Steph Stewart & the Boyfriends

Fronted by songwriter Steph Stewart and featuring veteran bluegrass musician Tim Stambaugh (formerly of the Shady Grove Band) and Omar Ruiz-Lopez on fiddle, Durham-based Steph Stewart & the Boyfriends is the perfect fusion of traditional Appalachia and top shelf Americana. Her ethereal twang feeds an audience, easing into the gut like honey, accented by hoppy banjo picking. Other songs—the more tragic, emotional ones—unleash a piercing moan that hits harder, like a cast iron pan dropped on the kitchen floor, throttling with a resounding pulse long after the music is over. Rooted in memories dancing to Johnny Cash with her grandfather as a kid in North Carolina, there is something quite unique yet satisfyingly familiar in Steph's music.