William Walter & Co. seems to gain fame and acclaim with every performance. In 2008, the Charlottesville-based band won FloydFest's emerging artist contest, beating out a slew of talented, up-and-coming bands from across the country. The victory earned William Walter & Co. a main-stage set at FloydFest in 2009, which proved to be a launching pad for their regional and national popularity.

Walter & Co. puts on an energetic live show and has as much as fun as its audience. The band's unique sound combines high-energy folk/funk music with lots of room for deep solos and exploration. The ability to continually reinvent sets keeps material fresh and gives listeners memorable musical experiences.

The band's songwriting reflects eclectic influences like Ben Harper, Bob Marley, the Grateful Dead and the White Stripes. The songs are personal and accessible, with lyrics that express common, shared experiences. Listening to their music is like hanging out with good friends: intimate, energizing, fun.

RoosterWalk strives to bring its patrons the best music from a variety of genres, and Junior Sisk and Rambler's Choice certainly qualify as one of the nation's top bluegrass acts. Sisk and his band were honored recently with the SPBGMA Album of the Year award for "Blue Side of the Blue Ridge."

A resident of nearby Rocky Mount, VA., Sisk's impeccable tenor voice and standout lyrics have made him a mainstay among the genre's lead men for years. His songwriting helped The Lonesome River Band in its ascent to bluegrass stardom in the early 1990's, but it was his lonesome, haunting singing that earned him the devotion of traditional bluegrass fans a few years later as a member of Wyatt Rice and Santa Cruz.

ubsequently, he assembled Ramblers Choice, which released the acclaimed "Sounds of the Mountains" in 1998, and contributed to the IBMA award winning "The Stanley Gospel Tradition." A brief stint with The Lost and Found followed before Junior took over the lead vocal role for Blue Ridge. Junior has been nominated many times for Songwriter and Male Vocalist of the year.

Gunchux is an indie-country-rock band that, between Rob Cheatham's perfectly crafted verses, likes to melt your face off with sick-nasty jams. Forming in the fall of 2008 in Charlottesville, Gunchux has been "taking the town by storm," according to the C-Ville Weekly. Band members are: Robert Cheatham of the Nice Jenkins on guitar and vocals, Martinsville's own Chad Bassett on bass, and Tucker Titus on drums.

Gunchux is danger, especially if you don't like to hear great music!

Back by popular demand, the Kings of Belmont, last year's headliners, will be the feature act Friday night at Rooster Walk 2.

The KOB thrives off performing live, and their shows have been described as "anything but predictable." While the set lists and song arrangements vary from show to show, the one constant is the energy of the popular Charlottesville, Va. band. Whether its rock or country or hip-hop or jams, you will find it woven into the sound of The Kings of Belmont. Get ready to get hype!!!

Red Rooster is the New York-based folk collective formed in 1998 and led by Jay Erickson (lead vocals) and Nat Zilkha (lead guitar) - lifelong friends who fashion plainly honest and self-reflective songs from fragments of their diverse musical influences and sensibilities. Originally established as an acoustic act, playing a mix of original and traditional bluegrass, blues and folk, Red Rooster has evolved into highly original and eclectic band with a sound all its own.

Though its roots remain firmly planted in Americana, Red Rooster has created a highly original and urban-infused sound. Today, Red Rooster shows vary from just Jay & Nat with a couple of acoustic guitars, to an urban country orchestra complete with electric guitars, drums, horns, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, and a DJ. Their music tells stories that grow out of the rich historical and cultural landscape that is America; from Appalachia to the Delta to destinations unknown. As the Houston Chronicle writes, it is a "...journey through the heart of Americana and roots music."

Big Fat Gap is a popular bluegrass band that's been a favorite in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area for years. The band's shows are known for smoking solos, sweet three-part harmonies and captivating stage dynamics.

BFG got its name from one of the few remaining stands of old growth virgin forest in western North Carolina, located in the Big Fat Gap in Graham County near the Tennessee border. The band has performed at countless venues and festivals across the southeast, and has opened for the likes of Ralph Stanley and Robert Earl Keen. They've also shared the stage with notable bluegrass icons such as the Steep Canyon Rangers, Tony Williamson and Rex McGee.

Jon Stickley is a former touring member of BFG. Stickley now plays for the Shannon Whitworth Band, a recently-formed group that will make its Merlefest debut this year. Stickley plays the guitar and mandolin like few others.

Traditionally untraditional. Or maybe it's untraditionally traditional. Bluegrass bands struggle daily with this handle that has been used to describe their music and their style - especially bands claiming Asheville, N.C. as home. Sanctum Sully thankfully deviates mightily - at times - from said agenda. While fully capable of delivering "John Hardy" as your grandfather might remember it, they'd much prefer to cover John Hartford. Toss in their penchant for potent and powerfully written original songs, and you've got the makings of a big-time band.

Combine three part harmonies, blues-based guitar riffs, a ringer of a mandolin and a hard-driving crowd and you've got a 'Sully' show. Foot stompin' good times and grassed up versions of blues, rock, and jam band tunes are the norm, but traditional covers are also a steady component of each show. It's one of the reasons for a growing fanbase, not to mention the upcoming April 16 show when Sanctum Sully will open for bluegrass legend Larry Keel and his Natural Bridge band.

Call it alt-country. Call it Southern rock. Call it Americana. Call it shake-yo-ass blues-fried boogie with flashes of raucous cow punk. Call it a honky-tonk Chinese fire drill.

Any one of those musical descriptors could hit the mark during a Possum Jenkins show.

Since coming together during their final year at Boone, North Carolina's Appalachian State University in 2004, rising Americana quartet Possum Jenkins has toiled and triumphed in bars, clubs and at festivals across their home state, as well as venturing into South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

A sonic Southern recipe of simple but effective melodies married to boundless, off-the-rails energy find the tight-knit group zeroing in on a sound that seamlessly incorporates strains of the timeless mountain music of Appalachia, the compelling alt. country of East Nashville and Austin, a touch of funky Memphis soul and a helping of unabashed Southern rock.

Possum Jenkins will play RoosterWalk 2 on Friday, May 28. So go ahead and plan on taking Friday off. Do it now. ...You can thank us later.

Lizzy Ross is a singer-songwriter based in Chapel Hill, NC. She is known for blending the flavors of singers like Janis Joplin, Norah Jones, and Joni Mitchell to create a smooth, strong, and soulful sound. Her fans praise her songwriting as insightful beyond her twenty-one years, and are always struck by the intensity and passion of her live performance.

Mandolin Orange, an alternative folk duo, stylizes alluring lyrics and melodies with violin, mandolin and guitar. "Their voices and instruments fit alongside each other like Johnny and June Carter Cash, embodying the same backwoods, lovebirds aesthetic," (DailyTarHeel). Their debut album, "Quiet Little Room", releases in Spring 2010 and reflects the influence of traditional music on their contemporary style. Their influences range from Cole Porter to Townes Van Zandt, but their sound is something charming and all its own.

Joe Washrag has been a favorite among Martinsville-area music fans for several years. The band specializes in "bumpin' blues grooves," and they dish them up in style. With varied influences including rock, rockabilly, Motown, and the Grateful Dead, Washrag shows often have a unique blend and flavor. Although blues is the main focus, you never know what might find its way into a set.

Joe Washrag performed at the first RoosterWalk, and their set, combined with the feedback from fans afterward, made their return to Blue Mountain Festival grounds an easy choice for RW organizers.

The Moon Rats are a hip new blue-country-rock-grass orchestra, playing only the most enjoyable music! Led by Martinsville native and standout vocalist Elizabeth Davies, the Moon Rats were a definite crowd pleaser at Rooster Walk 1. If you find yourself singing, dancing, using the master violet ray or just plain having a good time, then The Moon Rats must be near.

Morbi eget mauris ante, ut porta est. Quisque augue libero, tincidunt et malesuada vel, pulvinar sit amet nisl. Pellentesque dapibus congue placerat. Praesent convallis risus eget sem rhoncus lacinia. Donec sit amet urna sapien. Maecenas eget neque lacus. Duis at enim quam, ut feugiat tortor. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Sed mollis augue vel nulla viverra sagittis. In urna nulla, facilisis quis commodo accumsan, ullamcorper vel odio. Nullam fermentum est eget nulla molestie fringilla. Curabitur ultrices augue ut turpis bibendum vestibulum.

You think these words are funny?
Just wait to you hear The Secret Band!!

Poverty Level is an original acoustic rock quartet based out of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwestern Virginia. With an eclectic mix of musical styles, Poverty Level brings a fresh take on roots rock. Formed in early 2008 as an acoustic trio, the band has been impressing audiences with its originals and interpretations of well known cover songs from the get go. In 2009, the band entered the studio and recorded their debut CD "Oh My." It was released in March of 2010 to a sold out crowd at the Rives Theater in Martinsville,Va.