2024 White Oak Festival Lineup
HARMONICA HINDS
Harmonica Hinds has performed in the Chicago land area since the early 1970s. He performed in the house band at Theresa’s Lounge. Other members of the band included Junior Wells, Sammy Lawhorn, John Primer, Earnest Johnson, Nate Applewhite and Muddy Waters Jr .Hinds made appearances on the albums of Koko Taylor, Brenda Taylor, Lefty Dizz, Moose Walker, John Primer, Eddie Taylor Jr., Mud Morganfield , Willie Buck and Shun Shunsuke Kikuta, and Bruce Felten. He can be seen on a regular basis at Buddy Guy’s Legends. His performances remain up-beat and soulful. He remains vibrant and enthusiastic as he sings tunes heavily influenced and taught by Little Walter, Louis Myers, James Cotton, and Sonny Terry.
PAUL KAYE
Paul is a very respected soloist and sideman in the professional Blues community. He has put in the time and he has paid his dues. Whether it be a night of solo acoustic blues that will bring the room to an appreciative hush, or a Honeyboy-to-Hendrix electric night with the Legendary Blues Cartel Trio that will bring the house down, Paul Kaye consistently delivers.
He has appeared on stage at House of Blues (Chicago), Buddy Guy's Legends (Chicago), The Hideout (Chicago), Inwood Ballroom (Spillville, IA), Checkerboard Lounge (Chicago), Harmony Bar (Madison, WI), Aragon Ballroom (Chicago) and Mercury Lounge (New York City) and hundreds of other venues throughout the country. He has also played many Midwest and Blues and Folk festivals such as Chicago Blues Fest, Kalamazoo Michigan Blues Festival, Paramount Music Festival, Crossroads Blues Festival and Simply the Blues Festival (Iowa).
SWEET SHEIKS
Sweet Sheiks is a toe-tapping five-some inspired by the popular music of the teens, twenties, and thirties. Led by the vintage vocals of Jen Lauren, the lineup includes guitar, tuba, banjolin, clarinet and trombone. They bring a modern flair to early jazz, blues, and Americana classics. Sweet Sheiks’ acoustic stylings are compelling, diverting, and are best summed up in two words, “refreshingly vintage.”
JOYBIRD
Joybird is a name for music that dreams and heightens and travels, music that lands with gentle force to disrupt the day. It is the songwriting project of Chicago fiddler-singer Jess Baldissero, appearing as a duo with longtime bandmate Aaron Smith. Though Jess writes the lyrics, Joybird songs are always musical collaborations among rotating members of the band. Inspired by the conversation in old-time music, the visible brush strokes of impressionist paintings, and always finding ways to hit listeners with unpretending emotion, Joybird's music will build a place for you to rest and dance and grieve and soar.
PANCHROMATIC STEEL
Founded in 2016 in Madison, Wisconsin, Panchromatic Steel has blazed an entirely new trail in the city’s music scene, fusing island styles with pop hits, rock and jazz into a high-energy blend that is hard to categorize but easy to love. With top-shelf multi- instrumentalism and wide-ranging appeal, Panchromatic’s music brightens any day, transports listeners to their happiest moments in the sun, and threads the needle by being artful yet accessible to virtually everyone.
JONAS FRIDDLE
Jonas Friddle is a singer, songwriter and Old-Time banjo player whose songs have received The John Lennon Songwriting Award, First Place in the Great American Song Contest and a nomination for Album of the Year in the Independent Music Awards. His tunes bear the marks of a musician who has done his time in pub sessions and square dance halls, and his writing is full of imagery, honesty and humor.
THE STOP AND LISTEN
Formed in Madison in 2023, the Stop and Listen bring unique instrumentation and high-energy fun to a range of American traditional music. Hot fiddle tunes, jug band blues, hillbilly songs, and more. Featuring Daniel Plane (cello, fiddle), Calvin Woodring (harmonica), Adam Helt-Baldwin (bass), and Mike Tiboris (banjo). Stop, listen, and let 'er rip!
REBECCA JASSO
Chicago native Rebecca Jasso is a singer/songwriter who playfully writes around the themes of love, loneliness, and fantasy, skillfully weaving her melodies into the harmonic fabric of her fingerstyle guitar playing.
Music has had a strong hold over Rebecca since childhood. At age 10, she took up the guitar, and from the very beginning, sought to write good songs. Despite learning at this young age, it wasn’t till after college that she worked up the confidence to take her music to the stage. For years, she oscillated between playing solo and in bands, with each wave bringing her closer to chiseling out a style that would be her very own.
THE PARRISHES
The Parrishes are Catherine and Ted Parrish, an acoustic duo from Viroqua Wisconsin. They write original songs that cross the bridge between folk and blues, using musical knowledge honed through decades of performing, recording, and teaching. Catherine’s soaring vocals are the focal point of all the songs, with their multi-instrumental skills deployed on whichever instruments each song requires, whether guitar, ukulele, mandolin, banjo, or flute.
THE PARSNIP FACTORY
United by a shared love of bluegrass, old-time, community, slow-roasted roots, and the ever-hustling possum, the Parsnip Factory defy the traditional definition of a folk band. Their kaleidoscopic yet oddly cohesive musical jamboree exuberantly fills the stage with unusual instrumentation and virtuosity. It’s not often you’ll see a bluegrass band featuring a washtub bass, accordion, two banjos and upward of six fiddles!
From their humble roots of three friends going to open-mics together, the Parsnips have grown into a ten-plus member, multifaceted supergroup, and feature regularly in farmers markets, brunches and backyards across northern Chicago.
BARBARA SILVERMAN
"Folk festival in a box" Barbara Silverman has performed in concerts, festivals and workshops across the land. Dubbed a stunning vocalist early on by the Old Time Herald, she ever displays an engaging presence, bluesy vocals, clever originals, solid swing guitar, spirited piano back-up and washboard pyrotechnics. She is also a proclaimed “master teacher” of music and dance. To this day Barb is ever vibrantly teaching and performing. Find her recordings and appearances at www.silverbeammusic.com in her many incarnations.