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Contemporary Folk Week Staff Pg.2
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JON VEZNER
Grammy award-winning songwriter Jon Vezner is a tunesmith of rare sensitivity and dry wit. With a degree in music theory and education, in 1983, he made his first trip to Nashville to attend the Nashville Songwriters Association (NSAI) spring symposium, where he soon developed a relationship with music publishing company, Wrensong Music. He moved to Nashville in January of 1986, and within that first year he had songs recorded by Reba McEntire and Ronnie Milsap, followed by Lorrie Morgan’s first single in 1987, “Train Wreck of Emotion,” which he co-wrote with Alan Rhody. In 1989, Vezner co-wrote “Where’ve You Been” with fellow singer/songwriter Don Henry, recorded by Kathy Mattea, a true story of Vezner’s grandparents that earned him “Song of the Year” honors with both the Country Music Association (CMA) and the Academy of Country Music (ACM) for 1990. The song was honored with a Grammy Award for “Best Country Song” and the Nashville Songwriters Association “Song of the Year.” Vezner was subsequently named “Songwriter of the Year” by the NSAI. Jon’s songs have been recorded by a varied list of artists such as Martina McBride, Janis Ian, John Mellencamp, Nancy Griffith, Faith Hill, Clay Walker, Diamond Rio and Native American recording artist, Bill Miller. Vezner also has a growing list of production credits, producing CD projects for such artists as Danny O’Keefe, Victoria Shaw, and singing legend Patti Page. www.jonvezner.com
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SARA HICKMAN
Sara is the Official State Musician of Texas for 2010-2011, a position she inherits from Willie Nelson. Recent projects include Absence of Blame, her latest adult CD; an animated DVD for children entitled Big Bird, Little Bird; and Sweet Songs, a collection of female musicians singing songs for families, benefiting the Mothers’ Milk Bank. In recognition of her role as state musician, Sara is giving back with Family Time Rocks!, a 37-track multi-language music/spoken word CD, with a FREE download, complete with a supplemental page of ideas and projects to help families create together so they can do great together! Not only does it include the FTR! band, but several Swannanoans make appearances, as well. Best of Times, is a new compilation CD of Sara’s songs sung by more than 35 beloved Texas musicians, including Willie Nelson, Marcia Ball, Shawn Colvin, Ruthie Foster, Jimmy La Fave, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, Brave Combo and Robert Earl Keen, with all proceeds going to benefit the Theatre Action Project (TAP) to help put art, music and theatre back into public schools. Sara raised over $50,000 from her CD, Newborn, to help the Hill Country Youth Ranch for abused and neglected children, and has released two more award-winning children’s CDs, Toddler and Big Kid. She has appeared twice on NBC’s The Tonight Show, numerous times on VH-1, created a teen band called Super Pal Universe (producing an album and a TV pilot), and has sung on a variety of commercials, from Daisy Sour Cream to the current Popeye’s ads. www.sarahickman.com
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ABBIE GARDNER
Best known as one-third of the female Americana trio, Red Molly, Abbie has listened to the sweet sound of high lonesome harmonies since her first bluegrass festival at three years old. Her father, Herb Gardner, is a swing jazz and stride pianist and Dixieland trombonist. Abbie studied classical flute growing up, but when she began playing Dobro in 2004, she found her main instrument. Always keen on following the melodic vocal part and trying to find the one really perfect note, instead of a dozen okay ones, Abbie is quickly compiling an extensive discography of recording credits, including two full-length albums and one EP with Red Molly, the last of which reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Americana Chart. Solo records include a CD of standard jazz tunes with her father, the folk/americana album Honey on My Grave, the folk CD, Bad Nights/Better Days, and an upcoming 2011 album of original roots and blues songs. Abbie is as an award-winning songwriter, with such accolades as the 2008 Lennon Award (folk) and was the 2008 American Songwriter magazine Grand Prize Lyric Winner. She has been published in Sing Out! magazine and earned an entry in the 2009 Hal Leonard book The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide. Abbie is a retired Occupational Therapist who specialized in neurology, now using her skills to help songwriters with their occupation – writing songs! www.abbiegardner.com.
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SIOBHÁN QUINN
A profoundly versatile vocalist and teacher, Siobhán writes and performs songs in folk, blues and adult contemporary pop styles. Outside of folk music, Siobhán is known as a dynamic singer of Chicago & New Orleans style electric blues and has performed many other styles from jazz and big band to r&b, and rock; early song to renaissance music, and medieval madrigals in five languages. Truly one of the most popular vocal instructors around, she tours internationally, and is accompanied at Swannanoa by her music partner and husband, songwriter Michael Bowers. Her careful attention to each individual is renowned, and students often return to her workshops learning new tools each year. She has taught at such programs as WUMB Summer Acoustic Music Week, Kerrville Folk Festival, Rocky Mountain Folks Festival Song School, NERFA, Great American Masters Music Industry Workshop, Summersongs & Wintersongs songwriting retreats, and six previous years at Swannanoa. When at home in Alexandria, VA, Siobhán teaches individuals, as well as coaching artistic performance for special gigs and recordings. She contantly updates her vocal credentials through such programs as the international British Voice Association Conference master classes in performance/otolaryngology, and CCM at Shenandoah Conservatory. Awarded a WAMMIE for Best Traditional Folk Vocalist, Siobhán has also been a top-five songwriting finalist in the prestigious Boston Folk Festival Songwriting and (with Michael Bowers) Kerrville New Folk Competitions and Emerging Artist at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. www.dreamersloversandoutlaws.com
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RAY
CHESNA
An accomplished guitarist and songwriter, Ray is fluent in a wide range of styles including western swing, folk, blues, country and bluegrass, and has been a long-time fixture at Contemporary Folk Week, as the sideman of choice for open mikes and concerts. A private music teacher since 1971, Ray has also been on staff at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, WV, the Guitar Intensive at Bar Harbor ME, and has led workshops for the South East Bluegrass Association in Atlanta, GA. He continues to teach at the music school at Club Passim in Cambridge, MA, and privately at his home studio in Manchester, NH. Ray records for Echolake Records and is the author of Guitar Tools, a guitar theory manual, featuring his unique method of understanding the guitar. www.raychesna.com
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DANNY ELLIS
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Danny learned to play trombone at the age of 8 in a Dublin orphanage brass band, where he also sang in the choir. At 16 he was touring Ireland in Dixieland bands on the richly eclectic Irish dancehall circuit, eventually playing and singing every kind of modern music imaginable. He was commissioned to write songs by RTE, (Irish National Radio) for the many song festivals throughout Europe and three of them reached the Irish Top Ten. He toured with Graham Parker and the Rumor, The Foundations, and was a session singer for London’s Abbey Road Studio for four years. His music paints a complex emotional landscape that elegantly straddles the borders of his Celtic roots and the rock and pop that buoyed him as a child. In 2009, he was named Lyricist of the Year by Just Plain Folks, the biggest independent music award organization in the world. His latest recording, 800 Voices, My Life in an Irish Orphanage has been hailed by Hotpress magazine as “one of the classics of contemporary Irish music,” and he has turned the material from this CD into a dramatic concert-with-narratives and has performed it in theatres in Ireland, England and the US. In between touring he produces and records other musicians and leads workshops. His teaching methods are legendary amongst pros and beginners alike, with a strong emphasis on accessing the part of us that truly has something to write and sing about. www.dannyellismusic.com.
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