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| NewSong Artist Profiles / 2004 | |||
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DARRELL SCOTT | SUSAN WERNER | STEPPIN' IN IT | KENNY WHITE | PETER MULVEY | TOM PRASADA-RAO | PAUL REISLER | DEVON SPROULE | ROBBIN THOMPSON | KATE McDONNELL | HUNGER MOUNTAIN BOYS | POPS WALKER | MARK SIMOS | MAD AGNES | JAMAL MILLNER | NAKED BLUE | WE'RE ABOUT 9 | MALCOLM HOLCOMBE | TORI ANDERSON & POSSUM HOLLER | TODD BURGE --- WEBSITE:
www.darrellscott.com
--- WEBSITE:
www.susanwerner.com
--- WEBSITE:
www.steppininit.com --- WEBSITE: www.kennywhite.net --- WEBSITE: www.petermulvey.com --- PUBLICITY: snippercary@ont.com /
512-699-7370. Or: tom@thedreamsicles.com --- WEBSITE: www.paulreisler.com --- WEBSITE:
www.devonsproule.com
--- WEBSITE: www.robbinthompson.com --- WEBSITE: www.katemcdonnell.com --- WEBSITE: www.hungermountainboys.com --- WEBSITE: www.popswalker.com --- WEBSITE: www.devachan.com --- WEBSITE:
www.madagnes.com --- --- WEBSITE: www.nakedblue.com --- WEBSITE: www.wa9.org --- MALCOLM
HOLCOMBE --- TODD
BURGE |
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In
a word, hit songwriter and acclaimed performer Darrell Scott
embodies the spirit of the NewSong Festival, which is why we are
so pleased and honored to have him return as a headliner this year.
His songcraft is simply the best out there. Those who have heard
his soulful voice and powerhouse delivery live have witnessed a
master at play.... 
George
Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Billy Strayhorn.
The Golden Age of Popular Song. A bygone era. No one can write
tunes
like that anymore. Or just maybe Susan Werner recently added
a new chapter to the Great American Songbook... 
You
know you've got an interesting band in your sights when you
note that not one, but two players are listed in the lineup as
playing "triangle." That would be the hip acoustic quartet,
Steppin In it, which celebrates American roots music.... 
It's
quite likely you have heard Kenny White's music before-- and
several times -- but didn't know it was him. Before stepping out
as a performer and stellar piano player under his own name, he wrote,
produced and played on literally hundreds of TV and radio commercials
and film scores. Now, he is getting noticed far and wide -- by name,
this time -- as one of the pop music circuit's most dazzling piano
players and songsmiths... 
The
recently released "Kitchen Radio" (Signature Sounds)
is Peter Mulvey's eighth album overall. He has put songwriting
solidly
front and center, and the result is a deft, moving portrait of
a place "where the personal and worldwide intersect," as
he describes on his website... 
Tom
Prasada-Rao is a beloved figure on the national singer-songwriter
circuit. After more than a decade on the road, he has established
himself as a musicians' musician, touring solo, with the seminal
folk supergroup the Sherpas, and recently as part of the duo The
Dreamsicles. He blends pop melodies, finely crafted lyrics and
socio-political
commentary with R&B rhythms, powered by his acoustic guitar
and third World instrumentation... 
Paul
Reisler is a much-esteemed composer, songwriter and co-founder
and artistic director of the acclaimed "chamber-folk"
group Trapezoid. He has performed in more than 3,000 concerts, workshops
and festivals worldwide. As one writer summed it up: "Paul
Reisler is certainly a leader among those who blend the categories,
who redefine eclectic and take eclectic to new and wonderful territories...."
At
just 21 years of age, Devon Sproule is making waves. Rolling
Stone picked Sproule's third CD, "Upstate Songs" (City
Salvage Records), as one of its "Critics Top Albums of 2003,"
noting that the CD is "perhaps the sweetest and most honest
folk pop album recorded this year." Critic Julie Gerstein recalls
being "blown away by Devon's live performance... She brings
something special to the genre...a sense of sweetness, innocence
and clarity..." 
Virginia-based
songwriter Robbin Thompson has put out ten albums since he
began recording in 1976. He was a vocalist in Bruce Springsteen's
pre-E-Street
Band called Steel Mill and has won The American Song Festival twice.
He has written and recorded songs with Eagles bassist Timothy B.
Schmit, who appears on Thompson's most recent release "One
Step Ahead of the Blues..." 
Kate
McDonnell was the 2002 NewSong Performing Songwriter Contest
grand-prize winner. She can't stop winning songwriting contests:
In 2004 alone, she has taken first place at the Susquehana Songwriting
Contest with "Mercy" and "Softhearted Girl," and
another first-place win at the Plowshares Songwriting Competition
with the same tunes.. 
The
Hunger Mountain Boys are an old time, traditional duet featuring
the sounds of guitar, fiddle, mandolin and dobro. The duet features
Ted Weber on guitar, dobro and vocals, and Kip Beacco on fiddle,
mandolin, guitar and vocals. Weber was the grand-prize winner in
the 2003 NewSong contest from among more than 400 entries.. 
Rick "Pops" Walker
returns to the NewSong stage after a
2003 performance that won him a boatload of new fans. He has fans
in Europe, Japan, Hawaii, and throughout the continental
USA, drawn
to what he calls his "Southern Fried Mojo Music..." 
As
songwriter and composer, fiddler, ‘tunesmith,’ and
guitar and piano accompanist, Mark Simos draws on a long apprenticeship
in a wide variety of genres—Irish, Southern old-time, New England,
Quebeçois, bluegrass, and Klezmer among others—creating
a musical language grounded in traditional forms, yet uniquely
his
own... 
The
music of Mad Agnes features rich, three-part harmonies, clever
songwriting and a sound that is at once familiar and unique. Reviewers
have likened them to the finest of progressive-folk artists like
Fairport Convention. The group's songs feature story-telling steeped
in classical motifs, intricate harmonies, and complex counterpoint....
A
short list of the groups that Charlottesville-based guitarist
and producer Jamal Millner has performed or worked with in the studio
would be a very hip list indeed: Clark Terry, R.L. Burnside, Art
Baron, Buddy Guy, Los Lobos, the Dave Matthews Band, John Jackson,
Cassandra Wilson, and countless others. He has also performed widely
with Corey Harris and 5x5 and toured extensively throughout the
U.S., Africa and Europe... 
Borrowing
from the Americana tradition, but firmly grounded in a pop
sensibility, the performing songwriter team, Jen and Scott Smith
and their band,
Naked Blue, have become one of the leading independent acts in
the Mid-Atlantic. Their sound has generated strong praise of this
sort
from Recording Magazine: "A radio ready female vocal with strong
guitars, bass and drums... If this year's Lilith Fair has an opening,
we nominate Jennifer for the spot. Is Shawn Colvin looking over
her shoulder?" ... 
We're
About 9 is a trio focused on complex songwriting and
big wall-of-sound harmonies. Folk icon Vance Gilbert describes
them
as "some kind of a cross between The Kingston Trio, The Four
Tops, and The Story," with a unique brand of performance and
songwriting that transcends such comparisons... 
Malcolm
Holcombe’s major label debut, "A Hundred Lies," received
four stars in Rolling Stone. Holcombe has been writing and playing
music for more than 25 years. Originally from the western hills
of North Carolina, he descended on Nashville like a tornado, bringing
his soon-to-be legendary style of singing and playing to a town
where country had always been king.... 
Tori
Anderson and Possum Holler are known for putting on a classy
show featuring music with traditional and modern country and rock
influences, with some swing and blues thrown in. Possum Holler is
also known as one of the hottest opening acts in country music,
opening for the likes of Rascal Flatts, JoDee Messina, Aaron Tippon
and many others.... 
Todd
Burge, one of West Virginia's most acclaimed performing
songwriters, plays more than 150 shows per year. Larry
Groce, host of Mountain Stage said, "Todd is the finest singer & songwriter
that we have. From Bob Dylan to Randy Newman to Loudon
Wainwright III, the very best songwriters who sing their
own songs
-- no matter what their style
of music share a common trait: they all have
a great, ironic sense of humor. Todd is West Virginia's
contribution to this tradition."