Five innovative musicians, with a combined history of well over a century in bluegrass, join forces on the Freight stage for a rousing evening of classics at their red-hottest and exploration at its boldest. Indiana-born Ron Stewart is one of the most respected multi-instrumentalists in bluegrass today. A fiery, soulful fiddler whose playing won him two Indiana State Fiddle Championships and the 2000 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Fiddle Player of the Year Award, he currently plays with J. D. Crowe and the New South and the Lynn Morris Band. Mandolin virtuoso and Maine native Roland White, known for his uncluttered, relaxed playing and amazing sense of timing, has been performing since the early '50s with the Kentucky Colonels, Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, Lester Flatt's Nashville Grass, Country Gazette, and two-time Grammy winners the Nashville Bluegrass Band. He currently leads the Roland White Band out of Nashville, TN. Kentucky-born Jim Hurst is just one of the most amazing guitar players on the planet, plain and simple. He is as comfortable playing complex fingerstyle leads as he is with red-hot flatpicking pyrotechnics. Jim was voted Guitar Player of the Year for 2001 and 2002 by the IBMA. West Virginia native Missy Raines has won widespread recognition for her dextrous, adventuresome string bass playing, including four IBMA Bass Player of the Year awards. Known for his superb banjo playing in both traditional and progressive bluegrass styles, Virginia native Bill Evans creates a sound that is both deeply rooted and fresh, in groups like the Bluegrass Intentions, Due West, and the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience.