W.C. Beck is an itinerant singer/songwriter from KS who now calls Brooklyn home after long stints in Portland, OR and Paris, France. Beck’s songs span from indie folk to classic country and tell of the American heartland and a forgotten epoch. With catchy melodies and sophisticated compositions, most songs find their depth in the personal, moving narrative. His latest record, First Flight, was independently released on June 7, 2019.
Artist Category: Singer/Songwriter
Alisa Amador
Praised by NPR’s Bob Boilen as a “powerful voice whose tender performance commands attention and fosters connection,” Alisa Amador made history in 2022 with the first-ever Spanish language song to win the prestigious Tiny Desk Contest.
Now, two years later, the bilingual singer/songwriter has formally introduced herself with her stunning full-length debut, Multitudes. Recorded with co-producers Tyler Chester and Daniel Radin, the album is a bold, captivating self-portrait, one that serves not only as a testament to how far Amador has come (she’s earned dates with everyone from Hozier and Brandi Carlile to Lake Street Dive and Maggie Rogers), but also as a celebration of where she comes from (her roots span Puerto Rico, New Mexico, Argentina, and New England). Slipping effortlessly between Spanish and English and featuring appearances from Gaby Moreno, Madison Cunningham, and Quinn Christopherson, the collection is raw and vulnerable, at once steeped in devastating loss and uncertainty, but also laced with the hope and resilience of a young woman learning to find her voice and stand her ground. Certainly, Multitudes is a beautiful record—the way Amador’s crystalline voice cuts through the album’s lush synthesizers, dreamy guitars, and cinematic string arrangements is nothing short of spellbinding—but more than that, it’s a fierce work of discovery and affirmation, a profound, revelatory meditation on triumph and loss, endings and beginnings, identity and belonging.
Rebecca Correia
Up-and-coming singer-songwriter, Rebecca Correia, who Vance Gilbert called a ‘broken-winged angel’ after their first shared performance, is a young veteran with already over 200 songs to her credit. Most recently, she co-wrote the song ‘So Long Goodbye’ with three-time Grammy-winner Keb’ Mo’. ‘So Long Goodbye’ can be found on Keb’s latest album Bluesamericana which was nominated for Best Americana Album @ the 2015 GRAMMY Awards.
Growing up on a rural horse farm in the little town of Rochester, Massachusetts, Rebecca savored her natural surroundings and began writing songs at age nine. After having earned a degree in music education vocal emphasis from the prestigious Hartt School of Music in West Hartford, CT., Rebecca paved her way on the road, averaging 150 shows a year, from Boston and New York to Miami and Los Angeles. She now splits her time between Rochester, MA and Leipers Fork, TN (the haven for music lovers and legends just outside of Nashville), where she has been embraced as a formidable talent by fellow musicians and garnered a loyal following of discerning fans.
Ruth Hill
Ruth Hill, songwriter, singer, and storyteller, is the most recent Grand Prize Winner of the Great American Song Contest! Her latest CD, Reunion of Broken Parts, was at the top of Folk DJ charts for the first 3 months of 2018.
Ruth has roots that run deep in the hills of New England. She’s inspired by the gritty joy of growing up as one of 10 kids in a working-class New Hampshire family, where she started singing with her older siblings at community events when she was six years old. Her wandering spirit has taken her from Antarctica, to Bhutan, to Alaska, with warmer stops in between. She writes about real people and the sweetness and sorrow of the world around her. Ruth accompanies herself expressively on guitar, and when she opens her heart and sings from a place of depth and compassion you are compelled to lean in closer.
Although Ruth started singing and playing music early in life, it took her until she was nearly a half century old before she finally found her songwriting voice, a few years later, she gave up her career as a river geologist and began performing and writing full time. “I don’t regret becoming a fulltime musician so late in my life,” Ruth says, “I’ve had a wonderful life full of rich adventures. But, I am thrilled to be here now! My recent successes have shown me that it’s never to late to learn to believe in yourself!”
Ruth is also the winner of the 2016 Maine Songwriter’s Association annual songwriting contest. Her first CD, The River Beneath Me, was released in 2011.
LEW
LEW, is a twenty two year old local singer-songwriter who translates something intangible, emotion, into an embrace that is rough but real. His voice is a melodic silky sound that hugs you like a friend, and takes you home.
In 2017, LEW released his debut album “Lullacry” at his sold-out album launch. “Lullacry” reached #1 on the Singapore iTunes Charts, #6 in China and #9 in Taiwan respectively, and has now amassed over 3.8 million plays on Spotify. The acoustic-pop artist is now based in Boston, pursuing a degree in songwriting at Berklee College of Music, and has more recently released two EPs in 2018, entitled “There’s Something In My Eye” & “ENFJ” respectively.
LEW participated and completed the Noise Singapore Music Mentorship Program, and was very honoured to receive the NOISE Award for 2015. He has performed for many festivals and on various stages including “SHINE Festival 2017/2018” , ‘MOSAIC Music Series‘ at The Esplanade Outdoor Theatres, “Bandwagon Nights’ at Hard Rock Cafe and was also part of the SCAPE Invasion Lineup for 2016.
LEW’s debut album ‘Lullacry’ was released in July 2017 and has already garnered over 2.1 million plays on Spotify. It also hit #1 on the Singapore iTunes Charts, #6 in China, #9 in Taiwan, #11 in Hong Kong and #12 in Indonesia respectively.
Dan Bern
Bern may be best known for his masterpieces “Jerusalem,” “Marilyn,” and “Tiger Woods,” but he has also released 25 albums and eps, and played thousands of shows across North America and Europe. He is a captivating live performer with a loyal, multi-generational following. Ani DiFranco, an early supporter of Bern’s, took him on tour with her and produced his second album, Fifty Eggs. Bern has written original songs for the films Walk Hard—The Dewey Cox Story and Get Him to the Greek, as well as the 15-song soundtrack for Everett Ruess, Wilderness Song, a documentary produced by Jonathan Demme.
Bern hosts a podcast—10,000 Crappy Songs—a radio drama of a songwriter-turned-detective. He also runs the 24/7 internet radio station, Radio Free Bernsteinn. Also a visual artist, Bern’s paintings are on display at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum and the Bob Feller Museum. Bern is the author of several books, including his latest, Encounters, a collection of poetry based on Bern’s chance meetings of such figures as Jimmy Carter, Bruce Springsteen, Hunter S. Thompson and Wilt Chamberlin.
Paul Izak
Paul Izak was born and raised on the Hawaiian Islands and currently lives it up on the Island of Oahu. Paul has been discovering his own voice and unique sound as a singer/songwriter since 2004.
As a young boy, Paul was no stranger to the main stage, performing as a vocal soloist in choruses since 2nd grade. He then became an impersonator of famous artists like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Louis, and Neil Diamond. He performed around the island with the Honolulu Boys Choir for two years. Through Intermediate and High school years, he began to shift interests towards acting, photography, sports, and film production and his vocal talent was put aside. During these years, he began to find a new voice through his Harmonica. His inspiration came from his uncle Brian, a local blues harmonica player, and other blues musicians around the island. He quickly found a new sense of freedom through the harmonica.
During his first year of college, Paul began learning guitar and finding his own sound, which can best be described as a Folk, Blues, Rock, Reggae combination. In 2006, while living on the Island of Lana’i, Paul began playing hand drums. This later led him to establishing a drum circle on Kailua Beach for three years. These drum circles allowed Paul to connect with the community through the freedom of unlimited creative expression weekly. Bringing together the community in a conscious way led to the monthly Yogarden Music Gatherings, an all ages, artistic/music event. Paul’s passion for yoga, gardening, and music set the foundation for these gatherings.
Since 2005-2013, Paul was the lead singer/harmonica/percussion player for local Hawaiian reggae band Pressure Drop, winners of the Mai Tai Rumble in 2010. Paul’s full length albums include, Peaceful Words (2010), Seeds of Love (2011), Everlasting Light (2013), Campfire Anthems (2013), Back to the Roots (2017).
Mink’s Miracle Medicine
A broken-down van ranks pretty high on the list of worst-case scenarios for touring musicians. When it happened to Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia band Mink’s Miracle Medicine, though, it ended up being an important turning point for how they approach making music.
Comprising Melissa Wright and Daniel Zezeski, Mink’s Miracle Medicine are preparing to release Pyramid Theories, a new album the two began writing after their van broke down in Pittsburgh and they found themselves stranded for several days. That unintentional break gave Wright and Zezeski time to contemplate their shared musical philosophy, and they ultimately realized that they needed to make music for themselves, rather than trying to appease anyone else. When they got home, Wright immediately began writing what would become Pyramid Theories.
Pyramid Theories follows the duo’s 2017 debut album House of Candles. House of Candles was released to critical acclaim, premiering alongside a rave review on Noisey, which called the LP “a solid record that really establishes Wright and Zezeski not just as talented and articulate, but smart enough to be willingly vulnerable in a genre that doesn’t tend to reward legitimate emotions.”
Chris Smither
Having distilled his own signature sound of blues and folk for over 50 years, Chris Smither is truly an American original. A profound songwriter, Chris continues to draw deeply from the blues, American folk music, modern poets and philosophers. From his early days as the New Orleans transplant in the Boston folk scene, through his wilderness years, to his reemergence in the 1990s as one of America’s most distinctive acoustic performers, Chris Smither continues to hone his distinctive sound. He has always traveled his own road and stayed true to his musical vision. He may be best known for writing “Love You Like A Man” which Bonnie Raitt and, more recently, jazz great Diana Krall have covered. His music has been covered by numerous artists and featured in soundtrack albums, independent film, television, and commercials. Reviewers continue to praise his dazzling guitar work, gravelly voice and songwriting. The New York Times: “With a weary, well-traveled voice and a serenely intricate finger-picking style, Mr. Smither turns the blues into songs that accept hard-won lessons and try to make peace with fate.”
More From the Levee (2020 Signature Sounds) is a masterwork and companion release to the celebrated double-CD 50-year career retrospective Still On the Levee that came out in 2014. It sports the unmistakable guitar sound Chris has made his own meshed with spare, brilliant songs, delivered in a bone-wise, hard-won voice.
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Smither is an American original, a product of the musical melting pot, and one of the absolute best singer-songwriters in the world.
ROLLING STONE: Bathed in the flickering glow of passing headlights and neon bar signs, Smither’s roots are as blue as they come. There is plenty of misty Louisiana and Lightnin’ Hopkins in Smither’s weathered singing and unhurried picking. So fine.
NEW YORK TIMES: With a weary, well-traveled voice and a serenely intricate finger-picking style, Mr. Smither turns the blues into songs that accept hard-won lessons and try to make peace with fate.
Kris Allen
On New Year’s Day in 2013, Kris Allen and his then-pregnant wife Katy were in a head-on collision that left the singer/songwriter/guitarist with a career-threatening shattered wrist.
In the two years that followed, he underwent three surgeries, re-learned how to play guitar (despite regaining just 30 percent movement in the damaged wrist), recorded his third album, and toured relentlessly – including a two-month-long stint that started just one week after his accident. The American Idol season 8 winner ultimately retreated from the whirlwind and immersed himself in a songwriting spell that yielded more than 70 new tracks. Culled from the collection of songs, Allen’s fourth full-length album Letting You In finds the Nashville-based artist delivering his most intimate and dynamic work to date.
