2020 South Florida Folk Festival Songwriters’ Competition winner Karyn Oliver is part Joan Osborne, a touch of Janis Joplin and a bit of Emmylou Harris – her seductive voice effortlessly oscillates from bluesy soul to country and back.
“Cherchez La Femme” a new collection of songs was released in October of 2023, featuring an all-female cast in an effort to bring more attention to the fantastic women creating music today. Several songs have already gotten critical acclaim and song awards.
“This is a very special album that deserves a wide and appreciative audience; and in Karyn Oliver I think I’ve unearthed a very special talent too.”- The Rocking Magpie
“Karyn’s lyrics will have you thinking while you’re enjoying the top-notch musicianship found in this collection”- Jack Dugan, Folk Odessey, WIOX Community Radio
Aaron Nathans is a Philadelphia-based alternative folk music singer, songwriter and recording artist with a distinct sound, due in large part to a combination of rhythmic acoustic guitar, wide-ranging baritone vocals and beautiful melodies that you won’t soon forget. When pairing that with talented songwriting that touches on everyday life and easily connects with audiences, you’ll see why Aaron is someone you won’t want to miss.
Aaron, a 2024 Kerrville New Folk finalist, has a unique brand of storytelling. He writes about things no one else has written about before—like a song about male bonding between a guy and his barber. Or the onslaught of the outside world upon a new parent. Surely somebody’s written that song, right? Ok, find it.
Aaron also performs and records as one-half of the guitar-cello duo Aaron Nathans & Michael G. Ronstadt. His shows with Michael are high-energy events, full of musical combustion as Aaron plays off Michael’s brilliant cello work, as well as Michael’s own wildly creative songs.
Musician Michael G. Ronstadt has traversed a wide range of musical styles from singer-songwriter, folk, jazz, classical, Americana to new age. Ronstadt displays genre-blending explorations on cello and guitar in complement to thought-provoking lyrics, as well as instrumental work.
His versatile work has been tapped for studio and concert work by such artists as David Bromberg, Linda Ronstadt, Murial Anderson and Craig Bickhardt (SKB).
Dan and Faith are an award-winning, New England-based husband and wife singer-songwriter duo who describe their music as dream-inspired folk. Daniel Senie (guitar, banjo, harmonica, vocals) and Faith Senie (mandolin, bass, ukulele, dulcimer, vocals) tap into dreams and everyday life in crafting their original songs.
Raised in New York City and the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, Dan has been singing for as long as he can remember, including the New York All-City Chorus and Concert Choir. These groups performed in Lincoln Center, Herald Square and were often requested for special events.
Faith was raised in upstate New York where she played piano, was an accompanist for school shows and concerts, sang in her school choir, and also took to acting.
The two met at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute while students. Professional life led them away from music for over 20 years. A song writing workshop series with Maura and Pete Kennedy brought them back to their musical roots. To play the songs they write, Dan picked up guitar, and later harmonica and banjo; Faith picked up mandolin, later added bass guitar, ukulele, tenor banjo, mandola and dulcimer to her talents.
Most of the time, Dan and Faith write their songs separately, then arrange them for presentation as a duo. Each has won awards for their songwriting.
Their brand new album, Who We Are (2024), and prior releases, Then and Now (late 2019), Seeking (2016), and Simple Grace (2014) are available upon request in physical or download form.
Robin is a singer-songwriter from NYC whose music is a mix of folk, pop, rock, blues, country and jazz. She calls her music “Acousticness.” Imagine a female James Taylor; strong finger-picking, rootsy songs with sophisticated pop influences. Stong soulful singing and memorable original songs make a lasting impact on her audiences. Her songs have been recorded on Fast Folk and Atlantic Records. She was picked for a finalist spot at the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival Songwriting competition (1989) in Texas on her very first application. Robin was also signed to Bob Dylan’s publishing company as a writer for two years. She has performed in over 44 states and several countries. She is a Club Med performing artist.
Robin has won music competitions at the Riverbank/Walden Radio Folk Festival and the NJ Folk Festival, South Florida Folk Festival and others. She’s showcased at both the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Kerrville Folk Festival the NJ Folk Festival, The Napa Folk Festival and many Folk Alliance Conferences. But her favorite gig all time was singing the national anthem at Madison Square Garden in NYC for her beloved New York Knicks!
Rod MacDonald (born August 17, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, novelist, and educator.He was a “big part of the 1980s folk revival in Greenwich Village clubs”,performing at the Speakeasy, The Bottom Line, Folk City, and the “Songwriter’s Exchange” at the Cornelia Street Cafe. He co-founded the Greenwich Village Folk Festival. He is perhaps best known for his songs “American Jerusalem“, about the “contrast between the rich and the poor in Manhattan” (Sing Out!), “A Sailor’s Prayer”, “Coming of the Snow”, “Every Living Thing”, and “My Neighbors in Delray”, a description of the September 11 hijackers’ last days in Delray Beach, Florida, where MacDonald has lived since 1995. His songs have been covered by Dave Van Ronk, Shawn Colvin, Four Bitchin’ Babes, Jonathan Edwards, Garnet Rogers, Joe Jencks, and others. His 1985 recording “White Buffalo” is dedicated to Lakota Sioux ceremonial chief and healer Frank Fools Crow, whom he visited in 1981 and 1985, and who appears with MacDonald in the cover photograph. Since 1995 MacDonald has lived in south Florida, where his cd, “Later that Night” was named “Best Local Cd of 2014” by The Palm Beach Post and reached the top ten in national roots music charts. His first novel, The Open Mike, about a young man in the open mike scene of Greenwich Village, was published on December 5, 2014, by Archway Publishing. On May 1, 2018, MacDonald released his 13th solo recording, “Beginning Again,” on Blue Flute Music
Kiya Heartwood ( Stealin Horses, Wishing Chair ) is a Unitarian Universalist minister and an award-winning, roots/folk singer songwriter, composer and change artist. The UK’s Broadway Baby describes Kiya Heartwood as “an award-winning American singer-songwriter who writes smart, funny and poignant songs” Heartwood “serves up a lively batch of original songs that follow on to two of the oldest traditions of folk music: storytelling and political broadside.” Kiya makes her happy home in Bryan, Tx with her wife, Rev. Meg Barnhouse.
Holt & Cabe is a brother duo from Southwest Florida that composes and performs original Americana music. Their unique, tongue-in-cheek story songs take audiences on an acoustic listening journey. Holt (on guitar) and Cabe (on mandolin) have been working together since 2016 and have played on stages across the continental US.
The music of Jack Williams, rooted in his native South Carolina, is shaped by a 65-year career of playing folk, rock, jazz, R&B, classical and the popular music of the 30s, 40s and 50s. He is counted among the most dynamic performers on today’s “folk” circuit – “…one of the most enlightened and entertaining performers I’ve ever encountered”, said Dave Humphreys of Two-Way Street Coffeehouse in Downer’s Grove, IL. Jack is considered a “musician’s musician”, an uncommonly unique guitarist, a writer of vivid songs with a strong sense of place, and a storyteller in an old Southern tradition who further illustrates each tale with his guitar.
Guthrie is the youngest daughter of folksinger Arlo Guthrie and the granddaughter of Woody Guthrie. As a third generation singer-songwriter Guthrie released her first self-titled album on the family owned and operated Rising Son Records in 2002. Her interest in music was sparked when she worked as her father’s road manager on the 1997 Further Festival tour and saw other members of the tour group having fun at late-night hootenannies. She picked up an acoustic guitar and started playing as a way to join in on the fun. “I always wrote poems, so it wasn’t that far off for me to turn that into songs.”
