Fundraiser for SAFE: a non-profit offering programs and services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Transylvania County
Mountain Song Productions in association with SAFE, Inc, announces the 3rd Annual Songsmith Gathering: An Evening of Song on May 19, 2012 at the Porter Center for Performing Arts on the campus of Brevard College. Doors open at 6pm for a Happy Hour and Raffle* and the show starts at 7:30pm.
2012’s Songsmith Gathering features dynamic and prolific songwriters Sarah Siskind, Moses Atwood, Jill Andrews and Chris Rosser and helps provide funding for SAFE, Inc, a non-profit offering programs and services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. SAFE has served Transylvania County’s victims of domestic and sexual violence for over 25 years, averaging over 350 clients a year with programs that provide support and education for victims and their families as well as a Domestic Violence Intervention Program.
Event host and producer, John Felty of Looking Glass Entertainment said, “Out of all the events that I produce, this is one of my favorites. Hosting the show and doing live interviews and dialog on stage with the artist adds spontaneity and allows the audience a more in depth appreciation for the artists, who they are as people and where the songs come from. It gives me the chance to introduce some great artists to the community in a venue that is superb for songwriters.” Felty is also the producer of Mountain Song Festival, 2013’s inaugural Mountain Song at Sea Bluegrass Cruise in February, The White Squirrel Festival and co-producer of Music on the Mountaintop.
Songsmith Gathering raffle tickets can be purchased in advance and you need not be present to win. More details about the raffle are below and tickets are available at SAFE’s Attic and Attic Interiors stores. Tickets for Songsmith Gathering are $20-$25 plus service fees and can be purchased online or at Rockin Robin Records in the college plaza. For more information call 828-243-3496 or visit theportercenter.org. Local sponsors include Comporium, Transylvania Regional Hospital, Everett Farms, UPS and Elements Spa.
Sarah Siskind has been called “the best female singer/songwriter in America today” by Steve Binder, legendary TV director/producer and Nashville’s “Best New Voice” by Southern Living. She has toured with Bon Iver who also famously covered her “Lovin’s For Fools” and The Swell Season. She has written songs for Randy Travis and Alison Krauss including Grammy nominated “Simple Love.” Sarah has performed live on NPR’s Tiny Desk, World Cafe with David Dye and her music has been featured on NPR’s All Songs Considered and NPR’s Song Of The Day. Her previous album “Say It Louder,” was called “a masterpiece” by Bonnie Raitt. Americana Songwriter says, “Her music is an unlikely but riveting amalgam of folk-rock and jazz fusion; her spectacular voice reveals Appalachian, Celtic and gospel influences”
Siskind’s most recent album “Novel” was released in 2011 and features her powerful voice while utilizing traditional instruments, including her beloved Gibson, as well as salt canisters, dry rice, and oatmeal boxes as a percussion section. She made a snare out of a storage box with sheets of paper taped to the top. Swept away by the muse, Sarah would continue to record the rest of the songs this way, finishing it with just one microphone, several guitars (including her beloved Gibson, Larry), and “found sounds” from her home back in Nashville. Sarah engineered, tracked and produced “Novel” with no boundaries, no one else in the room, on her own.
Moses Atwood set sail with sophomore album “One Bright Boat” on March 30, 2012. The album was produced at Waking Studio, the new digs of Bill Moriarty (Dr. Dog) in Philadelphia. Running like a current through the record is Atwood’s talent for telling a story in fleeting images and washes of sound. These aren’t ballads but modern song-sketches of places longed for and passed through, people met and parted with, time passing. His music has been compared to Van Morrison and Randy Newman.
Atwood’s sound is rootsy with a hint of blues, but with a melodic sense that is more contemporary. Atwood studied classical guitar at the San Francisco Conservatory and has been called gregarious and open with a powerful voice contrasted yet complimented by his instrument of choice, guitar, resonator guitar or piano. Rare is it that we find an artist who can deliver this type of emotionality. His writing and his persona seem to come from a soul that is old; making it so when you look at this talented young artist, it makes you wonder if he hasn’t experienced a previous life. Atwood is a Damariscotta, Maine native who migrated south to explore the music that inspired him. He now resides in Asheville, NC and finds the area supportive and inspirational for him as a songwriter.
Jill Andrews has been singing her whole life: as a little girl in Johnson City, Tenn., as a camp counselor plucking out three chords on an acoustic guitar under swaying pine trees, as one-half of The Everybodyfields—and, since 2009, as an increasingly formidable singer/songwriter making her way on her own. A smart, subtle tunesmith and a gently wise songwriter, the now Nashville-based Andrews crafts beguiling, startlingly intimate songs that merge her voice with her effortless, classic-pop sensibility and keen eye for human drama.
It starts with the her voice. Before you notice the words, before you detect the gently curling melodies tugging them along, this is what hits you first: It’s warm and rich and touched with a soft Southern twang, as likely to swing down into its earthy lower register as arch upwards into a hopeful trill; it’s steady and sure but flecked with a certain weary sadness that stops you dead, draws you near. It’s beautiful. It knows something.
Chris Rosser is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, composer and producer. As a solo singer-songwriter and as a member of the world-jazz instrumental trio Free Planet Radio, he plays a variety of instruments, including the Indian dotar, Turkish cumbus oud, guitars, melodica and piano. As a producer, he has produced about forty recordings for various artists in his Asheville, NC based studio Hollow Reed Studio including Beth Wood’s “Marigolds” which he also performed on many of the tracks.
He has won songwriting contests at the Rocky Mountain Folks and Merle Watson festivals, been selected as a New Folk Finalist. With the help of a 1999 WNC Regional Artists grant, he continued his studies of Hindustani classical music and the sarod (a 25-string fretless Indian lute) with world famous Indian musician Ali Akbar Khan in San Rafael, CA. He was awarded a 2003 Songwriter/Composer fellowship from the NC Arts Council.
As part of Songsmith, SAFE will be hosting The TLC Raffle (Travel, Love and Comfort). Three themed packages, each valued at close to or over $1000, will be up for grabs! You do not have to be present to win and raffle tickets are available at SAFE’s Attic and Attic Interiors stores.
The Travel package includes a week vacation with Wyndham Resorts, with travel accessories from Highland Books, Moosetracks and Main Street Limited. A camera donated by Transylvania Regional Hospital to help document the trip!
The Love package includes a couple’s massage from Elements Spa, dinner for two at Falls Landing, a night at The Inn on Main, flowers from Floressence and his and her gifts from Stones and Lowes. Top it off with wine from Toxaway Wine & Cheese in a picnic tote and movie tickets to the Co-Ed!
The Comforts of Home package is headlined by a $400 Kaelee Denise photo sitting for the family, catered dinner for 8 with Will Ecker of TRH, interior and exterior design consultation by Camarilla Design and Fry Nursery, a full house cleaning from Edna Hensley and more outdoor goodies from Whistlin’ Dixie. Raffle tickets for these amazing packages will be available for sale during the Songsmith Gathering as well as prior to the event during the happy hour.
For more information about Songsmith Gathering call 828-243-3496 or visit theportercenter.org.
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