Long established as a proving ground and showcase for emerging artists in bluegrass, the WinterWonderGrass music festival will host new talent this year from an inspired demographic that is rapidly rising within the genre.

The event, which runs March 1-3 in the Knoll parking area at Steamboat Resort, is seeking to highlight the rising presence of female-led groups in bluegrass.

The lineup features some of the most energetic and popular women in bluegrass. The inclusion of the quantity and caliber of female artists is notable due to the fact that bluegrass has historically held a high level of male involvement. The last several years, however, have seen a rapid rise in the presence of women as individuals and as members of groups. 

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WinterWonderGrass Steamboat will play host to Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway. Tuttle recently won the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album. 

“This is an incredible honor,” Tuttle said in an announcement following the award. “I wanted to make a record that celebrated that music that I grew up with.”

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Scotty Stoughton, the founder and organizer of the WinterWonderGrass festivals, noted that the event has always sought to showcase artists from all walks of life.

“We have seen a huge evolution of female acts, and we are proud of the fact that we are one of the few festivals that shines a light on that year after year since the beginning,” Stoughton said. “It’s because they rip!”

“Our main focus is and always has been bringing in the freshest and hottest talent,” Stoughton added.

Among that talent is Sierra Ferrell, who will be the second female artist to headline WinterWonderGrass.

Other women joining Ferrell at the three-day festival will be Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway, Lindsay Lou, WinterWonderWomen, AJ Lee and Blue Summit, Shadowgrass, East Nash Grass, Madeline Hawthorne and the RiverWonderGrass All Stars.

The WinterWonderWomen collective will be composed of Bridget Law of Tierro Band/Elephant Revival, Emma Rose from Sound of Honey, Megan Letts of Mama Magnolia, Lindsay Lou from the Lindsay Lou Band, AJ Lee from AJ Lee and Blue Summit, and Michelle Pietrafitta.  

On Saturday, WinterWonderWomen will also be joined by Maddie Denton of East Nash Grass and possibly Madeline Hawthorne as well. Sunday’s guests will be Sierra Ferrell and Madison Morris of Shadowgrass. 

Lee recalled that her involvement in bluegrass began around the age of 4 when she started playing the mandolin. Lee said that her mother was her initial inspiration for becoming the musician that she is today. 

“I grew up in a musical household in the sense that my mom played a lot of country music growing up,” Lee said. “When I was young, my mom wanted to teach me how to play.”

Lee began collaborating with other musicians in California at the age of 5, a trend that continued throughout her childhood and teenage years as she networked with other artists and expanded her talents.

Her inspirations encompass many female musicians including Bonnie Raitt, Alison Krauss, Rhonda Vincent and Sonya Isaacs, as well as the male talents of Cadillac Sky, The Infamous Stringdusters, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens.

Lee, who is based in California, has played in Colorado several times over the last few years, including the WinterWonderGrass festival in 2022.

“It was a really fun experience bonding in a way where everyone is working but also shivering at the same time,” Lee said.

Regarding increased female involvement in bluegrass, Lee pointed to the “collective awareness” that younger generations have been pushing toward in recent years.

“A lot of the time, it is hard for women to really want to jump into a jam when it is so male-dominated,” Lee said. “But when you have women who are pioneering on the lineups for the major festivals, it inspires other women to want to pursue that as well.”

“I think, with more women coming out and joining the scene, it has just been a chain reaction in that sense,” she said.

Lee explained that some of the hurdles that exist for women rising in bluegrass include shattering the preconceived expectations of what they are going to sound like.

“That’s also what helps drive me to keep being better and doing what I am doing,” she said. “It’s being able to show people that you are not always going to get what you think you are going to get.”

Regarding her inclusion in the WinterWonderWomen collaboration, Lee said she is looking forward to playing with “a group of badass women.”

AJ Lee and Blue Mountain consists of Lee on vocals and mandolin, Scott Gates on guitar and vocals, Sullivan Tuttle on guitar and vocals, Hasee Ciaccio on standing bass and vocals, and Jan Purat on fiddle.

Madeline Hawthorne, another major female presence on this year’s WWG lineup, was also inspired by her mother, who was a musical artist in the Boston area. After moving to New Hampshire, Madeline began to discover folk and classic rock music.

This is Hawthorne’s first appearance at WWG, though they have played in the Yampa Valley before.

Hawthorne differs from the mold of WWG female artists in the aspect that her music is self-categorized as Americana, alt-country and rock. Though she does love bluegrass music, she is heavily inspired by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi and Grace Potter.

Hawthorse is excited to be on the same lineup as Sierra Ferrell, Molly Tuttle, Lindsey Lou and AJ Lee. 

She nodded to the rising presence of women in bluegrass, alt-country and Americana as being an inspiration to her as well as others.

“What I am seeing a lot of — and what I think is inspiring for the future — is women building each other up, which is fantastic,” Hawthorne said.

She continued to say there will always be barriers to change, but that overall, women are enjoying a welcoming and warm support in the industry as a whole. 

“I am feeling very hopeful for the future,” she said.

Hawthorne will be performing alongside Adrian Engfer, Taylor Sims, Taylor Tesler and Sean Macaulay. The group has been performing together for a year. 

One of the younger women to contribute to WinterWonderGrass is 22-year-old Madison Morris of Shadowgrass. Morris grew up in a bluegrass culture in North Carolina. Her journey into music began on the piano but, owing to bluegrass’s popularity in her area, quickly evolved into her taking up the fiddle and eventually joining Shadowgrass. 

ShadowGrass is composed of Kyser George on guitar, Clay Russell on banjo, Luke Morris on mandolin, Madison Morris on fiddle and Evan Campfield on bass.

“The word that comes to mind when I hear the word ‘bluegrass’ is community, and I think that is the reason behind our success,” Morris said.

Like Lee and Hawthorne, Morris’ inspirations includes Sierra Farrell, Lindsey Lou and Molly Tuttle, as well as The Infamous Stringdusters.

Regarding the rise of females in bluegrass, Morris said that a large part of it has to do with the “scarcity of it.”

“It’s not as scarce now, but you could look back even a couple of years ago and it wasn’t very common, and especially in the jamgrass scene it’s still not very common,” she said. “Everything is more balanced, and there are a lot more females in the industry.”

For more on the WinterWonderGrass festival, go to WinterWonderGrass.com/.