Born and raised in Natchitoches, Louisiana, Caleb Elliott is far from your typical preacher’s son-turned-musician. With his father a pastor and his mother the church pianist, Elliott was immersed in traditional hymns from an early age, but it was his love for classical cello that would eventually jumpstart his musical career. While attending college in Lafayette, Elliott began playing 4-6 nights a week to support himself, your typical “covers gigs,” as he describes it. During this period of persistent gigging, he released his first EP of original songs in 2012, which had a surprising effect: now, everyone wanted him to play cello on their records. 

 

As a session musician, Elliott began lending cello to all kinds of albums in the Lafayette music scene, culminating in a moment that would change his trajectory and finally move him out of Louisiana. In 2014, singer-songwriter Dylan LeBlanc met Elliott and encouraged him to relocate to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where he still resides today. Once settled in the Shoals, Elliott became the go-to cellist for an elite collective of collaborators such as Nicole Atkins, John Paul White, members of Alabama Shakes, Maggie Rose, and Cedric Burnside, whose 2021 record I Be Trying won a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album. 

 

As a singer-songwriter, Elliott released his debut record Forever to Fade in 2019, followed by Weed, Wine & Time in 2023 (both via Single Lock Records). He has opened for a variety of artists such as Alabama Shakes, Gaz Coombes (Supergrass), Sean McConnell, The White Buffalo, Fruition, and The Secret Sisters (who are featured on his recent single). This year, he follows up Weed, Wine & Time with two new singles, “I Don’t Believe You” and “Slow Burn,” in which sonic influences like Harry Nilsson and Louisiana’s own Bobby Charles can be heard woven throughout Elliott’s melodies and arrangements. 

 

When he is not recording and touring his solo project, Elliott is an active co-writer, with writing credits on songs like Mary Gauthier’s “Thank God for You” and Billy Allen + The Pollies “It’s Okay,” which was recruited as the theme song for Netflix’s The Madness. Elliott’s own songs have been featured on the Showtime series Shameless and the Marvel series Daredevil: Born Again. More recently, Elliott has found a love for co-producing records with long-time collaborator Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes), shepherding in the next generation of folk artists. As a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, session musician, co-writer, and producer, Elliott invokes a studied and heartfelt multi-disciplinary approach to bringing songs to life. 

Jay Burgess

Jay Burgess was raised in, on, and by the music of Muscle Shoals.  Encouraged early on by Jason Isbell, he cut his teeth as a young guitar  slinger and songwriter before forming the Pollies—a band that channels  the weirder, prettier strains of Southern rock through a uniquely Shoals  lens. While rooted in the region’s musical heritage, the Pollies’ sound  draws more from Big Star, Wilco, and Neil Young than from the usual  Southern rock tropes. Their music is noisy, lovely, and never cliché.  

The Pollies are a true band in the Shoals tradition, equally at home  crafting their own songs or backing artists like Dylan LeBlanc, Nicole  Atkins, and John Paul White. Years of touring have shaped their  sound into something both delicate and gritty—like a Southern Crazy  Horse. 

Wanda

Wanda Wesolowski is a songwriter and front woman of The Wanda Band, known for crafting music that blends confessional lyricism with contagious groove. Hailing from Huntsville, Alabama and signed to Single Lock Records, Wanda’s songs explore the spectrum of queer joy, grief, and rebirth—infused with her knack for melody, wit, and raw feeling.

Her 2023 album Only Feeling, produced by Jay Burgess of The Pollies, was recorded mostly live in just two days and delivers danceable heartache and cathartic hooks in equal measure. Whether she’s singing about longing, loss, or desire, Wanda has a way of making audiences feel seen. Her live shows—performed in matching band coveralls—are part listening room, part indie-rock revival, with fans singing every word and dancing without shame.

Wanda has performed at major festivals including ShoalsFest, Panoply, Sluice Fest, and Bonnaroo, and most recently opened for Alabama Shakes during their highly anticipated reunion show. With a growing catalog of acclaimed releases, including 2020’s One-Hit and 2023’s Only Feeling, Wanda is cementing herself as one of Alabama’s most magnetic and emotionally honest voices.

 

Doc Dailey

Doc Dailey is a singer-songwriter whose music moves between Americana, folk-rock, alt-country, and Southern pop. Based in the Muscle Shoals area, he has spent over two decades honing a distinctive voice rooted in soulful storytelling and a sound that feels both timeless and immediate. A fixture of north Alabama’s rich music scene, Dailey has toured nationally, sharing his songs with audiences across the country. Through his independent label, Southern Discipline, Dailey has released an EP and two full-length albums, earning praise for balancing intimate, finely crafted songs with wide-open, electrified arrangements. He often performs solo but is sometimes joined by his band, Magnolia Devil, adding even greater depth to his live shows. His catalog is available on all major streaming platforms, but it’s on stage where his music fully comes alive — raw, dynamic, and steeped in the spirit of Southern music.