The final headlining performers for the 2025 Montana Folk Festival have been announced and fans are in for some big-time performers this July in the Mining City.  The festival will be taking place July 11th through the 13th on and near the Original Mineyard in Uptown Butte and the final headliners have been announced.  Let's take a look at the artists who are coming to town this Summer.

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WAYNE HANCOCK

Thomas Wayne Hancock III (born May 1, 1965, in Dallas, Texas) better known as Wayne “The Train” Hancock, is an American singer-songwriter. Known as “The King of Juke Joint Swing.”  His influences include Jimmie Rodgers, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Hank Thompson, Hank Williams and Hank Snow because they were all in his parents’ record collection.

Throughout his childhood, Hancock moved around seven times because his father worked at various engineering firms around the United States. Shortly after discovering country music, Hancock began writing songs at the age of twelve. Hancock’s vocal style was initially influenced by Hank Williams, and he has been compared to him throughout his career.

At eighteen years old, Hancock won the Wrangler Country Showdown contest. The son of a WWII veteran, Hancock joined the US Marine Corps immediately after winning the contest and was shipped to basic training. Hancock served in the military for four years. During a six-month deployment at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, Japan, he wrote one of his most well-known songs, “Cold Lonesome Wind” from Thunderstorms and Neon Signs.  In 1990, Hancock moved to Austin, Texas. In 1994, he met Lubbock, Texas native Joe Ely, a member of the Flatlanders at the Continental Club in Austin. Shortly thereafter, Hancock landed a role in the play Chippy. Jimmie Dales Gilmore of the Flatlanders originally played Hancock’s character Mr. Jukebox. When Gilmore was unable to do the second run of the play, Ely brought Hancock in, saying “This guy sounds just like Hank Williams, he’d be perfect.” From there, Hancock joined the cast and went into the studio to record “Thunderstorms and Neon Signs,” for the soundtrack. It was his first recording of the song.

Hancock met Grammy winning producer, pedal steel guitar player, and Lubbock, Texas native, Lloyd Maines when Maines was running sound for Chippy. Maines has produced all of Hancock’s albums, dating back to his 1995 debut, “Thunderstorms and Neon Signs.” The album sold 22,000 copies in the first year. The follow-up was Hancock’s sophomore 1997 album, “That’s What Daddy Wants.”

RONDALLA CLUB OF LOS ANGELES

The rondalla string ensemble was introduced in the Philippines through Spain’s 350-year colonial rule of the islands.  Consisting of guitar, 4-string bajo de uñas, 14-string bandurria, 14-string laud, and the original Pilipino-created instrument, the 14-string octavina, the rondalla has become an integral part of Pilipino cultural life.

Rondalla Club of Los Angeles (RCLA) is widely recognized as one of the leading rondallas in the United States.  It has been a familiar fixture in the Los Angeles Pilipino community, performing in celebrations like fiestas, weddings, and other civic and social events.  Combined, RCLA’s four core members have over 140 years years of exceptional rondalla playing experience between them, having toured, performed, and educated extensively.

Founded in 1991 by Nitoy Gonzales, renowned trailblazing maestro of Bayanihan, the National Dance Company of the Philipines, his son Leonilo “Boy” Angos and Tagumpay “Pi” M. de Leon, son of Philipine National Artist for Music, Felipe Padilla de Leon, RCLA continues to shape the Filipino-American rondalla musical narrative through an applied historical perspective intertwined with an entertainingly immersive aural experience, characterized by a signature, highly improvised style. Each performance is a unique musical conversation.

The Alliance for California Traditional Arts has recognized RCLA’s contributions and has bestowed both the Apprenticeship (2002) and Living Cultures (2012) grants to the group.

In 2021, founding member Tagumpay M. de Leon was named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) – the United States highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

MIRA DICKEY & LENNART JANSSON

Sølvstål | Silversteel is a new project from hardanger fiddle player Mira Coquina Dickey and viola d’amore and fiddle player Lennart Jansson exploring the novel musical territory at the intersection of Norwegian fiddling and Irish traditional music. Their duet playing combines Mira’s expertise in the hardanger fiddle tradition with Lennart’s knowledge and creativity in Irish fiddling. The 9-string hardanger fiddle and 12-string baroque viola d’amore are a natural match for each other, both with a range of unusual tunings and otherworldly resonance thanks to sympathetic strings. Their sound ranges from delicate and tender to brilliant and symphonic, with a repertoire spanning traditional dance tunes both popular and obscure, as well as recently-composed pieces. For their performance at Montana Folk Festival, they will be primarily focusing on Scandinavian repertoire to showcase this rich and unique musical tradition.

Mira Dickey is a hardanger fiddle player based in Seattle, WA. Having grown up playing classical violin, she eventually became interested in folk music; first playing American old-time, then exploring Scottish and Irish music, and finally discovering Scandinavian music after hearing a recording of hardanger fiddle music from Setesdal in 2016. The next year she began learning hardanger fiddle herself, spurring a long journey of musical study, first through scandinavian fiddle camps in the US, and eventually through a year of study of traditional music at the University of Southeastern Norway in Rauland, NO. Since then she has been active in the US Scandinavian music scene both performing with groups or solo, playing for traditional folk dance events, and teaching private lessons and workshops. She has taught at workshops such as the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America’s summer and winter workshops, Salt Lake City’s fall fest, and Seattle’s Skandia folk society workshops. Most recently she has performed at Seattle’s Nordic Museum Julefest, Bellingham Folk Festival and Seattle’s Folklife festival.

Lennart Jansson is an Irish traditional musician from Seattle, WA. A multi-instrumentalist, Lennart plays fiddle, uilleann pipes, concertina, and tin whistle, and is known for championing the use of the viola d’amore in Irish music. Lennart has extensive experience as a classical cellist, and holds a B.A. in music performance from Stanford University, where he performed both baroque cello repertoire as well as unaccompanied contemporary works by living composers. Since 2021, Lennart has shifted his focus primarily to Irish traditional music. Currently, he is a frequent performer of traditional music and a mainstay of the Irish session scene in Seattle. His recent performance appearances include the West Coast Tionól in Seattle, the Cascade Celtic Festival in Leavenworth, WA, and the Acadia Festival of Traditional Music and Dance in Bar Harbor, Maine.

The Scandinavian and Irish fiddle traditions are certainly distinct and each rich in their own right, but Sølvstål showcases the rare and unusual musical beauty that arises from the interpretation of tunes from one tradition through the lens of the other. This is Irish and Norwegian music like you’ve never heard it before!

ZHANTAO LIN

Zhantao Lin is an erhu player based in Massachusetts. Before moving to the United States, he was an erhu faculty member at the Guangxi Arts Institute and was on the Board of Chinese Professional Erhu Players' Guild in China.

He has performed at numerous institutions. He was invited to Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Concert Series, and has given lectures and concerts in Santiago of Spain organized by the Spanish Strings Association.

He was the main actor as a musician in a short film “Descendants of String” in 2018, and recorded music for the film with erhu. This film won an award at the Los Angeles Asian Film Festival in October 2019.

Zhantao Lin was named Blodgett Visiting Artist by Harvard University Music Department in January 2019. He is currently the President of the Boston Chinese Musicians Association.

Zhantao Lin is also a practitioner and teacher of Tai Chi.  He is sixth-generation disciple of Yang Style Tai Chi. He serves as the president of the Tai Chi Academy of Greater Boston. He has taught hundreds of students in the Boston area, and organizes a Tai Chi team to participate in the Dragon Boat Festival performance every year.

Master Lin will be accompanied by Yi Ding on the Guzheng.

Yi Ding, Member of the China Nationalities Orchestra Society. Member of the Henan Nationalities Orchestra Society. Member of the Boston Chinese Musicians Association.  Leader of BCMA Youth Orchestra and Boston Silk and Bamboo Chamber Music Ensemble.

She has Advanced Teacher Certification of Central Conservatory of Music. In last seven years, she kept being rewarded as Excellent Instructor of Central Conservatory of Music Chinese Instrument Grade Examination. Currently, she serves as the Guzheng instructor at Phillips Academy.

In 2021, Ding Yi established the Yizhiyin Guzheng Ensemble in Andover, MA, with the aim of promoting traditional Chinese music and providing a multicultural environment for the community. The ensemble has participated in numerous community events and festivals.

Liu Yuxian started learning pipa at the age of 6 and has won awards in many youth talent competitions. She is currently a pipa player in the Boston Chinese Musicians Association Orchestra and a student at Phillips High School. She frequently participates in performances inside and outside the school as a soloist, duet and ensemble, and takes the initiative to serve the community. She also won the 2023 The President’s Volunteer Service Gold Award.

BRINAE ALI

Alexandria “Brinae Ali” Bradley, born and raised in Flint, Michigan is an interdisciplinary artist who believes in using the power of the arts to transform the conditions of the human spirit. When she is not traveling and performing, she is giving back to young people and grass roots organizing. Currently Bradley is the artistic director of Tapology, Inc. a youth based outreach program in Flint, that believes in preserving the art of tap and jazz culture through education and performance. As an educator she has collaborated with After School Activities Partnership, East Park Revitalization Alliance, Philadelphia Clef Club of Performing Arts, Raise It Up! Youth Arts and Awareness, Flint Youth Theatre, Mural Arts of Philadelphia, Young Audiences of New Jersey, Queens College, Long Island University, Ping Chong and Company, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and was an artist in residence at the Carol Morgan School in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and Apollo Theater Education with Wadleigh High School in Harlem NYC. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Queens College and Long Island University.  Internationally Bradley has traveled and performed around the world in countries such as, France, Germany, China, and Brazil.

She also travelled with a team of tap dancers to Russia for a tour in five cities working with the U.S. Embassy for its cultural exchange program celebrating National Tap Dance Day.  Her broadway and off-broadway experience has gained her positions as assistant dance captain for  “Shuffle Along: the 1921 Sensation And All That Followed” choreographed by Savion Glover and directed by George C. Wolfe, company member of NY and Touring cast of  STOMP, special feature in the “Cotton Club Parade” which later became “After Midnight” under the musical direction of Wynton Marsalis, New York City Center Off -Center production of “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope” directed and choreographed by Savion Glover and was a part of a two week tour in Italy celebrating Ella Fitzgerald’s centennial.

Currently she is developing a work in progress with trumpeter Sean Jones called “Dizzy Spellz” fusing tap, Bebop, Hip Hop, and Afro Cuban music to articulate the African American experience through the music of Dizzy Gillespie from an afrofuturistic lens.