KASHUS CULPEPPER
Alabama-born country crooner Kashus Culpepper encompasses the sound of the South. A student and reverent purveyor of Southern music – country, soul, blues, folk, and rock – Culpepper’s husky, sandpaper growl bellows like a freight train over self-penned stories that are as raw and real as they are haunting. Finding his voice in church as young as five years old, it wasn’t until 2020’s global pandemic that Culpepper went from listener to performer, picking up a guitar and learning cover songs to play at barrack bonfires in Rota, Spain during his deployment with the Navy. Covers soon became originals, and once he landed home on U.S. shores, Kash played dive bars up and down the Mississippi Gulf Coast, making a name for himself with the fresh-yet reminiscent sound that oozes from his very being. Crashing
into prominence now, Culpepper has already sold-out headline club shows throughout the South despite never formally releasing a single song, also opening shows nationwide for sound pioneers like Charles Wesley Godwin, Charley Crockett, and NEEDTOBREATHE. With Nashville taking notice, Culpepper found a musical home at Big Loud Records, and just dropped his first three career singles “After Me?,” “Who Hurt You,” and “Out Of My Mind.” MusicRow hails Culpepper as “thoroughly gripping,” and with the promise of more music on the way in 2024, The Tennessean predicts how one of their 10 Nashville artists you need to know for 2024's “forthcoming material could offer…significant acclaim."
BREANNA MACMILLAN - Opener
Originally from Winchester, Kentucky, Brenna MacMillan began playing banjo at the age of nine. Brenna performed frequently in the Lexington area which led to opening for J.D. Crowe and Bobby Osborne. Attending Berea College, Brenna played with the Bluegrass Ensemble under Al White and was awarded the Red Foley Memorial Music Award in 2018. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Brenna moved to Nashville and started Theo & Brenna Band with her brother Theo. Their full bluegrass band toured for several years, releasing two albums.
As Theo & Brenna Band stepped back from touring in 2022, Brenna began working as a sideman in Nashville playing with various artists and bands locally and touring, including Brennen Leigh, Paul Kramer, Hillary Klug, Greg Garing, Kimberly Perry and more.
Brenna released her debut solo album Dear Life in October of 2024. Her tender songwriting combined with traditional banjo playing brings a fresh sound to singer-songwriter folk and bluegrass alike. Her songs have undertones of West African rhythms, old Kentuckian soil melodies and an innate resonation of storytelling.