Our 2025 Scholars

Meet Our Gold Scholar, Tai Shan

Tai Shan is a Americana Nashville Singer-Songwriter whose voice sounds like a cross between Brandi Carlile and Joni Mitchell. Tai's heartfelt songs have landed her as a 2024 and 2025 Kerrville New Folk finalist, a 2025 Rocky Mountain Songwriting Contest finalist, as well as a Josie Award winner. Her latest album Wildflower Moon is a  “breezy, road-trippin’ album" that explores her life as a new mother. Tai has toured the United States, Mexico, and Canada, sung for Pope John Paul II, and performed for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In addition to touring, Tai works as a private music educator, teaching songwriting, voice, guitar, and ukulele online. 

Tai grew up in Santa Rosa, CA. From a young age, she wanted to be a singer-songwriter. Her family did housework every Sunday for the local piano teacher in exchange for lessons.

In high school, Tai transferred to an arts high school, biking 10 miles round trip every day to attend. She later enrolled at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where she completed her education in classical and jazz composition.

After college, Tai moved to Nashville with her husband and discovered she was pregnant within the year. Today, she has a wonderful 5-year-old and a number of albums available.

In addition to touring, Tai works as a private music educator, teaching songwriting, voice, guitar, and ukulele online. 

Meet the Silver Scholars

  • Marisa Cirillo is a Brooklyn-based songwriter whose love for music began in a home filled with the sounds of Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Queen, and The Beatles. Drawn to the emotion in lyrics from a young age, she fully embraced her songwriting journey in her early twenties. Inspired by the storytelling of Stevie Nicks and the lyrical craft of Taylor Swift, Marisa brings a steady stream of ideas and energy to every co-write. Her songs span pop, folk, country, and alternative—always led by the heart of the story. Early in her journey, she met John, whose encouragement left a lasting mark. Being named a finalist for his scholarship is a full-circle moment that reflects the spirit of support and community she’s come to love in the songwriting world.

  • Dan Harrison is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter who has earned cuts with artists like Adair's Run, Todd Cameron, Belles, Clayton Shay, Carson Beyer, Don Louis and more. He was also awarded the 2021 ASCAP Jay Gorney Award, the 2022 Bluebird Golden Pick, the 2023 ASCAP Harold Adamson Lyric Award - Country Division, and is a member of the ASCAP GPS Class of 2023. He has shared some of country music's most famous stages with acts such as Mitchell Tenpenny and Steve Moakler, and split festival bills with Lady A, Lainey Wilson, Hardy and Blake Shelton, most recently at the Barefoot Country Music Festival in Wildwood, New Jersey and the Carolina Country Music Fest in Myrtle Beach, SC. Dan's music has been featured on Spotify's New Boots and Wild Country, among many other editorial playlists across DSP's. His artist projects have accumulated over 1.5 million streams across platforms thus far. His first EP, As Far As I Know, was released in October of 2024.

  • Michelle Raybourn is an Americana singer-songwriter originally from Dallas, TX who has made her home in Nashville, Tennessee since graduating from Belmont University in 2023. In her recent release, “Natural Disaster”, Michelle works to bring her worlds together of family, faith, and folk music, exploring the landscape of womanhood, making sense of the harm that has been handed down, and finding healing for the wounds of being a human in the world. She hopes that these songs can be a gift to those who listen to her words, as they have been to her in getting to sit with and write. 

  • Plucked while still a student to tour with Joan Armatrading, and championed by Neil Young on his ‘Living With War’ website, Dan Raza has spent the first chapter of his career weaving folk troubadour magic around the clubs and halls of the UK and overseas while quietly building a reputation as one of the UK’s best-kept musical secrets. With three critically-acclaimed albums under his belt, the singer-songwriter, whose roots lie in folk, Americana and lyrical pop balladry, has won support along the way from some of the biggest names in folk music, such as Rodney Crowell (“great voice and fine arranging sensibilities”), Tom Paxton (“killer songs”) and John McCutcheon (“one of my favourite discoveries of recent years”), and has long been tipped for wider mainstream recognition.

Meet the Bronze Scholars

  • Carrie Sams is a Christian indie singer-songwriter from Monroe, Georgia, blending heartfelt lyrics with stripped-down melodies that reflect both faith and vulnerability. Rooted in the quiet rhythm of small-town life, her music draws from personal journeys, scripture, and the everyday beauty of grace in motion. With influences ranging from acoustic worship to indie-folk storytellers, Carrie creates a sound that feels both intimate and honest — like a journal entry sung aloud.

  • Cheyne Stilwell is a Nashville-based songwriter with heartfelt, message-driven music that has captured attention throughout the songwriting community. With a voice that carries both power and warmth, Cheyne’s songs balance radio-ready melodies with a depth of purpose rarely found in today's music scene. A natural storyteller, he brings a sense of joy, authenticity, and connection to every performance, inviting listeners into moments that resonate long after the last note fades.

  • With his recent win at the Great American Song Contest, Nashville's best kept secret is finally out. Combining honest and raw country lyricism with the guitar tones and melodies of 90s rock, Liam creates his authentic sound he calls  "Y'all-ternative". Liam's songs and songwriting credits have totalled over 1 million combined streams, including Belles' "Man Outta Me" and Cody Garrett's "Hitched". Liam's song "Hands Up" recently won the Great American Song Contest, which comes on the heels of his recent win at the 2024 Rocky Mountain Song Contest where his song "Secondhand Smoke" won the Grand Prize. Liam's song "Breakin' Up Down" has earned him numerous artist features at the historic Bluebird Cafe and his latest single, Hands Up, is out on all streaming platforms and his debut EP is set to release late 2025.

  • Joe Major, a singer-songwriter from Houston, Texas, brings together the energy of ’80s rock, the soul of country, and the charm of uplifting pop in his music. He grew up in a family that valued time together huddled around the piano, singing gospel and old hits. He discovered a real passion for writing his own music in early college, letting the emotion of early adulthood push his desire to create relatable art. After spending years writing and recording in Texas, he moved to Nashville to connect with the heart of the music industry. His latest release, Into Your Arms Again, highlights his talent for blending genres with heartfelt, relatable storytelling. Joe is carving a bold path in modern country music with his distinct sound and authentic voice.

  • Bella Garland is an up-and-coming Nashville singer/songwriter making her mark in the music industry.  Bella won the Bluebird Cafe Golden Pick Contest for her original song “18” in July 2021. She was asked to write and perform two songs to honor Emmy and Golden Globe award winning actress Jane Seymour at the 2022 Celebrity Care Fest. Bella was also a semi-finalist in the 2022 International Songwriting Competition for her song, "Stand With You".  Bella has been writing since she was 13, and her raw lyrics and knack for storytelling is what sets her apart. With over 17K followers on Instagram alone, Bella has amassed a loyal fanbase. Her music spans several genres including pop, country, and folk. She recently graduated Belmont University with a degree in songwriting and a voice minor.