MIDWEST REGIONAL ROUND: Winner = Steve J. Dawson

Date: Monday, August 11
Venue: The Ark
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Time: 8 PM
Tickets: $12.50 (buy online)

Wes Casto
Marietta, Ohio

When I write songs I imagine myself sitting in one of three settings: on a front porch, at a kitchen table, or beside a campfire. I don't mimic anybody, but I sure as heck love and draw inspiration from John Prine, Martin Sexton, Paul Thorn, John Steinbeck, and Woody Guthrie.
www.myspace.com/wescasto

Rachel Clark-Pavilanis
Niles, Michigan

Growing up in a musical family, we have learned to value and appreciate music. In our early teens, with the influence of our father, we began crafting songs together. At one of our early performances, we were trying to decide what to call ourselves when another performer observed the contrast between our personalities: Rachel was painfully shy; Taylor was awkwardly extroverted. He joked that Taylor was the remedy for Rachel's stage fright, and the name Stage Fright Remedy stuck. We are an acoustic folk-rock duo, now in our early twenties, and we have been writing and singing together for the past 6 years. We have grown older and a lot has changed in that time, such as finishing high school, moving out of our childhood home, beginning college, and both finding and losing love, but one constant in our lives has been the ability to come together and create music. We share something that will never go away: an undivided, mutual love for music and each other.
http://www.myspace.com/stagefrightremedy

Steve J. Dawson (Midwest Regional Winner)
Chicago, Illinois

I started writing songs when I was 12 years old living in Hailey, Idaho. At different times I've lived in San Diego, Boston, and most recently Chicago. I've led a band called Dolly Varden for 13 years, releasing 5 albums of original songs, and I put out a solo CD called "Sweet Is The Anchor" in 2006. One reviewer called what I do 'country-soul', and I tend to like that description. I spend equal time admiring both Merle Haggard and Al Green, and all points in between! I've toured the US and the UK both solo and with Dolly Varden and I currently teach songwriting at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago.

http://www.stevedawsonmusic.com

Ernie Hendrickson
Rockford, Illinois

Long before he picked up his guitar and took the ride down Highway 90 from Rockford  to Chicago, Ernie Hendrickson has been crafting songs straight from the heart of Middle America. With a songwriting style that’s as natural as a summer breeze, Hendrickson’s venture into the realm of acoustic blues, bluegrass, folk, and pop is a seamless transition.
www.erniehendrickson.com

Nathan Holshcer
Cincinnati, Ohio

Nathan sounds like what would happen if Dire Straits lost an arm wrestling match to Lyle Lovett.  His music is steeped in the feelings of landscapes he has rambled across in the Midwest and Southwest, with Nathan's songs somehow reflecting both compassion and restlessness.  At 26, his few adult years have been spent crafting songs and working to conserve the rivers and streams that he grew up loving.  His music is set apart by the strength of his lyrics nad a stellar band.  He brings a sense of confidence to a live show that can make time and space fade away, leaving only the song and the listener.
www.nathanholscher.com

Mark Iannace
Ferndale, Michigan

Mark Iannace (aka Dr. Bellows) has been 'practicing' the medicinal art of music for quite some time now. A veteran of the Detroit music scene and the folk circuit, Mark has performed in many different avenues ... from contemporary folk, to musical theatre, to vocal jazz.
www.markiannace.com

Mother Banjo
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Mother Banjo is a one-woman band featuring Ellen Stanley on banjo and vocals. Raised on rock and pop music and trained classically on piano, oboe and voice, Ellen fell in love with folk music as a teenager as she became hooked on public radio and discovered the church coffeehouse scene in southern Connecticut. It was there that she got exposed to a wide variety of acoustic artists and devoured the sounds of singer-songwriters, bluegrass bands and old-timey ballads.
www.myspace.com/motherbanjo

Ilsabe OConnell
Chicago, Illinois

I was born in Germany, grew up  in Kansas. I moved to Chicago to study art history, but ended up writing songs instead, and studying music at the acclaimed Old Town School of Folk Music. I've been performing at many venues throughout Chicago, alternately with guitarist Victor Sanders and Dennis Cahill on guitar and mandolin. I'm currently putting together a four-piece band with drummer Mark Senser. I also work alongside artist and husband Mitch O'Connell. We're taking care of two great kids and putting together a second CD, due out in the Fall of 2008.
www.ilsabeoconnell.com

Sara Thomsen
South Range, Wisconsin

Sara Thomsen is a singer-songwriter with a soulful voice, poetic lyrics, and haunting melodies. Her music comes from the heart, and that's where it takes you. With a voice richer than the best mid-west soil, her songs carry you inward and outward—in, to the particulars of your own life, and out into the shared humanity of us all.
www.sarathomsen.com

Benjamin Tucker
Minneapolis, Minnesota

I think music should be about life more than life should be about music. I've always known I could write songs, but I came to realize that I would only be satisfied with the songs I wrote if I was living a life that inspired the kind of songs that have inspired me. Songs from my heart. Between the North Woods and Mason Dixon, between the Ohio and the Missouri, where the rolling farmland turns to prairie.
www.myspace.com/benjamintuckermusic

THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO ENTER THE CONTEST:

ONLINE - submit quickly and easily through sonicbids. Click here to enter online.

MAIL-IN - mail your submissions. Click here for details.