. Her debut novel, Dark and Shallow Lies, is a New York Times bestseller, an Indie Bookstore Bestseller, a Barnes & Noble YA Pick of the Month, an Amazon […]
As the founding member and lead Singer/Songwriter for the Fried Turkeys, Tallahassee native Frank Douglas approaches the topics of love, lust, loss, politics and many other common societal themes with an ear for harmony and a head for irony. His tunes combine influences ranging from folk to blues to country to rock, and his lyrics […]
Fountain Five Woodwind Quintet is an award-winning ensemble based in Tallahassee, Florida, and has been actively performing around the Florida panhandle since 2021. In addition to recitals and outreach performances, the group’s members regularly perform with local orchestras and maintain active private teaching studios. Its members are Brenna Wiinanen (flute), Nicholas Kanipe (oboe), Connor Croasmun […]
Doug Alderson prefers a kayak to a desk, hugs trees and friends, and loves observing alligators, manatees and other wildlife in their natural environment. Most of his 17 published books focus on the dynamic and quirky nature of his home state of Florida. They include America’s Alligator, Wild Florida Waters, Waters Less Traveled, New Dawn for the Kissimmee River, Encounters […]
Daniel Bedrosian has been the keyboardist for George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic for the past twenty-plus years, making him the longest tenured keyboard player in the live band’s history. In addition to performing with Clinton and company, he has worked or performed with many musical icons such as Snoop Dogg, Chuck D and Flavor Flav, Ice […]