Hitting the Big Time: Major Music Stars Who Trace Their Roots to Northern Michigan

10 bands and artists to follow now

By Ross Boissoneau | Jan. 18, 2025

Those tuned in to the local music scene know there’s a lot of talent in the region. Maybe more than you realize, as a number of people who have lived, studied, and/or regularly performed hereabouts have made and continue to make their mark on the charts, playlists, and stages across the country and beyond.

Certainly there is a long list of those who attended Interlochen who went on to acclaim, whether the music camp, the academy, or both. Interlochen alums include Jewel, Norah Jones, Josh Groban, Betty Who, Grammy award-winning violinist Melissa White, jazz saxophonists Ron Blake and Bob Mintzer, opera singer Carla Canalas (who serves on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities), and Anthony McGill, principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic—the first African-American principal player in the organization’s history and a recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize.

OK Go founders Damian Kulash and Tim Nordwind met at Interlochen. A number of those connected to the fabled arts institute as students or instructors have made the region their home, such as Seth Bernard and Luke Winslow-King.

The biggest recent story is Chappell Roan, an Interlochen camp attendee a decade ago. In the past couple years she has catapulted to fame and drawn huge festival crowds, including a record-breaking set at Lollapalooza. Over 80,000 people caught her 5 o’clock show the opening night, which festival organizers called the largest daytime crowd and possibly the largest ever.

Here’s a quick primer on some of the other major musical talent that calls (or called) northern Michigan home. All have serious skills and have spread their music beyond the confines of the region.

The Accidentals

Katie Larson and Savannah Madigan first became friends and musical partners in orchestra class at Traverse City Area Public Schools. Violinist Madigan and cellist Larson raised their hands at the request for volunteers to play a music boosters concert. They wound up becoming musical soulmates who have gathered acclaim since teaming up more than a decade ago. They began touring following their graduation from Interlochen, playing more than 200 shows a year at such festivals as Electric Forest, ​​Rocky Mountain Folk Fest, and SXSW, ​and on stages with the likes of Brandi Carlile, The Wailers, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, and more. Percussionist Michael Dause joined after they met at Blissfest; he left in 2023 and was replaced by Katelynn Corll.

The band members have provided music for films, collaborated and toured with other artists, and released several albums and EPs. They are now based in Nashville, but return to the area to play their FAMgrove show every year.

Billy Strings

Guitarist and vocalist William Lee Apostol, aka Billy Strings, has been hailed as the future of bluegrass, wowing listeners with his dazzling high-velocity technique. Despite the fact he’s also an avowed heavy metal fan and his breakneck picking can transcend the popular definition of bluegrass, he remains popular with traditionalists: his three successive Entertainer of the Year awards from the International Bluegrass Musicians of America attest to that fact. He’s been praised in Rolling Stone and Acoustic Guitar and appeared on the PBS music programs Austin City Limits and Bluegrass Underground.

But before all the recognition and awards, including a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album in 2021 for Home, he was a favorite of northern Michigan audiences. Born and raised in central Michigan, he moved north after high school, eventually establishing a four-year partnership with mandolinist Don Julin. He frequently performed around the area, and though he’s since relocated to Music City, still finds time in his schedule for performances in Michigan. He even got married at the Hoxeyville Music Festival in September last year, with musicians Trey Anastasio, Bob Weir, and Les Claypool playing at the ceremony.

Don Julin

Few can boast the worldwide influence of Don Julin. The mandolin virtuoso has played with nearly all the area’s musicians in one configuration or another. He has Big Fun with dobro player Joe Wilson, pianist Jeff Haas, bassist Jack Dryden, and drummer Randy Marsh, combining bluegrass, funk and jazz, and was a mainstay of the Neptune Quartet, a similarly adventurous instrumental group with bass, cello, and guitar complementing his mandolin. He was perhaps best known for his longtime working relationship with Billy Strings before Billy decamped for Nashville and Grammy stardom.

Yet Julin’s true claim to fame is as an author, because when it comes to mandolin, he literally wrote the book. Mandolin for Dummies debuted in 2012 and has been distributed throughout Europe and America, where it has engaged both fledgling and accomplished players, helping them become more proficient on the diminutive eight-string instrument.

Caleb and Amanda Hudson

Since graduating from the Interlochen Arts Academy in 2006, trumpeter Caleb Hudson and trombonist Amanda Hudson have made their marks in the classical world, while also returning to the area to conduct classes and perform. The two met at rehearsal the first day of junior year, and upon their graduation they both went on to study at Juilliard.

Caleb spent a decade with the Canadian Brass and today serves as Associate Professor of Trumpet at the Butler School of Music, University of Texas at Austin. Previously, he held positions at the University of North Texas and Colorado State University. His experience ranges from soloing in Carnegie Hall to appearing with Vampire Weekend on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and he released his debut solo album Nothing Less in March of last year. Amanda is principal trombonist with the Dallas Winds and has served as an instructor at several master classes and symposiums.

Joshua Davis

Well-known nationally through his appearances on NBC’s The Voice, Davis has been familiar to and with Michigan audiences for over a quarter century. He was a founder of the rootsy Lansing-based band Steppin’ In It before kicking off his solo career and relocating to northern Michigan. Davis grew up a music fan, attending shows and music festivals in the Detroit area with his mom and the Hiawatha Music Festival in the Upper Peninsula with his dad. In high school he listened to punk rock, grunge, and hip-hop like his peers, but he also was taken by the folk scene and got his first guitar in his early teens. Steppin’ In It melded bluegrass, blues, country, rock, even some Celtic, which also form the roots of his music today.

While his performance schedule has slowed, Davis has also influenced the next generation of singers and songwriters. He has taught songwriting and guitar at Michigan State University’s Community Music School, led numerous retreats, master classes, and workshops, and is now director of popular music and instructor of singer-songwriting at Interlochen Arts Academy.

May Erlewine

May Erlewine has earned the sobriquet “Michigan’s Songbird” for her songs and performances, most of which (though not all) celebrate and resonate with the folk tradition. Born in Big Rapids to a musical family, as a teenager she hitchhiked across the country, absorbing stories and landscapes that would be reflected in her own music. She has called Traverse City home for a number of years and still tours the country and internationally as well.

Erlewine has released some 20 albums as a solo artist, with bands or other musicians, such as her two recordings with fellow female singer-songwriters Rachael Davis and Lindsay Lou as the Sweetwater Warblers. She also takes a break from her more familiar Americana persona to perform soul and funk with her band the Motivations. Her new album, What It Takes, is expected in April 2025.

Claudia Schmidt

A former Traverse City resident who once owned and operated a bed and breakfast on Beaver Island, Claudia Schmidt still regularly visits and performs in the area. Born in New Baltimore, Schmidt began her musical career while working in Chicago. Spurred by the city’s lively folk scene, Schmidt taught herself to play Appalachian dulcimer, 12-string guitar, and the deluxe pianolin, a 52-string, zither-like instrument. Within a few years, Schmidt had left her day job and sought her fortune as a musician.

Eschewing boundaries, she is equally at ease playing dulcimer and singing for a group of folkies or fronting a jazz band. She’s frequently performed and recorded with her friend Sally Rogers, and is often found at The Alluvion or Chateau Chantal with Jeff Haas’s band. Schmidt has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion and boasts more than a dozen solo, band, and collaborative albums.

Bob James

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention one of the area’s greatest legends, Mr. Jazz Hands himself: Bob James. With 36 albums to his name (including the Grammy-nominated Jazz Hands of 2023), James has performed not just with other jazz players but rappers, hip-hop artists, DJs, classical musicians, and plenty more, and travels around the world to do so. His songs have been played in millions of homes for decades, whether playing from records, MP3s, or even the TV thanks to his song “Angela” being used as the theme to the popular 1970’s sitcom Taxi.

In a Northern Express feature with James last year, we asked the octogenarian what was next. “I’m not giving up. I’m not dropping out of the race,” James told us with a smile. Keep an eye out for a duet project between James and saxophonist and composer Dave Koz, which they recorded in northern Michigan this past summer.

Andrew Dost Comes Home

The fun. may be over, but there are plenty of good times ahead for Andrew Dost and his band Metal Bubble Trio. A founding member of the Grammy-winning group fun. (stylized as all lowercase and with a period at the end), Dost has moved on from that band’s indie-rock vibes to a sound that’s hard to categorize.

“It started with bossa nova,” says Dost of the music of Metal Bubble Trio, which of course is neither heavy metal nor a trio. He says the music soon began incorporating everything from Americana, rock, and folk to jazz, resulting in a style he’s calling exotica lounge. “Vince Guaraldi, Yusef Lateef, Pharaoh Sanders, Bill Evans—those are touchstones.”

The native of Frankfort, who now lives on Old Mission Peninsula, says he was anxious to leave his little Lake Michigan town in his youth. He went to school at Central Michigan University before hitting the road. “I couldn’t wait to get out and see the world,” Dost says.

And he did. His tenure in fun. included selling 9.3 million copies of the hit “We Are Young,” which won Song of the Year at the 55th Grammy Awards. The band was also named Best New Artist at that year’s Grammys. The second album by fun. (also its last to date), Some Nights, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and received a platinum certification from the RIAA.

That was back in 2012. Dost doesn’t completely close the door on fun. reconvening, but doesn’t see further activity for the band likely. “We don’t have plans to do anything. It’s all good, we’re friendly—I saw Jack in New York a week ago. It’s not something any of us think about,” he says.

Now he’s writing and recording in the basement of the home that once belonged to his grandparents and great uncle. His parents live across the street. “My brother is in Grand Rapids, my parents live here; there was a pull,” Dost says. His lease on his home out West was running out just when the pandemic struck, so he decided it was a good time to return to northern Michigan.

While he says the core of Metal Bubble Trio is, like fun., a group of three, it’s filled in with a rotating cast of players on percussion, strings, saxophone and whatever/whoever else is handy. “It changes shape, [with] as many as 12. I want to keep being a nebulous entity,” he says.

The band has played dates in the Midwest, Toledo, Grand Rapids, and both The Alluvion and the City Opera House in Traverse City. Dost anticipates performing some dates later this year for Metal Bubble Trio’s debut album, Cucumber, set for release Jan. 17.