Mary Flower, a 2008 Blues Music Award Nominee for "Acoustic Artist of the Year," is renowned for a uniquely personal vision of roots music that blends ragtime, acoustic blues, and folk styles.  Technically dazzling yet grounded in the down-to-earth simplicity of early 20th century American music, Mary boasts more stylistic diversity than just about any other artist currently performing under the "acoustic blues" banner.Flower has earned rave reviews from critics and audiences alike for her natural, unassuming vocals, but it's her instrumental skill - a mastery of the difficult Piedmont blues guitar style that takes most players a lifetime to hone - for which Flower is most celebrated. Her fingerpicking forms the basis of a heavily syncopated, ragtime-based style wherein the thumb plucks a strong rhythmic base as the fingers etch out the melody. Mary also excels at lap slide guitar, allowing her to infuse her songs with a supremely delicate, plaintive sound that's hers alone while recalling the blues giants of the past.Having finished in the top three at the National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship and appeared on radio programs such asA Prairie Home Companionand played at numerous folk and blues festivals including the Kerrville Folk Festival, King Biscuit Blues Festival, and Merlefest, Flower is in demand for festivals, concerts and guitar workshops on both sides of the Atlantic.