Adam Swanson is one of the world’s foremost pianists and historians of vintage American popular music, including ragtime, early jazz, the Great American Songbook, and more. Adam has been a featured performer and lecturer at ragtime and jazz festivals across the United States and abroad, and he is the only four-time winner of the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest. He made his New York debut in Carnegie Hall at the age of nineteen, where he performed with Michael Feinstein. Adam appeared alongside pianist John Arpin at the Bohem Ragtime and Jazz Festival in the Republic of Hungary, and he has also toured Switzerland and Australia. Adam has accompanied silent films at the prestigious Cinecon Classic Film Festival in Hollywood and performed privately for Oscar-winning Disney/Hollywood composer Richard M. Sherman (Mary Poppins, etc.). At the age of twenty-one, Adam performed a solo concert at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage in Washington, D.C.
Adam holds a bachelor’s degree in classical piano and a master’s in musicology from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. He has been mentored by other ragtime artists including the famed Max Morath and legendary 1950s recording artist Johnny Maddox, who was one of Adam’s greatest influences. Adam has recorded albums with noted musicians such as former rock star Ian Whitcomb, the Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra, and the Bar D Wranglers. In 2025, he was selected as “Artist in Residence” for the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation in Sedalia, MO. Adam’s recordings have been used on the CBC TV show Murdoch Mysteries. He lives in Durango, Colorado, where he frequently performs in the Diamond Belle Saloon at the Historic Strater Hotel. Adam is also the director of the Durango Ragtime and Early Jazz Festival. Listen to Adam’s livestream virtual concerts on his Facebook page and YouTube channel. Visit Adam online: www.adamgswanson.com.

Danny Coots began playing drums at the tender age of 6 years old. Since then, he has studied with Nick Baffaro, Rich Holly, Alan Koffman and Jim Petercsak in percussion. Danny attended The Crane School of Music and St. Lawrence University. He eventually served as adjunct faculty at St. Lawrence University, Clarkson University and Potsdam State University from the 1970s into the 1990s. He continued traveling and performing with David Amram, Ray Shiner, Daniel Pinkham, Herb Ellis, Will Alger, Jack Mayhue, Speigle Wilcox, Mimi Hines, Phil Ford, Bob Darch, Pearl Kaufman and Arthur Duncan.
In 1996 Danny moved to Nashville, Tennessee and has lived there ever since. Danny has recorded extensively in Nashville, New York and L.A. and has appeared in over 100 countries. He has played on over 100 recordings, one of which won a Grammy in 2005. After moving to Tennessee, Danny joined the Jack Daniel’s Silver Cornet Band for 5 years and helped found the Titan Hot Seven. During this time he played and recorded with Dick Hyman, Houston Person, Bob Wilber, Johnny Varro, Jeff Coffin, Tim Laughlin, Harry Allen, Dave Hungate, Bill Allred, John Allred, Randy Reinhart, Ron Hockett, John Cocuzzi, John Sheridan, Dan Barrett, Vince Giordano… to name a few. www.dannycoots.com.

Hailed by The New York Times as an “especially impressive fine pianist,” Steinway Artist Richard Dowling appears throughout America in recitals, at music festivals, and as soloist with orchestras. Reviews praise him as “a master of creating beautiful sounds with impeccable control of colors and textures,” as “a musician with something to say, the skill to say it and the magnetic power to make you want to listen,” and for giving “a superb recital that left the audience craving for more at the end.” In 2017, Dowling performed the complete works of Scott Joplin in twin historic sold-out recitals at Carnegie Hall –– the first pianist in the world to perform the nearly four-hour cycle, all from memory. His Complete Joplin 3-CD set was nominated for a Grammy Award. Max Morath said, “Dowling’s mastery of Joplin invokes a tenderness that charms us and a technical command that inspires our admiration.” www.parkerartists.com/Richard-Dowling.html.

Frederick Hodges is hailed by the press as one of the best concert pianists in the world, and has established a reputation specializing in late romantic music as well as Ragtime, Broadway and Hollywood musicals of the first half of the 20th century by America's best composers, such as George Gershwin and Cole Porter. He maintains a busy concert schedule of stage, television, radio, and film appearances around the globe.
Additionally, he is a much sought-after silent-film accompanist for both live performances and DVD. He performs regularly at the Hollywood Heritage Museum, the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in California, the Cinecon Film Festival in Hollywood, the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and at other silent film festivals around the country. He also performs at music festivals such as the Sacramento Music Festival, the West Coast Ragtime Festival, and the Sedalia Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival. His website is www.frederickhodges.com.

Domingo Mancuello is a stage manager currently on tour with Back to the Future: The Musical. When not backstage, he devotes his time to playing ragtime and music of the 1920s. He has placed as high as third in the regular division of the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest. Domingo has performed as pianist and vocalist at the “Blind” Boone Ragtime and Early Jazz Festival in Columbia, MO, the Central Pennsylvania Ragtime and American Music Festival, and more. He has played a wide variety of ragtime festivals, house concerts, and non-profit fundraisers.

One can’t imagine the vintage music scene today without the influence of Donald Neely, the founder of the long-running Royal Society Jazz Orchestra. The California based bandleader, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer and arranger has nearly 50 years of musical experience playing tunes from the 1920s and 30s. He expanded the audience for hot syncopated music beyond the Bay Area without sacrificing authenticity. Dapper Don, with his silver hair and mustache making him look like the elder statesman he has become, still performs around California with other bands as well as his own 11 piece Royal Society Jazz Orchestra.

Craig Ventresco is internationally recognized as one of the foremost practitioners of ragtime guitar, known for his powerful pick-and-fingers technique that gives the acoustic guitar a distinctly pianistic quality. Drawing from an encyclopedic knowledge of 78 recordings, piano rolls, and original sheet music, his playing brings classic rags by the great ragtime masters vividly to life while revealing the close connections between ragtime, blues, and early jazz. His live appearances are infrequent, making festival audiences especially fortunate to hear this highly individual approach presented in concert.
In addition to instrumental ragtime, Ventresco performs seldom-heard popular songs from the late 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century while accompanying himself on guitar. His excellent vocals allow him to manage intricate guitar parts while presenting the lyrics with clarity and historical authenticity. Ventresco’s music is featured on the soundtrack of the documentary Crumb, reflecting a shared devotion to early American jazz, blues, and ragtime with legendary cartoonist and musician R. Crumb. He has also performed on numerous occasions with Don Neely, reflecting his deep roots within the early jazz and ragtime community. His appearance at the Durango Ragtime and Early Jazz Festival offers audiences an uncommon opportunity to experience this repertoire as a living, breathing performance tradition.