SummerSongs 2023 Class Schedule
COMING SOON
SLOAN WAINWRIGHT
Bio: Folk-pop artist Sloan Wainwright belongs to a musical dynasty of impossibly gifted singer-songwriters. Her family tree (brother and folk-music luminary Loudon Wainwright, sister-in-law Kate McGarrigle, nephew Rufus Wainwright, nieces Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche) reads like a who’s who of contemporary folk music. Sloan’s incredible gift is not only her unique songwriting ability but her dramatically voiced rendition of her original songs. Defying standard categorization, singer/songwriter Sloan Wainwright consistently demonstrates her easy command of a variety of American musical styles — pop, folk, jazz, and blues — held together by the melodious tone of her rich contralto. The end result is a unique and soulful hybrid. With a solid and impressive discography of 11 original CD releases to her credit, Sloan continues to write, sing and perform live. In addition, Sloan has written numerous musical compositions for theater and dance and teaches at many of the best-known master songwriter series and workshops. Sloan’s open spirit and first-hand experience are welcomed –year after year– in the musical classrooms of such prestigious song camps as Richard Thompsons Frets and Refrains, Moab Folk Camp, The Swannanoa Gathering, SummerSongs, WinterSongs, WUMB Radio’s Summer Acoustic Music Week (SAMW), and Lamb’s Retreat. ~ sloanwainwright.com
Bio: David Roth is a singer, songwriter, recording artist, and enthusiastic instructor who has taken his songs, experience, and expertise to a wide variety of venues in this and other countries full-time for more than three decades. His work has found its way to Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, several Chicken Soup for the Soul books, the Kennedy Center, Peter, Paul, & Mary and Kingston Trio CDs, the Kerrville New Folk Award, NASA’s Goddard Space Center, the Rise Up Singing and Rise Again (sequel) songbooks, and 15 CDs on the Wind River and Stockfisch (Germany) labels. David has taught singing, songwriting, and performance at SummerSongs (where he serves as Executive Director), the Augusta Heritage workshops (WV), Common Ground on the Hill (MD), the Woods Dance & Music Camp (Ontario), Moab Folk Camp (UT), the National Wellness Institute (WI), and for many other songwriting groups and associations around the country. David annually leads musical tour groups to Ireland and Scotland and is creator/director of the Cape Cod Songwriters Retreats which began in 2014. He’s also organizer/host of the Cape’s Full Moon Open Mic which since 2005 has provided a forum for musicians to connect/be heard while at the same time collecting donations ($16,000 to date) for local non-profits to help neighbors in need. ~ davidrothmusic.com
BIO: Tom Prasada-Rao is a musician’s musician – an unassuming presence on the folk scene since the early nineties. His voice belies his musicianship and his extraordinary songs. From “Rishi’s Garden” with its homage to Ravi Shankar to the groove of “Sleeping Beauty”, Tom’s music is melodic, ambitious, and reverent. He’s starting to tour again after being featured last year on the nationally syndicated TV show Troubadour Texas. ~ tomprasadarao.com
BIO:
~ susancattaneo.com
BIO: Jefferson Hamer is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Brooklyn, New York. He has toured and recorded albums with Anais Mitchell (Child Ballads, winner of a BBC2 Folk Award), Sarah Jarosz (as guitarist and harmony singer on her Grammy-nominated Blue Heron Suite), and Session Americana. The Murphy Beds, his long-running traditional folk duo with Eamon O’Leary, has released two self-produced albums, about which the Huffington Post wrote, “[the album] bears repeated listening from start to finish, with ten beautiful, crystalline songs.” His original songs and lead guitar work are featured on Alameda, an acoustic and electric collaboration with bassist Jeff Picker and drummer John Fatum, featuring special guests from the NYC folk community and beyond. ~ jeffersonhamer.com
BIO: Taína Asili is a New York-based Puerto Rican singer, filmmaker and activist carrying on the tradition of her ancestors, fusing past and present struggles into one soulful and defiant voice. Taína Asili combines powerful vocals with a multi-genre fusion – confidently weaving between salsa, rock, reggae, cumbia, reggaeton, and hip hop – with multilingual songs that beat with the heart of social change. Asili’s music offers a sound that spans continents, exuding strength of Spirit, inspiring audiences at venues across the globe – From Carnegie Hall to the Women’s March on Washington to the main stage of San Francisco Pride. With energetic and infectious rhythms, Asili’s music urges people to get on their feet and dance to the rhythm of rebellion. ~ tainaasili.com
MARK DANN
Mid-Day Potpourri
BIO: I got hooked on tape recorders as a young child. Quite a bit later, I started recording songwriter-oriented albums in the Greenwich Village music scene. That led to opening a pro-level recording studio in NYC that I ran for over 31 years. All the while I was constantly playing gigs, and building and repairing guitars. Hence, my course subjects!
BIO: Sue Riley is a musician with a mission — to empower the world, one song at a time. A prolific singer-songwriter who has released eight albums of positive, uplifting music, Sue has also been a leading music director for over two decades and is co-founder of emPower Music and Arts, a community dedicated to creating positive global change through music, writing, and the spoken word. ~ sueriley.com
Playing Well Together ~ SlowJam!
BIO: Glen Roethel, guitarist/vocalist/songwriter/entertainer/producer, helps kindle the energy of the SummerSongs experience. Study guitar, songwriting, harmony, or performance with him; take part in a late-night jam-singalong-dance party after the evening coffeehouses have wrapped up. He is an award-winning songwriter, a jury-selected performer at NERFA and the Singer-Songwriter Cape May festival, and a 2020 Gold prize winner at the Mid Atlantic Songwriting Contest (MASC) with Us! (his socially-minded trio with Summies Judy Kass & Amy Soucy). You’ll see or hear his songs in a Presidential Museum and New Thought music and Hal Leonard Corp songbooks. To Glen’s credit are multiple self-produced CDs and beautiful compilation CDs, plus instrumentation, vocals, production, and co-writes on gorgeous and award-winning recordings by Penny Nichols, Sue Riley, David Roth, Sloan Wainwright, Jan Garrett & JD Martin, and many others. Oh, and come to Ireland with Glen, Sue Riley, and Sloan in 2023! ~ glenroethel.com
BIO: Dr. Tomhave is a recently retired Professor in Studio Art, Design, and Art History at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. He is also a multi-award winning singer/songwriter in the International Indie, Posi Awards, USA Songwriting Competition, Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, and more. He performs solo, with Carole Tomhave, and the band New Day. ~ rogertomhave.com