April 10, 2010

“Randall Williams explodes onto the scene like a bolt of lightning. It's rare that a honey-toned tenor carries as much force as Williams. Combine that voice with highly articulate guitar work and superlative songs for a most powerful presence.” (Sing Out Magazine)

 

Shortly after Randall Williams graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Mons, Belgium at the head of his class, he returned to the world of traveling with his guitar, writing songs in train stations and sleeping on couches, then singing and playing on street corners, cafés, and pubs. Randall is as much at home in a Bangkok slum or a Senegalese village, at the Kennedy Center in D.C. or the Fine Arts Palace in Brussels sandwiched between a twitchy orchestra and a full house, or shoeless on the floor of your living room. Randall has sung in a dozen languages in over 35 countries.  Randall says: “I can celebrate every day that I'm moving forward doing what I love.”

 

"When Randall left the confines of classical music largely behind, they lost a great talent, but the world gained a good friend - a friend who will tell its stories with grace, compassion, humility and humor." (Lynne Andrews)

http://www.whereisrandall.com/

May 15, 2010

"Al Day is brilliant and completely original." (Rich Warren, WFMT)  Hailed as "Most Promising Songwriter" by Chicago Magazine when he entered the music scene, Al Day has appeared in clubs and colleges throughout the United States and on such radio and TV shows as WFMT's "Midnight Special," WFMT's "Studs Terkel Show," WBEZ's "The Earth Club," and WTTW/Channel 11's "Sound Stage." His songs have supplied not only himself, but also other artists with original material. The most extensive piece Al has written to date is the libretto for the opera, Two Soldiers, which was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

"Day's rough, gravelly voice is one of the most engaging in town, and his control over it is nothing short of amazing. He can switch from high falsetto to a sandpaper voice with a facility that eludes most of us when trying to tie a shoelace." (Chicago Reader)  "Passion fills Day's intelligent, poetic, carefully crafted lyrics and radiates from his voice . . . His ability with metaphor and strikingly unusual imagery, along with his way of bending phrases and words, takes the listener on an unforgettable journey." (Sing Out Magazine) 

http://www.aldaymusic.com/about.html

  

 

 

 October 10, 2009

“One of the most glorious voices in all of contemporary folk music,” says the Chicago Tribune.  Anne Hills was born in Moradabad, India, the third daughter of educational missionaries. Raised in Michigan, she attended Interlochen Arts Academy where she formed her first folk trio.  Later, she moved to Chicago’s fertile folk scene in 1976 and co-founded the folklore center Hogeye Music, still a force in the Chicago music scene. Now based in Pennsylvania, she endows each show with her exceptional vocal and acting skills (she is a wonderfully acerbic comedian), as well as with her fluid ease on banjo and harmonica.” (Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times).  She also has a deep commitment to social justice… and to children (which) keeps her busy with benefit concerts and community service projects.

 

 “Anne Hills is such an exquisite singer that it’s understandable that people might be swept up in the pure beauty of her voice and thereby overlook her writing. That would be a mistake. For me, Anne’s writing, in songs like ‘Follow That Road’ and many others, is as direct, melodic and deep as any work being done today. She is quite simply one of my absolute favorite songwriters.  (Tom Paxton) “Four stars! ... Hills is the heir apparent to [Judy] Collins...” (Coral Hughes, The Austin Chronicle)

 

http://www.annehills.com

 

November 7, 2009

  "A brilliant songwriter and performer." (Ed Becker, KDHX, St. Louis) Ben Bedford has made his mark on the music scene in a very short time. With an understated intensity, he delivers intriguing sketches of America, its individuals, their victories and their struggles. Poignant, but never sentimental, Bedford's portrait-like songs capture the vitality of his characters and draw the listener deep into the narratives. With the release of his second album, Land of the Shadows, Bedford “...has proven himself to be a truly inspired and talented storyteller...” according to Arthur Wood (FolkWax). In its first month of airplay, Land of the Shadows reached number one on the Folk-DJ charts with three songs in the top ten.

 

"Bedford's stories tell stories from the inside looking out, taking the listener into the heart and the soul of the subject. Great songwriting has always done this, but sometimes we forget and it takes someone like Bedford to remind us of the magic." Dorothy Hamm  "...a rich, story-filled collection that portrays like a web of lay lines, mankind's interlaced journey across America down through the centuries." Arthur Wood, FolkWax

 

http://www.benbedford.com

 

December 5, 2009
         

“… This man makes more music from an Autoharp than you can imagine from a 12-string guitar and a harpsichord combined. Bryan Bowers has more stage presence and charisma than any stage performer in recent memory." (The Washington Times) Bryan was raised in New Bohemia near Petersburg of the Civil War's Battle Of The Crater fame. As a child, Bowers would tag along with the field workers and gandy dancers and learned to sing old call-and-answer songs. Bowers recalls, "The music I heard while working in the fields was mesmerizing…” After a stint in college with the guitar, he discovered the autoharp.  He relocated to Seattle, WA in 1971 and played for coins as a street singer and in bars for the right to pass the hat.

 

From this unglamorous beginning, Bryan Bowers has become a major artist on the traditional music circuit. He has redefined the autoharp and is also well known as a singer-songwriter. Bower's creativity and talent have won him induction into Frets Magazine's First Gallery of the Greats. For nearly three decades, Bryan Bowers has been to the autoharp what Earl Scruggs was to the five-string banjo. He presents instrumental virtuosity combined with warmth, eloquence, expression and professionalism.

 

"To call Bryan Bowers' performance simply a 'concert' would be inadequate if not inaccurate ... (it) could better be described as an experience!" (Deseret News)

 

http://www.bryanbowers.com/

 

 

January 16, 2010

“SPUDS rule!” (Meredith Carson) *I have never been so fascinated by a singing duo…they're original, funny, energetic, profound, always respectful of the music but always daring to try new things. When they get their hands on music, rhythmically and harmonically, it just takes off."  (Phee Sherline)

 

Small Potatoes, the Chicago based folk duo of Jacquie Manning and Rich Prezioso, say it has taken them years of careful indecision to develop a repertoire they describe as "Celtic to Cowboy."  Superb musicianship and showmanship, award-winning songwriting, and a strong sense of tradition has made them, as Dirty Linen Magazine said, "one of the most polished, inventive, and entertaining shows on the circuit.”

 

When you see Small Potatoes perform, you hear two great voices, some fine guitar playing, and a touch of tin whistle, flute, mandolin, bodhran, and other percussion toys. They have the unique ability to adapt to the style of music they happen to be playing.  They seem comfortably at home whether playing an upbeat cowboy swing tune or a tender, traditional ballad  -- though there are no rules here either, sometimes the traditional sounds contemporary, sometimes the contemporary sounds traditional.  And they also pay attention to the little things, the warmth, the humor and a rapport with the audience that makes for a memorable performance. Sherline says, "The audience… loves them. It's a stand-up-and-shout kind of love."

 

http://www.smallpotatoesmusic.com

 

 

 

February 13, 2010

“Hearing the songs of Michael Smith in this day ad age is like reading an anthology of short stories by Hemingway after decades of only comic books. It's a realization that songs can hold a whole lot more than they're usually expected to hold, that they can possess a genuine sense of place as evocative and magical as the finest.” (Song Talk)

Michael Smith bought a guitar at fifteen (for five dollars) and was soon playing in a group inspired equally by the Kingston Trio and Harry Belafonte. The act was called The Kalypso Kids and played a lot of VFW halls and psychiatric hospitals. Later, in college and after, he played with different groups. "Those were days when you got hired by the week and people stood in line. They didn't even have to know who you were. It was Folk Music, and Folk Music was happening," Michael did entirely his own material. "I would say the song was Fred Neil's. People would say 'Oh, I hadn't heard that one.' I'd say 'It's one of his better ones, don't you think?'”

 

Michael has spent years in Chicago at The Earl of Old Town and the Old Town School of Folk Music, continuing to write.  He is well known for his ”The Dutchman” and the music for a production of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. “His songs are so resonant in layers of myth and magic, and so perfectly enhanced by the genuine beauty of his melodies and instrumental arrangements, that you can listen to a single one over and over for an afternoon and feel satisfied.”(Song Talk) Michael says. "I feel I was born to write songs."

 

http://www.michaelsmithmusic.com

 

 March 6, 2010                                  

Kate Eggleston was one of the outstanding concerts of the Stained Glass Coffeehouse’s first season.  "She is a virtuoso guitarist and hammer dulcimer player, and her songs blend vivid, often gripping, imagery with memorable lyrical melodies." (Michael Parrish, Dirty Linen).

Kat is one of the most accomplished singers / songwriters today. Elating audiences with her beautiful blend of sweet melodies and gentle honesty, Kat's music is universally appreciated by young and old alike. Her songs touch a wide range of life's experiences with unusual clarity and authority. On (her recording) Second Nature we're in for honest lyrics honestly sung. In a clear alto with flawless intonation, Kat goes straight to the lyrical and emotional truth of every word and every note. Her musings on home, childhood, and her father's garden are gems of direct, unassuming plainspokenness

"Kat Eggleston not only has the soul of a poet but the voice of an angel, not to mention that the lady can play a mean guitar." (Dennis Palkow, Chicago Tribune). 

http://www.kateggleston.com