BIOGRAPHY
How did East Nash Grass follow up their 2024 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) award for Best New Artist? By earning a nomination for Entertainer of the Year, IBMA’s highest honor, in 2025, and celebrating fiddler Maddie Denton’s win as Fiddler of the Year. In short, East Nash Grass have quickly established themselves as the fresh new face of Nashville’s storied bluegrass tradition, a supergroup of rising stars: Grand Master Fiddle champion Denton is joined by banjo player Cory Walker (banjo player on the five-time nominated “Carter & Cleveland” album this year, among numerous accolades), 2022 IBMA Momentum Mandolin Player of the Year Harry Clark, and charismatic frontman James Kee. This is an all-star band that harkens back to the sort of talent collected in the original Blue Grass Boys and a powerhouse leader of the next generation in bluegrass excellence.
Rolling Stone had them among the “best of what we saw” at RockyGrass in 2025, praising their “rowdy set of high-octane bluegrass numbers,” and noting, “The group itself is a rapidly-rising force on the national touring scene.”
And “rowdy” is right. They are far more than just a group of impressive instrumental technicians, building on night after night of three-set gigs on Nashville’s East Side, playing tiny stages for the love of it between tours backing bigger acts. It’s a hard-forged bond that translates into an infectious on-stage energy that audiences can’t seem to get enough of.
With their new release, “All God’s Children” (Mountain Fever, August 22, 2025), they show a depth and feel, too, that goes well beyond the traditional bluegrass fair, with nods to Gypsy jazz and East Village folk, and eye toward moving bluegrass forward and keeping it from being too mired in the past. If East Nash Grass isn’t the future of the genre it’s only because they’re already among its leading lights.
PRESS
Billboard interview
"The clarity and conviction inherit in each and every song in the set make for a decisive and determined presentation, and the sentiment that shines through makes each offering all the more memorable." Bluegrass Today
"Tight harmonies, stellar picking, witty repartee: East Nash Grass’s ‘All God’s Children’ Solidifies Their Place in Bluegrass" No Depression
“All God’s Children feels like a joyful tribute to the many ways life gets good – and to bluegrass’s many, salt-of-the-earth styles.” and “...a truly spirit-satisfying album…” The Bluegrass Situation
“The music’s charm is in the interplay between musicians done with expertise as never to intrude on the vocals but run headlong beside them. East Nash Grass is superb with this application. Even on slower numbers like “The Love We Gave Up,” it has this energy, but on this tune, it’s the vocals that are front & center." Americana Highways
"“Lonesome Song” solidifies their reputation as a group that understands how to combine lyrical profundity with instrumental brilliance. It’s not just a song; it’s a heartfelt requiem for a quiet heartache, a poignant reminder that even in our loneliest moments, we are still surrounded by a world that continues to move with grace." Country Music News International Magazine
“Featuring fast picking, bright harmonies, and timeless lyricism, the song encapsulates what makes this group so impressive and very much a talent to watch as word spreads of their bluegrass prowess.” Glide Magazine (“Bend In The Road” from 2025's "All God's Children")
"Bend In The Road”Festy Go Nuts Spring 2025
“Hill Country Highway” Festy Go Nuts Summer 2025
“Out of the Wilds of East Nashville came this band of ringers, each of them playing in National high profile Bluegrass bands. The sound they make when they play together rivals that of any of their main gigs. Who knows, but I heard them as a finely tuned machine that could survive on its own. The National high profilers better hang on tight! East Nash Grass is on the move.” - Jerry Douglas
ASSETS
Download promotional assets HERE