Crafters Fair feat. Will Stoltz, Bontrager Family, Aaron Stutzman and Sheila Mullet with Livin' Forgiven - October 01, 2015

Shipshewana will be hosting a festival of crafters, entertainers and musicians that has become an annual fall event. The festival will take place in and around the town, located in the heart of beautiful Northern Indiana Amish Country. The festival is set to start at 9am, October 1st and will continue to run all day on the 2nd and 3rd. The event is planned for families and individuals looking for something truly unique and different from normal weekend routines. The Crafters Fair Gospel Sing is the Evening Highlight and features several artists or groups performing in an old-fashioned "Gospel-Sing" format..

Full Event Information at: www.fallcraftersfair.com.

Are you a Crafter and would like to participate? Download this application and send it in. Crafters Fair App

2015 Fall Crafters Gospel Sing Artist Bios:

Will Stoltz: From Amish Country To Country Radio

One of the beauties of country music is that it reminds many listeners of a simpler, more innocent time, and it's hard to imagine a place more reminiscent of early America than the Amish country where the 23-year-old singer and songwriter Will Stoltz grew up.

It's known as Pennsylvania Dutch or Amish country, an area where the horse and buggy is still a common mode of transportation, many of the homes and farms have no electricity, the ladies and girls wear long dresses and the men and boys sport straw hats and suspenders.

"We lived in an old stone house, built in 1820. It didn't have electricity, and we didn't have a car to get around," Stoltz says in a May conversation at the Music Row office of his manager, JB Bonelli.

He's one of nine children in a family that now does use electricity and cars, and last year Stoltz's four years of commuting to Nashville to write and record songs paid off when he was named one of country music's Top 10 Unsigned Artists by Nashville Music Guide.

Will also recently appeared and caused a great deal of excitement on Billy Block's radio and TV shows at 12th&Porter. Bonelli accurately describes Stoltz as having "Amish Roots and a Nashville Sound," and Will stands a great chance of being country's first-ever Amish star.

"As kids, you always try to take things as far as you can. We didn't have cars, so we'd make Go-Karts," he says with a smile. "Growing up like that, you really don't think about what it would be like outside of that life. You're just so used to what you're doin', you don't think about the disadvantages. It's an awesome lifestyle."

Like many country stars, Stoltz grew up on a farm, so getting up in the wee hours of the morning as today's artists often do on radio tours is nothing new to him.

Will first came to Nashville to study voice. That was when he and Bonelli first met and began working together. Soon both men learned that Will had a huge talent and charisma as a new traditionalist country singer, along the lines of his heroes Josh Turner and Randy Travis.

And while he grew up in an environment full of old-fashioned values, Will's music is completely up to date. With his movie-star looks and songs often penned with or by Music Row's top tunesmiths, Stoltz is an ideal fit for today's country radio.

Touring is a huge part of any artist's profitability and branding these days, and playing live is one of Will's favorite things.

A promotion last year to more than 600 stations all over the world quickly earned Will a Top 5 song in Japan, and tons of interest both in Europe and the States. "I was amazed, I didn't realize that Europe was so oriented to country music," Stoltz says.

His own passion for country was reinforced by the top Row voice teacher Brett Manning, whose Singing Success is the best-selling vocal instruction course ever. When Manning heard Stoltz perform Josh Turner's "Long Black Train," Brett told Will: "Man, I have so many artists come in here and I hear songs all the time. They don't do a thing for me. But that right there, your performance of 'Long Black Train,' that moved my heart. Country, that kind of music - that's you right there."

Stoltz says simply, "that changed my life."

Will Stoltz's music is about the change of lives of a whole lotta people, and a whole lotta country radio listeners

Bontrager Family Singers

Here are the answers to the questions the Bontrager Family is asked most!

{Who We Are}

We live on a farm in the Midwest, and we love working and singing together! We say that we have two lives, and really we do. Life #1 is touring North America in our 45 foot bus and doing concerts. In Life #2, we work hard on a livestock and crop farm where we milk cows, garden, plant and harvest crops, and pack and unpack while we try to transition to or from Life #1. We love living all together in one (not huge) house and we are each other's best friends.

{The Ministry}

Our reason for traveling and singing is to share the love of Jesus. We want to tell others what Jesus has done for us and what He can do for them. We are also passionate about encouraging families to be strong in the Lord and to love one another. It is God who has has called us to this ministry, and we endeavor to shine His light wherever we go. We sing at churches, festivals, camps, resorts, prisons, nursing homes, and street missions.

{The Style}

We sing Gospel songs of many different genres- hymns, praise songs, Southern Gospel, and more. We provide the instrumentation live using piano, acoustic bass guitar, violins, banjo, acoustic guitar, mandolin, and harmonica. Our style is varied and doesn't fit neatly into any category, but you could probably call us a bluegrass/Southern Gospel mix.

{How We Got Started}

People often ask us how and when we started singing. Way back when the kids were little, we sang together at family devotions. There weren't multiple harmonies or instruments back then- just Becky's guitar and a handful of voices. As the children got older, we decided to start music lessons. As they learned to play instruments, Becky began to take them to nursing homes to share their music with the residents. At some point, Marlin decided the whole family would go to the local Salvation Army soup kitchen to sing and play. Over a few years, we went there various times and were privileged to share with those dear people. One day in 2005, we were contacted about sharing music in South Carolina prisons. We put together a short program of songs and headed for South Carolina! Going into the prisons was a wonderful experience for all of us, and we knew we wanted to do it again. For the next several years, we made the trip down south, adding a few more concerts in churches along the way every time. In 2008 we were gone for three weeks and after that we started traveling much more than previously, going on a longer Southern tour and adding other trips throughout the year. By 2011 we spent as much time on the road as at home.

Aaron Stutzman - "The Yodeler" and Sheila Mullet with Livin' Forgiven

More information about the other performers coming soon...