Toronto-based singer-songwriter Shawna Caspi performs solo but there’s a whole band under her fingertips. She believes in poetry and the power of one person and one instrument, accompanying herself with a remarkable lyrical fingerpicking guitar style. Her performances capture audiences with grace and intimacy, whether the setting is a living room, a festival stage, or the bar car of a passenger train. Shawna loves the landscapes of her travels, and while weaving them into her songs, she has also been portraying them on canvases, painting one-of-a-kind works of art inspired by the rich scenery she sees on tour. Shawna’s fourth album Forest Fire is a collection of songs about burning things down and building them up again. When the words get heavy, they are held up to the light of love and gratitude. Shawna strives to be unafraid, to embolden quieted voices, to tell the truth above all else.
Artist Category: Singer/Songwriter
Willy Mason
With a sound that recalls Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash along with the cynicism of grunge and punk, nobody could believe wry singer/songwriter Willy Mason was only 19 when he appeared on the indie scene.
Born and raised on Martha’s Vineyard, Mason grew up with his parents’ love of folk music. He loved it, too, but his teen years brought Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine into his life. Mason found their political and social messages much easier to identify with and soon combined folk’s softer and looser delivery with the revolutionary attitude of his new heroes. Writing came easy now and the teenager had plenty of self-penned material ready when a family friend asked him to appear on his local radio show. As luck would have it, Sean Foley — an associate of Conor Oberst and his band, Bright Eyes — was driving through Cape Cod as Mason was on the air. Foley was captivated by Mason’s song “Oxygen” and left his phone number at the radio station, setting off a chain of events that would have Oberst and Mason hanging out, doing gigs together, and touring America.
Tours with Rosanne Cash, My Morning Jacket, Evan Dando, Beth Orton, and labelmates Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins increased the fan base and influenced the Astralwerks label to pick up the debut. Astralwerks reissued Where the Humans Eat in early 2006 with bonus tracks and videos added to the original album. That same year Mason assembled a band that included Nina Violet and cousin Zak Borden, and in 2007 his sophomore record, If the Ocean Gets Rough, came out, while a live set at the Austin City Limits festival soon followed. By 2008, two world tours had taken their toll and Mason sought respite back on Martha’s Vineyard, only occasionally venturing further afield to play live. He returned to the public eye in 2012 with Carry On, an album produced in south London by Dan Carey which incorporated the use of digital rhythm tracks and electric guitars. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi
Mary Fahl
With “a voice for the gods that can transport listeners to other realms” (Boston Globe), Mary Fahl is an expressive, emotional singer/songwriter who first achieved fame as lead singer and co-founder of the mid-1990s NYC- based chamber-pop group October Project.
As a solo artist, she’s had more freedom to pursue her own muse, whether that means writing and recording songs for movies (including the theme for the Civil War epic “Gods and Generals”), singing arias and medieval Spanish songs for Sony Classical or releasing unique album-length take on Dark Side of the Moon. As befits a former Catholic schoolgirl who went on to major in medieval studies and develop a lifelong interest in Hermeticism, Mary Fahl makes music that feels timeless, esoteric and ecumenical. Her elegant, cinematic songs draw on classical and world music sources, American art song, as well as thinking man’s folk-pop which she performs with an earthy, viscerally powerful contralto that bridges the generational gap between Fairport Convention’s Sandy Denny and London Grammar’s Hanna Reid. Like her music, her voice is eerily self-assured, with a hauntingly gothic romanticism that inspired Anne Rice to portray it emanating from a dead woman’s room in her 2013 novel The Wolves of Midwinter.
Her most recent album “Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House”, winner of the Indie Acoustic “Album of the Year” award, is a collection of twenty-four tracks recorded live at one of America’s oldest vaudeville theaters that captures the soaring vocals and musical breadth that makes the Mary Fahl concert experience what the Portland Press called “soul-permeating”. The show was filmed for PBS and is currently airing on PBS affiliates around the country.
Sarah Siskind
Critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Sarah Siskind released Modern Appalachia which Mary Chapin Carpenter calls “heart-stoppingly GREAT.”
Featuring 12 original compositions, Modern Appalachia explores Siskind’s relationship with her home state of North Carolina, with herself and the inherent dichotomy of the phrase “Modern Appalachia” in these current times. Each song digs deeper into her questions, fears, and realizations to reveal the rawness, earthiness and spiritual depth of the region that built her foundation.
Her love of progressive rock and fusion shine through on this album to create a new incarnation of Appalachian music. The musicians she chose for the album were the perfect vehicle for this distinctive sound with guitar-giant Bill Frisell and luminary Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) both guesting.
Sarah is widely known for her contributions to the hit TV show Nashville as well as artists like Alison Krauss, Wynonna, Bon Iver and more. An NPR favorite and regular, Huffington Post has this to say: “Siskind has been compared to Bonnie Raitt and Brandi Carlile, but in my humble opinion, she’s incomparable.”
Teghan Devon
Teghan Devon is a Boston based award-winning singer-songwriter. Her music is a cross-pollination of folk, indie rock, and pop. She has been praised for her “honest and clear vocals . . . an artist who doesn’t need to hide behind flare to make stellar music” (“Five Modern Singer-Songwriters To Help You Face The Day,” EarToTheGroundMusic). In December 2018, Teghan won multiple awards in the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, including Young Artist winner and a Silver Award. Teghan was selected as a New Folk Finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival in 2018 and 2017. In July of 2018 Teghan released her first full-length album “Fingers Crossed”. She will release her new EP “Little Lion”, on April 10th, 2020.
Andrew Kerr
Andrew is an Evanston based singer-songwriter who has toured nationally, playing folk festivals and sharing the stage with artists such as John Mayer, Matt Nathanson, Marc Cohn, Shawn Colvin, The Weepies, John Gorka, Dar Williams, and Susan Werner. Andrew has 5 albums and numerous compilations to his credit.
Believe in Something is Andrew’s fifth studio album. It was recorded in Chicago with the best musicians Chicago has to offer. Those same great musicians play live with Andrew.
Jen Trynin
Jen Trynin is a singer/songwriter/guitar player who emerged from the ‘90’s alt-rock world with two records: Cockamamie, and Gun Shy Trigger Happy. While writing her book about the ‘90s rock environs, Everything I’m Cracked Up to Be, she played guitar in the band Loveless. Lately, Jen’s been rawking with the All Chick Cover Ensemble, Band of Their Own (BOTO). Jen’s current actual band is CUJO which plays loud. Jen solo is quieter, but still sort of loud.
Anaís Azul
Peruvian first generation immigrant Anaís Azul (they/them) is a Bay Area based singer-songwriter, composer, and teaching artist. Described as “stunningly honest and vulnerable,” their artistry engages with music as a tool for community building, cross-genre collaboration, and collective healing. Anaís writes music that is in conversation with jazz harmony, classical melodies, and Latin American singer-
songwriter traditions. Their songs are bilingual (Spanish and English) and primarily about mental health and queer love.
Zoe Mulford
Zoe Mulford charms listeners with vivid songwriting and down-to-earth humor. Backing her clear voice with guitar or Appalachian claw-hammer banjo, she has established herself as a contemporary songwriter with a grounding in traditional American, English, and Celtic music. In 2018, Joan Baez covered her song “The President Sang Amazing Grace.” The song was voted 2018 Song of the Year by Folk Alliance International and was published in 2019 as a book with illustrations by animator Jeff Scher.
Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams
Multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter Larry Campbell and singer-guitarist Teresa Williams’ acclaimed eponymous 2015 debut, released after seven years of playing in Levon Helm’s band – and frequent guesting with Phil Lesh, Little Feat, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, brought to the stage the crackling creative energy of a decades-long offstage union. A whirlwind of touring and promo followed, and when the dust cleared, the duo was ready to do it all again. Which brings us to Contraband Love, a riskier slice of Americana.
Larry, who produced Contraband Love, says, “I wanted this record to be a progression, bigger than the first one. That’s all I knew. I wanted the songwriting to be deeper, the arrangements more interesting, the performances more dynamic. Specifically how to get there, I didn’t know. I did know the songs were different. The subject matter was darker than anything else I’ve written.”
Musically, Contraband Love revisits the Americana textures of the duo’s debut, deftly channeling Memphis, Chicago, the Delta, and Appalachia with equal assurance. Larry’s world-famous guitar work – scorching here, funky there, stellar always – punctuates the proceedings with riveting emotion, often like a third voice weighing in on a myriad of emotional states.
