Voting Closes: Thursday, March 27th at 11:59 PM CDT-  

Winner of the virtual band competition will perform on the Backwoods Stage at Blue Ox on Saturday, June 28th, 2025!

Scroll down to learn more about the competitors and to watch their song submission!

*Vote for your Favorites! One entry per person, and you must choose three different artists! All entries that do not follow these rules will be discarded.

We had a lot of submissions this year which made it very difficult for our Blue Ox team to select artists for the voting round. Thank you to all who submitted. All submissions will be considered for Blue Ox 2026. 

2025 Virtual Band Competition Artists:

(Listed in alphabetical order).

Competition voting closes Thursday, March 27th at 11:59 PM CDT

Allison Mahal – Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Allison Mahal is an Americana artist from the Midwest. Her music has garnered attention from local and national press alike, including NPR, Under The Radar, American Songwriter, Milwaukee Magazine, Milwaukee Record, and Consequence of Sound, who featured her single “Autopilot,” writing, “it feels as though she’s stepped into some of her own power.” Recently, she’s taken on the Midwest with performances at Mile of Music, The Sh*tty Barn, Brady Street Festival, Summer Soulstice Music Fest, Marquette Waterfront Fest, Gibson Music Hall, Cactus Club (supporting Ira Wolf and Sway Wild), and a two night run opening up for The Jayhawks at the Barrymore Theater and Poplar Hall last fall.

Betty Won’t – Minneapolis, Minnesota

BETTY WONT – With a skip in their step and a tear in their eyes this rowdy Minneapolis based quintet has played from Frisco to Brooklyn delivering a twangy, blues soaked rock and roll wherever folks will have them. the country band at your punk show or the punk band at the honkytonk this versatile group of professional musicians will certainly have the most fun at any show.
p.s. sorry about the green room

Bigtooth – Madison, Wisconsin

After years of sharing festival bills and bumping elbows at open jams, Starr Moss, Trent Cuthbert, Michael Falk, Claire Kannapell and Paul Kienitz have convened to make their own brand of bluegrass-inspired music. Bigtooth, the culmination of this shared history, keeps one hand on the book of bluegrass standards and the other on the songwriting pen. Count on a distinctive repertoire that intertwines traditional material and original compositions, delivered with precision, finesse, and style.

Dan Scott & the Banjo Express – Minocqua, Wisconsin

Danny Lincoln (Yankee Coalition, Lincoln Boys, Underwater People) has been pickin’ and grinnin’ around the greater mid-west in some of the most beloved americana/bluegrass ensembles for over 40 years. He is steeped in tradition but has a knack for stylizing with his own modern approach to picking. He’s recently discovered Gorilla Snot. Scott Kirby has been a fixture of the Northwoods music scene for 20 years and first heard of D. Lincoln through a mutual friend and musician Tuck Pence.

Having much music in common, and a mutual respect for each other’s musicianship, the decision to join forces wasn’t too difficult to make. “I look up to Danny Lincoln and his generation of musicians so much, so for me, it’s a real treat to be able to share time making music with him.” S. Kirby

Humbletown – Lead, South Dakota

Formed in the humble prairie town of Vermillion, South Dakota, Humbletown has emerged as a powerful multi-genre bluegrass-inspired ensemble. Now based out of the Black Hills, the band is inspired by the quiet beauty of pine-filled forests, with original songs inspired by their home and travels, intricately performed on clawhammer banjo, flatpick guitar, and upright bass. With music that combines influences of bluegrass, old time, hot club swing, Americana, and classic country, Humbletown will take you on a musical journey that stretches across time and space.

Their 2022 debut album “The Path I Chose to Walk” received international acclaim. Americana UK’s review described the album: “The first impression on listening to these songs around virtuosos on clawhammer banjo and flat-picking guitar is that this entire collection must have been something discovered nearly a century ago by the great ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax.” Their album’s title track video “Vines” was premiered by Bluegrass Situation and Americana Highways described their album as “A little old-time country, folk & bluegrass. The musicianship is stellar, with fingerpicking on acoustic guitar & banjo. The mix of male & female vocals balances the material impressively.”

Humbletown has toured nationally and regionally and performed at many festivals. They have shared the stage with such acts as Wood Belly, Charlie Parr, Damn Tall Buildings, Songs from the Road Band, and many more.

Ladybird  – Milwaukee, Wisconsin

“MILWAUKEE’S PREEMINANT GOOD-TIMING COUNTRY-ROCK BAND”

“The first time you hear Ladybird you might say you hear Uncle Tupelo. The second time, maybe you hear Drive-By Truckers. A third listen may get you to John Prine, and so on. While that’s intentional according to songwriter Pete McDermott, it’s not the sonics that make Amy Come On Home one of the year’s best albums, it’s the songs. Ten tracks absolutely overflowing with wit and emotional wallop take the listener on a journey through a Midwestern South that can only exist in song. And as redneck as it is sophisticated, the biggest triumph of Amy Come On Home is its kindness to its characters. At the end of the day, the characters who inhabit Ladybird’s songs may be down on their luck, but they are still looking for some kind of good life with full knowledge of all the dumb and hilarious mistakes they’re gonna make along the way. That cuts deep in the same way classics like Being There or Decoration Day do, which is, by any measure a remarkable achievement for any band, never mind one that is just getting started.” – Kevin Hill, Discologist

Pintail – Thunder Bay, Canada 

Pintail consists of Kyle Shushack (guitar and vocals), Ben Bohémier (mandolin and vocals), Olivia Korkola (fiddle and vocals) and Jennifer Swistun (bass and vocals). Shushack, the driving force of the group, has spent countless hours honing his skills and it shows. He is a student of many disciplines and offers his impressive original compositions, while still paying tribute to all the bluegrass classics. Timekeeper and picker extraordinaire, Bohémier is the creative muse and momentum for this band. His influences mainly stem from the artists Sam Bush, Chris Thile, and Ricky Skaggs.

Additional to that, it’s Boheimer’s vocals that add the unmistakable sound of Pintail. Berklee alumni Korkola, has studied under pathbreaking musicians. Most notably and dear to her being Olga Medvedeva, Darol Anger (Tony Rice Unit, David Grisman Quintet) and Matt Glaser (Stéphane Grappelli, Django Reinhardt, Bob Dylan). Olivia holds their mastery of the craft in the highest regard. Korkola has spent the last half decade in Nashville, TN, and now proudly lives and performs in Thunder Bay. Swistun is a songwriter and bassist with 2 full length albums under her belt, “The Road” (2007) and “Bugsy” (2011). Swistun is the front woman of multiple projects including The Thirsty Monks and The Bustle. She adds an element of simple structure and originality to the group.

Ryan Picone Quartet – Minneapolis, Minnesota

Ryan Picone Quartet is a group that was put together to showcase the original compositions of Ryan Picone. The music has been written throughout different time periods in his life, and represents his connection to the music of Django Reinhardt. The band consists of Ryan Picone from The Red Hot Django Peppers, Ian Stenlund from The Mississippi Hot Club, Tessa Nichols Meade from the Cold City Heat, and Matt Blake from the Gentleman’s Anti Temperance League. This group is an all star group that brings together a new transfiguration of Jazz.

In 2023 the Ryan Picone Quartet released their debut album titled – I Awake dedicated to the legendary Django Reinhardt. The album has received great praise from the Django community including author Michael Dregni. In 2024 RPQ played their first Django Festival along side with musicians like Joscho Stephan and Sam Farthing.

Stony River – Ely, Minnesota

Stony River is a string band out of Ely, MN playing high energy Northern Crabgrass because we just can’t get the blue stuff to grow under all this snow.

The Cropdusters Band – Fargo, North Dakota

The Cropdusters have taken many shapes over the past decade and have formed a tight bond with the five that have become The Cropdusters Band. With styles spanning folk and bluegrass to psychedelic country funk vibes, the band is here with something for everybody.

The WickSnippers – Green Bay, Wisconsin

The Wicksnippers are a Wisconsin based bluegrass group focused on traditional pickin with a flare of new grass. Inspired by acts like Billy Strings, Tony Rice, Doc Watson, Brian Sutton, and many other great players. The Wicksnippers focus on bringing that homestyle Bluegrass vibe that focuses on good times and great people, alongside a little dip into the cosmic realm of new grass and space grass influences.

Whiskey Mash Band – Kansas City, Missouri

Whiskey Mash Band – High velocity bluegrass ground out of Kansas City, MO. The ensemble thrives on improvisation and genre-bending around core bluegrass instrumentation: guitar, mandolin, (bumpin’) upright bass and fiddle. At a live performance, expect to see them step in and out of a mix of Americana, folk, country, traditional, blues and psychedelic music. The group draws on their collective musical inspirations and aspirations to put together an energizing performance. Whiskey Mash is a good timin’ bluegrass band!