Artist Category: Singer/Songwriter

Griffin House

Griffin House is an American singer-songwriter and storyteller. Touring and making records for over 20 years, House has a discography that includes over 13 albums. His debut record “Lost and Found” (2004) was featured on CBS Sunday Morning by music critic and then VP MTV/VH1, Bill Flanagan, who named House one of the best emerging singer-songwriters of our time.

After forging a loyal fan base through years of grassroots touring as an opener for acts such as John Mellencamp and the Cranberries, House broke through as a national headliner in 2009 with an appearance on Late Night with Craig Ferguson and the release of his underground hit “The Guy That Says Goodbye to You is Out of His Mind.”

The music documentary “Rising Star,” released on Amazon Prime in 2019, chronicles House’s journey through the music business, as he attempts to balance the challenges of life as a traveling modern-day troubadour with marriage, fatherhood and sobriety.

House’s music has been featured on prime time television shows such One Tree Hill, Rescue Me, Party of Five, and Everwood, and reviewed in magazines such as Paste, No Depression and Rolling Stone. American Songwriter writes “if you want to be blown away by raw talent, look no further than Griffin House.”

His latest release “The Tides” is a five song EP recorded with Grammy Award-winning producer Jacquire King and was released on Aug 29, 2023.

Carolyn Kendrick

Carolyn Kendrick is a fiddler, singer-songwriter, and guitarist. She also produces and writes music for the award-winning podcast You’re Wrong About (Podcast of the Year, iHeart Radio) and You Are Good. Most of the time she does regular musician things like play gigs, tour the country, hit the open road, and play the fiddle late into starry nights among friends and enemies alike. But when pandemics abound, she locks herself at home and learns to make records all by herself.

Kendrick has performed with many beloved artists, such as Bruce Molsky, Margo Price, Aoife O’Donovan and Darol Anger. She is in the process of recording a fiddle-banjo duo album with Sam Armstrong-Zickefoose of Meadow Mountain.

In her time with her project the Page Turners, she spent years crisscrossing the country playing festivals and winning awards (Newport Folk Festival, Greyfox Bluegrass Festival, Savannah Music Festival; Freshgrass ‘Best Duo’ Award, The Fletcher Bright Award). She lived in Boston before moving to Austin. Now she lives in Nashville—as much as a touring musician is able to live in one place.

Kate Yeager

Furthering the lineage of artists like Carol King, Tracey Chapman, and Janis Joplin, 23-year old Kate Yeager’s lyrics and soul-infused vocals transcend stats, trends and ages. She is the next great female troubadour: energetic, bold, and leading with love. At the intersection of a smokey Lower Manhattan jazz club and a summer camp celebration, the New York-based singer-songwriter channels her superpower for empathy and warmth of spirit to create an uncanny connection with her listeners with music ranging from sadness to joy – at times intense and strong and, at others, soothing and breathtakingly refreshing.

At the intersection of a smokey Lower Manhattan jazz club and a summer camp celebration, the New York-based singer-songwriter channels her superpower for empathy and warmth of spirit to create an uncanny connection with her listeners with music ranging from sadness to joy – at times intense and strong and, at others, soothing and breathtakingly refreshing. With venues as lauded as Radio City Music Hall and Lincoln Center to the intimate legendary haunts of Greenwich Village and a degree from NYU’s Clive Davis Institute on her resume, Kate uses her platform to build a bond of understanding as well as to incite loud and liberating positivity. Kate’s writing professor at NYU, Dan Charnas (The Big Payback, The Breaks), has one rule: students are never allowed to use the words ‘genuine,’ ‘timeless,’ or ‘authentic’ to describe their work. However, after her college showcase, Charnas approached Kate with this amendment. “Tonight I watched my daughter, my wife, and her mother all fall in love with you,” he said. “Kate, you are the only person who is allowed to use the word timeless in this program.”

Jill Andrews

The stories of a woman often go untold. Her struggles are kept as secrets. Her victories, discreet. Her pain, polite and unobtrusive. History records the ones who break her heart and the ones who mend it, yet it forgets the life and truth born in between. On Thirties, acclaimed singer-songwriter, Jill Andrews gives these unsung moments the voice they have always deserved.

From her days fronting lauded Americana group, the everbodyfields, to her successful solo career as a writer and performer, Andrews’ music has taken her far from her East Tennessee home. She has collaborated and shared the stage with countless celebrated artists including the Avett Brothers, Langhorne Slim, Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors and the Secret Sisters, and her music has been featured on Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Wife, Nashville, Wynonna Earp and American Idol. Featuring emotional melodies, intimate storytelling and vocals that soar even at a whisper, Thirties is a deviation, it resists contemplating the big, loud questions of the world, and rather, invites listeners to look inward, keeping us closer to home than ever before.

Tenderly, hauntingly and without fear, Thirties chronicles Andrews’ journey through a decade rife with both beauty and brutality. She explores the isolation and joy of motherhood, the loss not of a lover, but a partner, the experience of growing older in a world that expects you to stay young forever. With co-producer Lucas Morton and help from friends including Grammy winning songwriting duo Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk, Natlie Hemby and Andrews’ Hush Kids bandmate Peter Groenwald, Thirties is at once profoundly intimate and artfully infectious, evocative of greats Lucinda Williams, Chrissie Hynde and Brandi Carlile.

Andrews lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her children Nico, Falcon, and husband, Jerred. Along with a full-color, hard-cover companion book, Thirties is slated for release on March 27.

Sara Gougeon

Sara Gougeon writes contemporary folk songs with heart-wrenching lyrics that she gently tucks into sweet, folky melodies. Sara is a seamstress of words, quilting together songs that you find yourself wrapped up in. Using stories and personal experiences, she crafts songs that are honest and relatable. Sara is primarily a solo act: a vocalist who accompanies herself on acoustic guitar.

Sara’s accomplished writing led her to be selected as a finalist for the well-respected John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2018, an international contest established by Yoko Ono in 1997.

Sara originates from Sudbury, Ontario, and has moved several times over to pursue music. At 14 years old she packed her bags for Northern Michigan, where she spent her high school career studying songwriting at Interlochen Arts Academy. Following high school, Sara was accepted to the prestigious Berklee College of Music, where she continues her studies in songwriting, music business and music production & engineering.

In the last five years, Sara has written over 300 songs. Working hard for years on the challenge of writing a song a week, she finally exceeded her goal and wrote 82 songs in 2018. Sara expanded this challenge and wrote 100 songs in 2019.

“Home Again”, Sara’s debut EP was released on August 17th, 2018 and was followed by a 10 day tour of Ontario. Sara then released “Invisible Closet” a ‘gay anthem’ for the LGBT community, and a single about respecting personal boundaries on June, 12th, 2019 for pride month.

Sara is in the process of recording her EP “Thank the Pines” which will be released at Club Passim on May,11th, 2020. The “Thank the Pines” EP is a precursor to her upcoming album “The Long Road”.

Carrie Cheron

Multi-genre vocalist and songwriter Carrie Cheron has been captivating Boston audiences for two decades. Praised for having the “the voice of an angel,” and for “powerful” performances of “unfeigned expression,” Ms. Cheron has graced the stages of Club Passim, NEC’s Jordan Hall, Sanders Theatre, the BSO, Great Waters Folk Festival, the Bitter End, NYC’s Living Room, and countless national and international venues.

A nationally recognized performing singer/songwriter, her original compositions and singing have been celebrated by the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, NEMO Music Makers Competition, Great Waters Folk Festival, Rocky Mountain Folks Fest, and the Connecticut Folk Festival Songwriting Contest. She has shared the stage with such acclaimed artists as Sweet Honey In The Rock, The Barra MacNeils, Northern Lights, David Jacobs-Strain, Anais Mitchell, and Edie Carey.

In recent seasons, Ms. Cheron’s performing has been focused largely on classical stages, including baroque and newly composed opera, oratorio and art song, and Bach’s larger works and cantatas; but always a well-rounded, inspired, and genuine song interpreter, she has maintained a schedule of folk, cabaret, musical theatre, and Americana performances, including regular performances as the go-to non-classical vocalist with Skylark Vocal Ensemble. Her voice can be heard as the opening solo track on their Grammy-nominated album, Seven Last Words. Carrie Cheron’s is a comforting yet plaintive voice of thoughtful storytelling, regardless of genre.

Carrie Cheron is an Associate Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music, where she is honored to guide the voices you’ll hear at Club Passim for years to come.

Kristin Cifelli

Boston Music Award Nominee, Kristin Cifelli has been on Berklee’s Voice faculty since 2001, specializing in coaching singer/songwriters. She has toured the country, sharing the stage with artists such as Jeffrey Gaines, Chris Trapper, Marshall Crenshaw, and Rita Wilson. Kristin’s 2011 release, Middle of Nowhere, attracted the attention of folks from hipsters to hippies, with its earthy, yet modern sound. She is currently at work writing songs for a new release.

Kristin Cifelli’s voice is a practiced instrument; she is in full control while singing with thrilling emotion – striking, tender at one moment – then powerful, soaring, carrying us along to a musical and lyrical peak.” (WCUW 91.3 FM, Worcester) “…She’s got the voice, the talent and the originality while she breaks from the pack of local songwriters with the best of devices: realness.” (Northeast Performer). “The music has a twangy dreaminess about it that would make Chris Isaak sit up and take notice.” (indie-music.com). “…I think there’s no justice if she doesn’t become really successful…” (Brad Delp of BOSTON); and simply, “Stunning” (Cape Cod Journal).

Rachael Sage

Rachael Sage returns to Club Passim to celebrate the release of her latest full-length album, The Other Side.

A soulful vocalist, innovative multi-instrumentalist and award-winning singer/songwriter and producer from NY, she has earned a loyal international following for her dynamic piano playing, delicate guitar work, and improvisational audience interaction. A six-time Independent Music Award winner, she has toured with an eclectic list of artists including Howard Jones, Beth Hart, Ani DiFranco, and Grammy® winners Shawn Colvin and Judy Collins – with whom she also recorded a critically-acclaimed duet of Neil Young’s “Helpless”. Her music has been dubbed “wildly expressive” by Paste Magazine, and Stereo Embers described Sage as “the kind of performer you can’t take your eyes off”.

David Francey

David Francey is a Scottish-born Canadian carpenter-turned-songwriter, who has become known as “one of Canada’s most revered folk poets and singers” (Toronto Star). Born in Ayrshire, Scotland to parents who were factory workers, he moved to Canada when he was twelve. For decades, he worked across Canada in rail yards, construction sites, and in the Yukon bush, all the while writing poetry, setting it to melodies in his head and singing it to himself as he worked.

A truly authentic folk singer, Francey is a documentarian of the working person who never imagined earning a living from his music. But when he was in his 40s, his wife, artist Beth Girdler, encouraged him to share his songs and sing in public. The reaction was instant. His first album Torn Screen Door came out in 1999 and was a hit in Canada. Since then, he has released eleven albums, won three Juno Awards and has had his songs covered by such artists as The Del McCoury Band, The Rankin Family, James Keelaghan and Tracy Grammer.