Touring since the eighties, singer-songwriter-parking lot attendant Jamie Anderson has played her warm and witty songs in hundreds of coffeehouses, concert halls, colleges and festivals in four countries and forty seven states. She has ten recordings including her newest, Better Than Chocolate. Her music has been featured on Good Morning America, the Dr. Demento radio show, NPR's Car Talk, and stations all over the world. Jamie loves being a musician, so she doesn't really park cars, but her mama said she should have something to fall back on.
Jamie's a confused folk singer who doesn't settle in just one genre. She's country without the big hair, bluegrass without the whiney tenor, blues without selling her soul and rock without the dirty t-shirt.
Big Bad Gina is: Jori Costello, Renée Janski, and Melodie Griffis
Jori Costello, singer/songbird, guitar groovin, percussion pounding Goddess. Renee Janski of UU choir fame, amazing Amazon arias and multi-faceted musicianship. And Melodie Griffis of U of A jazz combo talent with an Angelic Cameroon croon keeping it rockin on the bass and jazzin it up with her ultra fine guitar riffs ~ Add a slew of instruments, some kickin original tunes and select scintillating covers, and you have Big Bad Gina! an all womyn’s band based in Fayetteville, AR and ready to rock the region and nation with their award winning “Amazon Warrior Princess” Goddess Groove! It’s Folkin’ Rockin’!
Folk artist Chris Collier has been performing for many years throughout the Midwest. Collier's music is sophisticated and her lyrics personal. Her unique voice and polished songwriting skills have gained Collier excellent reviews for her performances and recorded releases alike.
2006 Cincinnati Entertainment Award Nomination for Best Singer-Songwriter
2002 a Cammy Award for BEST Folk Vocalist as well as a nomination for BEST Singer Songwriter at the 1998 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards as well as three time CAMMY nominations for Best Folk Vocalist. Inclusion of Collier and her band's live performance of "Galaxie 500" on WNKU's Exit 89 CD was quite an honor Collier admits her music is personal and introspective. The beauty of her lyrics is that they are easily accessible. When writing songs, Collier discovers she is teaching herself and there's always a lesson learned. "I believe people who create (music and art) are always in the process of self discovery," she says thoughtfully. Perhaps that is why Collier's music so readily touches the heart.
Singer-songwriter Melanie DeMore has a remarkable voice, weaving the fibers of African American folk music with soulful ballads, spirituals and her own original music. DeMore beautifully brings her audience together through her music and commentary. She has toured extensively, singing at festivals, universities, in coffee houses and concert halls. Her recordings 'Share My Song' and 'Come Follow Me' are both heartfelt collections of her music.
In addition to her solo work, DeMore facilitates vocal workshops for professional and community-based choral groups and has taught her program called “Sound Awareness” in schools, prisons, and youth organizations in the US, Canada, Cuba and New Zealand.
How DO you describe Leela and Ellie Grace? Well, if the Indigo Girls and the Louvin Brothers had somehow brought two little girls into this world and raised them as part of a family band, they just might have grown up to sound like Leela and Ellie Grace. While we do not think this love match would have been much of a success, such a musical union is a beautiful thing in the skilled hands and sparkling voices of the Grace Sisters. Having spent a lifetime steeped in diverse musical traditions, they have created a soaring sound and bright presence all their own.
Leela and Ellie Grace are singers, multi-instrumentalists, songwriters, and percussive dancers who grew up traveling across North America performing with their parents as The Grace Family. For the past 13 years, they have been making a name for themselves around the country as a duo, in addition to offering solo appearances, and touring with nationally-known bands. Leela (banjo, guitar) and Ellie (mandolin, guitar, fiddle) have been acclaimed by audiences and fellow musicians alike for their powerful voices, close sisterly harmonies, warm stage presence, and driving old-time instrumentals.
Dancing on the edge of folk and pop there's a revolution: emma's revolution. "Bold, profound, moving, hilarious and transformative." The sound of passion in "deftly-turned phrases," songs imbued with hope, warmth and the "power and drive" to turn tears into laughter, cynicism into action.
A motivating force in intimate concerts and mass demonstrations, infused with inspiration from the legacy of music for social change, Pat Humphries and Sandy O's dynamic harmonies are multiplied by hundreds of thousands. Emma Goldman stood for everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things. Join the revolution!
emma's revolution is the duo of award-winning, activist musicians, Pat Humphries & Sandy O, who write songs that become traditions.
Sharp, engaging, captivating and hilarious; those are some of the ways promoters, fans and colleagues describe Dana Goldberg's comedy. Edgy and intelligent, Dana uses personal experiences combined with everyday life to keep her audiences in stitches. CURVE Magazine calls Dana Goldberg "Cute, smart, and seriously funny," and the international magazine's readers voted Goldberg as one of the "Top Five Funniest Lesbians In America."
Headlining comedy clubs, festivals, Universities and theaters around the country, Dana has also shared the stage with the powerhouse comedians such as David Brenner, Kate Clinton, Judy Gold, and Suzanne Whang. Host and co-producer of the Southwest FunnyFest in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Dana is enjoying a successful run with one of the best comedy events to ever hit the Southwest.
As the youngest child in a single parent household run by a Jewish mother in which two out of three kids are gay, Dana helps keep most of the comedy venues and half of the psychotherapists in the country in business.
Julie was a cast member of LOGO's BIG GAY SKETCH SHOW and winner of the NEWNOWNEXT - Brink of Fame Comic Award, and the MAC Award for Best Headlining Comedian in NYC.
Julie has been garnering massive attention around the country performing stand up in clubs, and colleges and headlining various shows and working beside
Sarah Silverman, Lewis Black, and Jeff Garlin. She has performed at Montreal's prestigious, "Just for Laughs' comedy festival, and on Broadway in "Laughing Liberally" and emceeing "Puppetry of the Penis".She is favorite on Olivia cruises and R' Family Vacations and has appeared doing stand up on LOGO, COMEDY CENTRAL, SHOWTIME and you may have seen her performing a duet she co wrote with JANE LYNCH on VH-1’s DO SOMETHING AWARDS or her guest starring role on the season final of FOX’s “BONES”.
You can also HEAR Julie on The wildly popular podcast GAY PIMPIN with JONNY MCGOVERN, and Currently Julie is working with BRANDY HOWARD – her creative partner - on several projects, including their new job as writer on E!’s FASHION POLICE, their new Lesbian Romantic Comedy, "NICEST THING", and their outrageous Zombie movie “GAY BABY ARMY.” You can catch Julie and Brandy on their irreverent web series JULIE & BRANDY: IN YOUR BOX OFFICE – on AUTOSTRADDLE.COM
"Ladies Must Swing... And Swing We do!!"
Ladies Must Swing is an 18-19 piece all-female big band based in Madison WI. featuring 5 saxophones, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, piano, bass, drums, vocalist, congas and guitar. The LMS Band has performed great swing charts, ballads, polkas and waltzes.
Ladies Must Swing was inspired by a 1995 Madison Jazz Society’s request to put together an all-girl band for one of their concerts. Our name comes from the initials LMS of Linda Marty Schmitz who is the long time president of the Madison Jazz Society.
In 1997 we restarted the band as an 18 piece ensemble and were encourage by dancers, fans and fellow musicians. It took time to acquire a library and sound system, but somehow we did and kept playing in the Madison area. After a while, we booked by an agent and played some theaters and other outdoor venues.
So We have come a long way from the beginning and are proud of our musical accomplishments and look forward to much more emphasis on music composed by women and other great swing music.
Two For The Road’s Lynette Margulies and Jane Reynolds have been performing together since 1979. Their music is based in jazz and blues, featuring soulful original songs and improvisational adventures.
With Lynette Margulies on vocals and Jane Reynolds on piano, there is a musical dialogue that only two friends with years of music and life experience can share.
Holly Near is a unique combination of entertainer, teacher, and activist. An immense vocal talent, Near’s career as a singer has been defined by an unwillingness to separate her passion for music from her passion for human dignity. She is a skilled performer and an outspoken ambassador for peace who brings to the stage an integration of world consciousness, spiritual discovery, and theatricality.
Although she sang in public from the age of eight, Ms. Near’s professional career began with numerous performances in film and television, and a run in the Broadway production of Hair. Torn between a career as an actor or a singer, Ms. Near chose to pursue her love of music, especially that music which articulated the social conditions of the world community.
"Organic and rich like good soil."- Amy Ray
The Michigan-based duo Nervous but Excited combines genuinely crafted stories and an extremely unique harmony to create what they call Pleasantly Aggressive Folk. The two quirky singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, Kate Peterson & Sarah Cleaver, switch up acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, glockenspiel, bass and harmonica - and work in a whole lot of laughter in between. The laughter is where the “pleasant” comes in. The “aggressive” you will find weaving in and out of their hauntingly swelling harmonies and mindful lyrics. Their original repertoire ranges in topic from smart, introspective narratives to the tactfully political, interspersed with patient songs of love and loss that will undoubtedly tug on your heart.
Road warriors to the core touring nearly half the year, their endless passion has landed them on stages with folks like Ani Difranco, Iron and Wine, Utah Phillips, Ben Gibbard, Lucy Kaplansky, Cheryl Wheeler, Toshi Reagon, Catie Curtis and Girlyman to name a few. Their live show will bounce you through a variety of emotions always keeping you guessing which is next. You may cry, you’ll definitely laugh, and they hope you’ll leave feeling that your heart has grown just a little larger than it was before you arrived.
Imagine if Adele, Carole King, and Joss Stone had a love child… it would be Summer Osborne. Music is often described by genre, but Summer cannot be put into a category. She is a symphonic smorgasbord. Her music can loosely be described as folk soul, acoustic rock, and piano pop… but you will hear glimpses of jazz, blues, and comedy. She writes and sings real music about real life and every show is an emotional experience! It is the evolution of the soul – one song at a time.
Since deciding to focus on her musical career (performing and writing) full time in 2009, Summer has been constantly on tour, doing shows at venues and festivals. She has played music at Pridefests all over the Mid-West US & Canada: Pridefest St. Louis (2005-2011); Vancouver Pride – British Columbia, Canada (2011); Mid-MO Pride – Columbia, MO (2011); Halifax Pride – Nova Scotia, Canada (2010); Mid-South Pride – Memphis, TN (2005 & 2010); Springfield Pride – Springfield, MO (2009); Kentuckiana Pride – Lexington, KY (2009); Metro East Pride – Belleville, IL (2008 and 2011). Summer has shared the stage with The Indigo Girls, God-Des and She, Tiffany, Jen Foster, Sugarbeach, The Cliks, Crystal Waters, Betty, Martha Wash, RJ Helton, Jennifer Holliday, Kimberley Locke, Tret Fure, and Shannon Curtis.
Back in 1992, Sharon made history in her home country of South Africa when she formed the country's first-ever, 500-member multi-cultural and multi-lingual performing group and staged the production called "When Voices Meet."
Then in 1993, Sharon rocked the nation with her concert tour, "The Peace Train." "When Voices Meet" had been so successful and so widely publicized that invitations began pouring in from all over the country. To respond to all the requests, Sharon got sponsors to hire a train - The Peace Train - and took 150 of the performers as well as TV and radio crews on tour throughout the country. At each stop along the route, they performed their concert and encouraged people of all races, cultures, ages and political affiliations to put down their guns and hostilities and to prepare for the country's transition to a peaceful democracy. The performing group became known as "The Peace Train" forever more, and all the world watched as Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first democratically elected President a few months later.
This Aussie/Canadian Duo are energetic, powerful, moving, and married to each other. Mixing sweet and soulful vocals with meaningful lyrics and driving tracks, these women have established a unique and recognizable sound which is altogether refreshing and utterly satisfying.
Nominated for 9 Pride in the Arts awards in the US, Sugarbeach won Favorite Group of the Year 2009, Pride Song of the Year “Living Out Proud” 2010 and Pride Camp Song “I Just Love Girls” 2009.
They wrote the 30th Anniversary theme song for Vancouver Pride, “Living Out Proud” which was also used by cities all over the world for their Pride celebrations. Living Out Proud won Song of the Year in the 2010 Countdown for the GLBT OutVoice Top 40 Chart and was also used to open Pride House Vancouver and Whistler for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Described by Vibe magazine as “one helluva rock’n’roller-coaster ride” and by Pop Matters as “a treasure waiting to be found,” Toshi Reagon is a one-woman celebration of all that’s dynamic, progressive and uplifting in American music. Since first taking to the stage at age 17, this versatile singer-songwriter-guitarist has moved audiences of all kinds with her big?hearted, hold-nothing-back approach to rock, blues, R&B, country, folk, spirituals and funk. The New York Times described her blend as “...a love of mixing things up...[her] vocal style ranges from a dirty blues moan to a gospel shout to an ethereal croon.” Her live performances, in particular, aren’t just accessible; they’re irresistible. And Toshi Reagon loves her audiences. Leading her renowned band--BIGLovely, launched in 1996--she instantly connects, inspires and empowers.
Mary Watkins is a composer and pianist with a vision. Although her training is classical, she moves fluidly and masterfully within and between the classical and jazz traditions,blending them seamlessly and incorporating other styles of music into her original works.
You will hear strands of blues, gospel, folk and jazz in her compositions. At the piano, she becomes a master improvisationalist, giving a huge range of emotion, form and substance, and composing many works spontaneously.
All of this has led her to write with equal skill for different media, including symphony orchestra, chamber and jazz ensembles, film, theatre and choral groups. She has written many songs. She has also made her mark as an accomplished arranger and producer of numerous albums.
She currently composes, performs, teaches and conducts Music workshops in Oakland, California.
Wahru, the National Women’s Music Festival ‘Drum Mother,’ is the original facilitator of the nightly drum jams for NWMF and has taught the NWMF Drum Chorus since 2003.
Wahru Cleveland performs percussion with local jazz musicians in a variety of venues and is founder of Sistah Ngoma and the Columbus Community Drummers. Sistah Ngoma is a multicultural professional women's drum group. The Columbus Community Drummers is an all genders multicultural group. She serves as musical consultant and drum instructor of a women's drum chorus. She also drums for Afro-Rhythms Drum and Dance.
She has facilitated drum circles for many festivals, including Columbus Community Festival, Hot Times and Ohio LBA Festival.
She was the ComFest Honored Artist in 2009.
Wahru is currently working on The MDOFE Project ~ Multicultural Drumming Originates From Everywhere ~ a collective bringing together the drumming arts from across cultures.
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all original art by ursula roma
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