Artist Category: Singer/Songwriter | Page 17

Kray Van Kirk

The room was almost empty after Van Kirk’s show at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. A man with shirt-sleeves rolled up in the August heat walked over to him and stood hesitantly for a moment before thrusting out his hand.

“I use to sing for my wife in the evenings, but she has dementia now and doesn’t remember me. That song about the lost lovers and the dance hall…”

He stopped for a moment before his Scottish reserve reasserted itself.

“I really liked that one.”

A fine finger-style guitarist with a precise baritone, Van Kirk has a Ph.D. from the University of Alaska. After five years of living in his van and playing music across the US and Canada, he thought that a career in the sciences might be a bit more secure than playing music for a living, especially as a single parent. Eventually, however, he realized that he liked writing songs more than statistical models, and he put aside his computer, picked up his guitar, and set out again.

He’s not your average crying-in-your-coffee singer-songwriter. “We are driven by myth and the seasons of the heart” he says. “Science comes later. We need new stories and new myths for a very complex 21st century so that everyone, absolutely everyone, regardless of creed, color, gender, sexuality or anything else, can listen and look and see themselves on the Hero’s Quest.

Thus his songs: Thunderbird resurrects the Phoenix in an empty desert diner somewhere in the American Southwest (yes, the Phoenix drives a Thunderbird), The Queen of Elfland plucks Thomas the Rhymer from the English-Scottish border in 1250 and drops him, along with the Queen, into a subway car, and The Midnight Commander has an insane old man leading the city of New York to take up arms (and underwear) against hatred.

Of this charming, Quixotic, and decidedly eclectic performer, the Borderline Folk Club in New York wrote “it is what every singer-songwriter should aspire to.”

Steve Tannen

Steve Tannen is an American songwriter, best known for being one half of musical duo The Weepies (2003-2022). He has sold more than one million records, with over 150 million streams online. Some say he still haunts recording studios and stages to this very day.

Susan O’Neill

A critically acclaimed performer, as well as a member of King Kong Company, SON – aka Susan O’Neill – is one of Ireland’s brightest emerging talents. The basis of her first album ‘Found Myself Lost’ saw SON find her voice amongst her peers, introducing her unique and otherworldly style.

The album was one of Hot Press magazine’s ‘Albums of the Year’ and garnered her a number of opportunities, including joining Sharon Shannon on her sold out tour of Australia and New Zealand.

The enigmatic singer-songwriter honed her musical skills as one of the youngest members of the Ennis Brass Band and gained her first gospel influences with the ‘Really Truly Joyful Gospel Choir.’ SON has recently been collaborating with multi-platinum, award winning artist, Mick Flannery, whom she recently released a duet, “Baby Talk,” to rave reviews. In promotion of the song, SON and Flannery have made several late night talk-show appearances as well as having announced joint tour dates. Her solo career as SON has begun to pique critical and industry interest. Eclectically fusing traditional Irish folk with rock, soul, gospel and blues, her live performances are quite simply electrifying. Her husky vocals combined with her superb guitar technique, loop pedals and trumpet, have wowed audiences everywhere from Stradbally to Sydney, Glasgow to Glastonbury, Manhattan to Milwaukee, and many places beyond.

Julie Williams

Fearlessly forging ahead down country roads, CMT Next Women of Country Julie Williams carries her mixed-race heritage proudly, just as she carries her tunes. Raised in Florida, Julie is turning heads in Nashville’s americana music scene with her compelling blend of country storytelling, soft-yet-powerful vocal performance, and indie folk production.

Music has always been a part of Julie’s life – honing her singing talent in church and beach bars and belting national anthems before packed stadiums. She grew up listening to everyone and everything, from The Chicks and James Taylor, to Gladys Knight and Michael Jackson. Even though she was drawn to the storytelling of country music, she never quite found the sound that spoke to everything she was: Black, white, Southern, a woman, hopeful, truthful. So naturally, it was up to Julie to make this sound. “My music is mixed like me,” is how she describes it, “I want to tell the stories that need to be told.”

Julie started sharing those stories, and the people listened. A student at Duke University, Julie was signed to Small Town Records whose alumni include Mike Posner and Delta Rae and sang as a vocalist for the Duke Jazz Ensemble. After graduating with a public policy degree in 2019, she moved to Nashville and found her musical home in the Black country and Americana scene. She was named in Rissi Palmer’s Color Me Country Class of 2021 and she was featured in a PBS NewsHour special on Black women in country music. In 2022, Julie joined the Black Opry, a collective of Black artists in country, blues, folk, and Americana music that have been featured on the Kelly Clarkson Show, Good Morning America, and NPR Music. Julie was named a CMT Equal Access artist in 2023, joining the mTheory backed program to support marginalized voices in country music.

“People want to hear black voices, black stories,” Julie always says. “I was nervous about how my songs would be received by Nashville – but people want honesty. They want honest songs about real life, and for the artists they follow to take a stand.” Julie´s upcoming single Southern Curls embodies this – making waves with her soulful lyrics about the struggles of growing up mixed in the South, aiming for the heart and striking true. Her fans responded by raising over $5000 in only one week to fund the song´s music video, which came to life thanks to an all-Black creative team. The single and music video, released in March 2021, covered by Billboard, CMT, World of Country, and numerous music publications.

Building her career on the road, Julie has played over 120 shows in 26 states in the past two years and captivated audiences at festivals such as Newport Folk Festival, CMA Fest, Tortuga Music Fest, High Water Festival, Cayamo, and AmericanaFest. She has shared the stage with acts across genres, including Jason Isbell, Allison Russell, Mt. Joy, Devon Gilfillian, Brittney Spencer, and Will Hoge.

Julie was inducted in the CMT Next Women of Country Class of 2023, joining, Kacey Musgraves, Margo Price, Brittney Spencer, Lainey Wilson, Lauren Alaina, Madeline Edwards, Maren Morris and Morgan Wade. Wide Open Country’s included Julie on their list of “10 Country Acts Poised for a Breakout Year in 2023.”

In June 2023, Julie released her self-titled EP, Julie Williams, which was covered by American Songwriter and the Tennessean. She followed the release with a Newport Folk Festival set, CMA Fest performances at Fan Fair X and the Country Music Hall of Fame, an official AmericanaFest showcase, and a twenty-city coast-to-coast tour.

An activist at heart, Julie launched Green Room Conversations in March 2023, a series of performances and speaking campuses on college campuses to raise awareness of sexual harassment in the music industry. Inspired by her song “The Prince,” about Julie’s experience with sexual violence and whose music video premiered with CMT with a Times Square billboard, Green Room Conversations hopes to empower the next generation of artists and industry changemakers. Julie has already visited MTSU, University of Texas-Austin, and Duke, and is set to visit more campuses later this year.

On August 20th, Julie released “just friends?”, the first single on her upcoming EP, Tennessee Moon (to be released on October 17). She released the second single, “reckless road” on September 17.

Rett Madison

Originally from West Virginia, Rett Madison is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles, CA. She has been featured in publications like Billboard, American Songwriter, and Rolling Stone, where her music was described as “simultaneously brazen and vulnerable,” giving her a place “in the new school of acclaim-worthy troubadours.” She has sung backing vocals for artists such as Lorde and Kate Nash and served as opener for artists such as Elle King, Five for Fighting, Shawn Colvin, JP Saxe, Theo Katzman, Augustana, Scary Pockets, and more.

Releasing a handful of singles ahead of her September 2021 debut album, Pin-Up Daddy, she’s worked with some of the most talented players today, including Theo Katzman (who also produced Pin-Up Daddy), Brian Jones, Lee Pardini, and Joe Dart. She followed up her debut album release with the single “Jacqueline” debuting the direction of her next record

Isabel Pless

Luke Tobin

Halley Neal

Halley Neal is a folk singer and songwriter whose live shows center on themes of positivity and peace. Joined by Joe Everett and Devon Gardner on Upright Bass and Fiddle, her lyrical Americana songs are met with soaring vocals and an upbeat bluegrass instrumentation. Halley has been blazing the folk trail over the last 2 years, performing at festivals such as: Kerrville Folk Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Rocky Mountain Folks Fest, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, and recently she was named the winner of SolarFest’s Singer-Songwriter Showcase. Halley released her most recent record “Beautiful and Blue” to critical acclaim on September 30th, 2022. Her sound blends effortless layered vocals with Americana production, and is rooted in classic 60’s and 70’s folk. In 2020, Halley became an official Guild Guitars artist, and performed a set of original music at the 2021 and 2023 NAMM Shows with Guild. Currently, Halley tours extensively to house concerts, theaters and listening room venues across the country.

Al Olender

There’s nothing scarier than being honest with yourself.

For singer/songwriter Al Olender, facing her fear of the truth has been a cleansing, often cathartic process that’s led to the kind of revelations she had previously thought unobtainable. On her debut full-length album Easy Crier, the Upstate New York based artist asks: what happens if we vow to never tell a lie, ever again? Charting the daunting territories of staring your demons right in the face and prodding at the ugly parts of your reflection, Olender pieces together her most vulnerable moments to produce a celebratory and beautiful rumination on grief, and reminds us of the power that comes in really getting to know yourself.

The catalyst for this renewed outlook stems from the sudden loss of her older brother. As a huge supporter of Olender’s musical talents from the very beginning, he would often invite his friends over and encourage a then-teenage Olender to play her “angsty love songs” for them. “Everything that I do musically revolves around my brother,” she says. “It’s like every single thing I do in my life – my brother is so much in the front of my mind.”

The introduction for Easy Crier comes with “All I Do Is Watch TV,” a darkly humorous comment on the unmoored early stages of losing a loved one, way too soon. “I read a book on grief, it told me to lay in bed,” she laments over a chromatic, repetitive melody – the kind that perfectly mimics an untethered, sped-up montage-like existence, as she watches true crime and buys a Big Gulp just to spill it on her bedroom floor. Here, she jabs at the numbness protecting her heart. “Nothing fixes grief,” she explains. “It transforms. Sometimes it’s like a giant glooming thunder cloud and sometimes it’s like a tiny little raindrop.”

On the folky, pop-infused banger “Keith,” Olender confronts her sorrow, as fond memories are abruptly interrupted by a crashing cymbal and animated percussion: an ever-increasing heart rate capturing Olender’s inner-chaos as she witnesses a well-meaning funeral guest showing off a new tattoo. Later, on the devastatingly gorgeous closer “Mean,” a sparse, acoustic arrangement offers a platform for a rousing vocal performance, each note a grief-stricken consolation. “I’m older than my older brother, but I’m not old enough,” she shares softly, searching for someone to keep her safe. Olender strives to use her voice for connection and healing, for herself and for anyone else who’s listening.

Olender recorded at The Church in Harlemville, NY, entrusting the skills of producer and engineer James Felice (Felice Brothers). Felice also lent his skills on keyboard, accordion and piano, with Jesske Hume (bass/synths), William Lawrence (drums/guitar), Ian Felice (guitar), and Alejandro Leon (bass) also contributing. The album’s sonic universe sees delicate keys dance alongside acoustic plucks, later welcoming brooding strings and lush, expansive harmonies. It’s these kinds of arrangements that perfectly capture the sonic personality of Easy Crier: it’s both tender and invigorating, soothing yet anthemic. Describing the arrangements as a “conversation with friends,” it’s a testament to what can happen when you surround yourself with those who totally, and willingly, understand your artistic vision.

Easy Crier isn’t an album about death. It’s an album about unending love. It wipes away the mask we put on for others and instead, embraces the exhale that comes from spilling your guts. It’s the moment in your favorite rom-com when they finally admit their feelings for one another, and kiss in a way that only seems to happen in movies; on Easy Crier, Olender plays both parts. There are moments of ease, and exploring the often fine line between funny and sad that makes Easy Crier a portal for relief, whether that’s through tears of joy or pain. It’s an album that takes each shattered, heartbroken piece and puts them back together to form a strangely beautiful mosaic. “It’s a love letter to everything I’ve lost,” she says. “And forms a real insight into how telling the truth has truly changed my life.” Here, Olender is finally letting herself feel everything all at once, no matter how uncomfortable or scary it can be.

Chris O’Brien

Chris O’Brien began performing in the early 2000s in the Cambridge, Massachusetts area and quickly became a fixture in local music scene. During this period, Chris shared the stage with many of the country’s best emerging and established songwriters, including Antje Duvekot, Anais Mitchell, Rose Cousins, Ellis Paul, Vance Gilbert, Anne Heaton, Edie Carey, Meg Hutchinson, and many others.

In 2007, Chris released his first album, Lighthouse, which caught the eye (and ears) of the producers of NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion. In April 2007, Chris traveled with legendary guitarist Lyle Brewer and the iconic Charlie Rose to St. Paul, Minnesota to appear live on the show. Following the performance, Lighthouse skyrocketed to #5 on iTunes’ singer/songwriter charts. It was at that point that Chris began performing music full-time. Over the next three years Chris toured throughout the United States, performing at clubs, bars, festivals, colleges, fields, living rooms, porches, and parking lots.

In 2010, Chris released his second album, Little Red. While he continued to tour throughout 2010 and 2011, Chris returned to school in 2011 to pursue his degree. Although he never stopped playing, his touring and performances have been few and far between.

Chris’ love for writing and performing is as strong today as it was when he began in 2001, and he has been diligently working on a new collection of songs. He hopes to begin recording his third album, nearly fifteen years after the release of his first, in 2022. He is also committed to playing more live performances.