Q&A with 2024 MMF Featured Photographer Misty Phillips

Musician playing guitar

Give us a quick bio: Where you are from, what school(s) you’ve attended, any special training or recognition you want to mention, where you work, the name of your photography business, and family. I’m from Alpha, Kentucky (on the Wayne/Clinton line). I’m an 80s baby. I attended Lexington Community College and Somerset Community College and […]

Denny Fries to be honored with MMF Lifetime Achievement Award

Denny and Wanda Fries listening to music at a past Master Musicians Festival.

By Jed Keith People called to service have a tendency to downplay their invaluable contributions to their community. Denny Fries, the recipient of 2023’s Master Musicians Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, is the embodiment of that ethos. “Picking me out of the bunch is an honor, but so many people have been instrumental to the process […]

Local musician Hunter Flynn honored as featured artist at 30th annual MMF

Billy the Goat. Charcoal drawing by Hunter Flynn.

Charcoal drawing highlights Lake Cumberland icon Billy the Goat, capturing community’s culture By Jed Keith “It’s about focusing on people.” And in whatever artistic endeavor Hunter Flynn throws himself, that’s where his focus lies. Flynn has made a name for himself in the Lake Cumberland area during the last year-and-a-half since devoting his time to […]

Rising Somerset High School Senior Selected as MMF Featured Photographer

By Lucy McArthurHana Saich was in fifth grade when she attended her first concert with her mother.“Funny how it all started with music,” she said. “It was a Melanie Martinez concert, and the environment inspired me from that night on to try and capture images of all the beautiful things that stem from people coming […]

Phoebe White

Phoebe White

Phoebe White’s first nationally released album was recorded in 2022 with Grammy Award winners Riders in the Sky in Nashville. Also featured on the album are producer Michael Johnathon of Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour and the world-renowned McLain Family Band. Phoebe was awarded the 2022 International Western Music Association Janet McBride Best-of-the-Best Yodeling Award, […]

Spenser Johns

Spenser Johns

Spenser is an 18-year old singer-songwriter from Indianapolis, Indiana. She began writing songs during the eighth grade, where she also taught herself the guitar, piano, and ukulele. Ever since, she hasn’t stopped writing. She has enjoyed writing songs about personal experiences. In 2021, she released her debut song “burden,” and later released her second song […]

Jonathan New’s Kids Country Jam

Jonathan New

Jonathan New is a multi instrumentalist, lifelong resident of Slate Branch in Somerset, Kentucky, and the son of Brother J.S. and Carolyn New. Jonathan was raised singing and playing gospel and hymns in his father’s church, Denham Street Baptist. From there, Jonathan learned the guitar and bass in addition to playing the piano. Jonathan began […]