 David Bailey Douglas Ebert |
 Alisa Fineman |
 Rich Follett |
 Steve Hudson |
David Bailey Douglas Ebert |
Alisa Fineman |
Rich Follett |
Steve Hudson |
David Bailey and Douglas Ebert have been writing
songs together since the summer of 1995, but it wasn't until a
life-threatening event this past year that they became focused
enough to begin the work of composing more than 40 songs which
they now hone and present acoustically under the name not by
chance. Bailey brings a poet's passion and nylon-string
fingerpicking mastery to the duo, singing lead in a rich, gentle
bass; Ebert contributes steel-stringed rock'n' roll stylings and
tenor harmonies to a collaborative tandem blending their diverse
influences into music which speaks to the mind and is heard in
the soul.
Alisa Fineman
was raised in Califonia's San Fernando Valley in a family with a
rich musical heritage. Her great-grandfather was first trumpet
for the New York Philharmonic under Toscanini. Her grandmother, a
concert pianist, gave Alisa her first piano lessons. She began
guitar lessons when she was eleven, and was writing songs a year
later. Some of her early inspirations, both musically and
lyrically, include Mary McCaslin, Odetta, Joni Mitchell, Willa
Cather and Kate Wolf. Like these artists, Alisa's songs speak of
love, a sense of place, and life's difficult choices.
While attending the University of California at Santa Cruz, Alisa
worked during the summers as a fire lookout in the Salmon
National Forest in the Idaho wilderness. After graduating with a
degree in Environmental Studies and Natural History, she lived in
Big Sur managing the Big Creek Reserve. Out of this period of her
life, living in almost total seclusion, came the songs on her
first self-released recording Cup of Kindness (1988).
The enthusiastic response to that album motivated Alisa to devote
herself to writing and performing her songs and hosting a program
featuring singer/songwriters on public radio station KAZU in the
Monterery area. In 1991 she was The Best of Kerrville New Folk
winner for two of her songs, One Lone Bird and I Could Not Ask
For More. These songs are included in her 1993 release Better
with Time. (The album was reissued on Thunderbird Records in
1995.) As J.T. Mason wrote in La Gazette (Santa Cruz, CA),
"the songs are more complex and the material covers a wider
range of topics and emotion." Indeed, the innocent beauty
found on Alisa's first album has matured and reflects a broader
palette of the human condition. "This album" Alisa
says,
"focuses on love, doing the brave thing, and taking full
measure of one's time on earth."
Since then, Alisa has toured extensively appearing at major folk
festivals such as Strawberry, South by Southwest, and the
Connecticut Family Folk Festival, as well as returning to
Kerrville to share the mainstage with Laurie Lewis and David
Wilcox. She was a New Folk winner at the Columbia River Festival
and a finalist at the Napa Valley Festival. She has opened for
artists such as Tish Hinajosa, John Gorka, Tom Paxton, Greg
Brown, and Alex de Grassi including appearances at the Treestar
Concert Series in New York and the National Songwriters Academy
showcase at the The Troubador in Los Angeles. In 1992 and 1993
she was Artist in Residence at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck,
NY. In addition to her solo work Alisa is a member of Martin
Simpson's highly acclaimed Band of Angels.
Alisa is looking forward to recording her third album sometime in
1996.
Rich Follett,
singer, songwriter and recording artist, has entertained
audiences in more than 40 of the 50 states and abroad over a
period of more than fifteen years. His musical adventures have
taken him from folk festivals and venues to concert and stage
appearances and his songs have been recorded by numerous folk and
popular artists. He has released five contemporary folk
recordings of original music on the independent Unicorn Records
label: Heart of Glass (1984), Modern Day Minstrel (1987),
Shenandoah Christmas (1989) and Simple Sonqs (1992) are all well
known to new folk audiences. A Place in the Circle, the fifth
Unicorn release (and the first on CD format), became available
nationwide earlier this year.
Early years were spent on Long Island, New York, where Mr.
Follett attended a public school with a thriving music and arts
curriculum and later received a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts from
Hofstra University. A three year engagement with the Busch
Entertainment Corporation in Williamsburg upon his graduation
firmly established him as a resident of Virginia, where,
excluding a three year experimental colonization of Nashville, he
has lived happily ever since.
He writes and performs from a cozy mountaintop cottage in scenic
Shenandoah County.
Mr. Follett's talents have been featured regularly at
Washington's Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Maryland
Renaissance Festival and folk festivals and venues from
Kerrville, Texas to Tidewater, Virginia and on both coasts. A
personal favorite engagement was a three year run as featured
artist at the Alaska State Fair Mr. Follett is very pleased to be
returning to the Alaska State Fair once again later this year.
In addition to performances for folk audiences, Richard Follett
is well known to theatre goers around the Eastern Seaboard:
theatrical and musical pursuits occupy fairly equal space in his
creative portfolio. Special interests include writing and
performing children's music, gardening and the practice of
therapeutic massage. When not performing, he has an ongoing
practice as an A.B.M.P. certified massage therapist.
Steve Hudson is
carving himself into the funnybones of America as a blackbelt
musician who has achieved a high degree of comic consciousness:
he demonstrates just how dangerous a guitar and piano can be in
the right hands.
Formerly based in Los Angeles, Steve headlines popular West Coast
and national comedy venues, hundreds of College concerts, and has
been a regular guest on, as well as guest-hosted San Diego's only
live morning television talk show, "Sun-Up San Diego"
(KFMB-TV[NBC]), but his deft ability to mix comedy and music has
made him a smash opener for Bonnie Raitt, Tina Turner, as well as
comics Louis Anderson, Yakov Smirnoff, Harry Anderson, and Rodney
Dangerfield. In addition, Steve remains a popular feature and
M.C. at corporate shows for TWA, Continental Airlines, USAir, to
name a few, and has Emceed awards programs and benefit concerts.
Steve Hudson brings to the stage his genuine enthusiasm, smart
& original comedy, and a serious musical ability that gives
his performances an amazing 3-dimensionality. Prior to being an
admitted comedian, Steve was a much-requested studio & stage
musician, versed in a variety of musical genre: Classics to Jazz,
Rock to Rag, Wagon Train to Soul Train. He's played pedal steel,
acoustic & electric guitars, keyboards, Ouija boards, dollar
bills, whatever.... His broad versatility, clear sense of
instrument voicing, and the rhythms of ensemble performance,
allow him to play with a fullness uncommon to acoustic solo acts.
As music--writer and producer, he has been involved in recording
projects as varied as scoring & narrating a collection of
Children's stories by author, Celeste White, to his own highly
regarded, comedic music album, Pick of the Litter, and his
ability is as natural and as beautifully timed as his comedy.
Steve is now bringing his cerebral juggling act to the East coast
from his native Washington, DC. And he hasn't traveled all this
way with his eyes closed either. Steve Hudson sticks his hands
into the cracks of life, pulls out the funny stuff, and creates a
very digable art.
What's up next --
Friday, May 30, 8 p.m.- Lisa Taylor, David Alberding, Randy
Barrett, Matt Holsen
Bob Gramman
122 Laurel Avenue
Fredericksburg VA 22408
URL for this page: http://www.webliminal.com/songwrite.html
Last Time I changed anything on this page:
Sunday, April 6, 1997
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