The Barefoot Nellies were one of only two local acts picked to play last year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that they're as comfortable covering Led Zeppelin and Nancy Sinatra as they are retooling the Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe. Or that all four women are red-hot players — from Betsy Maudlin's heart-stopping fiddling and Jess Beebe's pounding bass to Prentice Sellers' brawny banjo playing and Nicole Solis' supple mandolin strumming. It doesn't hurt that Solis originals like "It's Harder for Me" are as heartbreaking as cautionary tales like "I Found Jesus on the Jailhouse Floor." It's no wonder Chuck Poling of Nashville Public Radio's Bluegrass Breakdown said the Nellies "turn any gig into one big, whoopin' bluegrass party."