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The Michelle Penn Band (MPB) is a three piece rock and roll trio fronted by Detroit-born Michelle Penn. Before you groan and say "not another female artist", take note that Michelle Penn is not part of the current bandwagon of little-girl voiced singer-songwriters. Michelle is uniquely different in that she is an accomplished guitar player with a passionate and wide ranging voice. She projects a combination of attitude and sensitivity in the tradition of Chrissie Hynde. Michelle has already shared the stage with the Indigo Girls, Melissa Etheridge, Pat Bentar and Janis Ian.
The band’s music crosses musical formats and fits comfortably on rock, triple A and modern rock stations. MPB is rounded out by John Frampton on bass and Mike Dupke (John Mellencamp) on drums. Formed in 1993 to support Michelle’s debut CD, Running From the Seasons, the Michelle Penn Band has now released a harder-edged follow up album titled How Do You Live. The CD features a guest appearance by Will Turpin of Collective Soul.
Greg Nicoll of Atlanta’s Creative Loafing calls Michelle a "golden-throated
electric guitar sorceress" and declared the CD "a triumph of genuinely electric
performances." Charles Earle of Nashville’s In Review says the CD is, "a highly
enjoyable disc of passionate rock songs that build to choruses you’ll be singing
along with after one or two listens." Nashville’s WRLT, Detroit’s CIDR and
WDET and Atlanta’s WKLS and WNNX have all played Michelle’s new single "Good".
How Do You Live
Check out the Real Audio Sound Sample
Check The Michelle Penn Web Page
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Erin Benjamin
ORIGINAL ECLECTIC ACOUSTIC POP
In the spring of 1996 Erin released her debut self-titled CD which has
steadily been gaining notoriety with reviewers and fans alike. Her recorded
material has been featured on CBC's provincial program Heartland, CIUT's
(University of Toronto Radio) Great North Wind, and in January of 1997 it
hit the number 10 spot on CFRC's (Queen's Radio, Kingston) top 40 chart.
In November of 1996 Erin was
one of four winners of the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals "Song's From
The Heart" song writing competition with her original song Long Hard Fall.
She has performed for Canada's national AIDS fund-raiser The Kumbaya Festival
and was unofficially showcased on behalf of the OCFF at the 1997 Folk Alliance
conference in Toronto. In the summer of 1997 Erin's CD was in the 6th spot
on Vic Bell's top 10 list of Canadian artists getting the most air play
on folk stations in the United States. Her CD is also being played in Germany,
Hong Kong, Australia and Guam.
Erin's music is an eclectic blend of folk, pop and jazz and is characterized by open tunings, unconventional phrasing, unusual chord progressions and powerful vocals. The result is a dramatic, sensual, passionately original sound that defines the tribulation and ardour of her 28 years on the planet. Her unique combination of styles has been revered and welcomed on festival, club and concert stages. She is accompanied on stage by her musical director Dick van Raadshooven, a gifted bass player and cellist, whose accomplishments as an innovative arranger and producer are widely respected.
Monster In My Heart Review
Since her first, self-titled, release, Erin Benjamin has grown, both as
a writer and as a performer. The songs on Monster In My Heart no longer
have the self-conscious folkiness evident in many of the songs on her first
CD. This is music which, while still clearly falling somewhere on the folk
continuum, could easily make the crossover to a number of other contemporary
genres. 
Benjamin's lyrics now have the depth and richness of a Janis Ian rather than the sometimes obvious folkiness of Joni Mitchell and the orchestrations provide a powerful engine to drive Benjamin's stories forward.
Where Benjamin had once seemed to wear her songwriting influences like her heart on her sleeve, now the sound is uniquely hers. Certainly Benjamin has extracted and kept the best of what her idols could teach her, and there is still a lot of Joni Mitchell in her style, but the soup of her beginnings has evolved into something new and wonderful and alive in its own right.
The fullness of the arrangements here fall just this side of syrupy, managing just the right lush consistency to carry Benjamin's unique vocal technique. This is a fine line to walk, and arranger Dick van Raadshooven has managed it exquisitely, achieving luxuriant warmth without falling into schlock. I have before compared Erin Benjamin to Holly Cole, both for talent and her tendency toward jazz stylings. That comparison still holds.
A casual listener may not notice, but Benjamin's lyrics have a much harder edge this time around. Indeed, to those who actually listen to the words (and not everybody does), these lyrics may even shock.
There are songs here about bulemia (She is a Beauty), the murder of a child (Amy), abusive relationships (Harder Than the Rain), and other hard things life can bring. As stand-alone poems (that is, for the lyric alone), my preference among these lyrics would be "Carry On" and "Hang On to Me," although all the lyrics are as tightly and powerfully written.
Choosing a favourite, or even defining a best song for qualitative or other reasons, could be a difficult task. The songs on this CD are relatively uniform and balanced in quality, and that quality is high. Erin Benjamin is definitely an artist to watch. It will be most interesting to see where she goes from here. For more information on Erin, check her Web Site
Sound Bytes by Bob MacKenzie February 22, 1999
Monster In My Heart
Check out the Real Audio Sound Sample
cat.# bhpcd002 CD $12.99 
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Erin Benjamin
Check out the Real Audio Sound Sample
cat.# itm25 CD $14.99
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Kara Barnard/Troy Seele
Kara Barnard is a singer-songwriter and a nationally competing multi-instrumentalist.
Already counted among the nations finest fingerstyle guitarists, she is
also currently Indiana's top ranked female mandolinist (4th overall). Her
Mountain Dulcimer skills earned her an invitation to perform and give workshops
at an international convention in Bogota, Colombia in 1997. Her banjo playing
has yet to win her any awards or invitations to perform abroad, but it does
provide easy joke material for her fellow musicians.
Home
Check out the Real Audio Sound Sample
Mary Barker-Klene, congas and percussion. Kara Barnard, Taylor and classical
guitars, mandolin, banjo and dulcimer. Pam Barnard- Berns, harmony vocals.
Steve Brunner, drums. Alan Burdette, claw hammer banjo on Claire's Fancy.
John Cannady, bass on The River. Shane Donald, harmony on The River. Sam
King, harmony on Rose of Sharon and Send Down the Rain. Jennifer Kirk, various
basses. Johnna Maze, lead vocal on Black Bush Whiskey. Troy Seele, lead
vocal on Old Home Place and lead guitars. Loretta Vinson, guitar on The
Garden.
The Waters Edge
Cheshire
Cat Moon
Engineered by Grey Larsen at Lemon View Studio
Kara Barnard: vocals, guitars, banjo, mountain dulcimer, bass, synthesizer
on Cardboard Box
Grey Larsen: Fiddle, wooden flute, harmonium, concertina, synthesizer
on Prodigy and Kiss the Rain
Pam Barnard: Back up vocals
Abby Peach: percussion
photography by S.R. Horn
All songs BMI, Sleepy Creek Music
All songs copyright 1991 K.Barnard
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Elly Wininger and Susan Cohen, two bright singer-songwriters, team up
with producer Steve Burgh (Steve Forbert, Phoebe Snow, Steve Goodman)
and top 
notch musicians
to create a tasty sound rooted in rock, folk, country, and classical.
Intriguing harmonies, choice lyrics, sparkling guitars, and liquid flute
lines complement the duo's strong, unique voices. The title cut, "Housewife
From Hell," is getting significant airplay on public radio stations, and
inspires some intense listener response. With Charlie Giordano on keyboards,
Jon Sholle on guitar, Barry Lazarowitz on drums, Larry Packer on violin,
and other guests.
Susan Cohen
Susan has played extensively in the New York metro-area performing country,
rock-oldies and folk music in clubs, bars and coffee houses for more years
than she cares to admit. After studying classical flute and piano, Susan
took up guitar to accompany her unusual voice, paying her way through
college by teaching music and playing with a local bluegrass band. Despite
her college degree, Susan worked with Al Aronowitz to produce the Country
in New York concert series and also opened for Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.
Throughout all this Susan's creative song writing side was gaining more
and more steam and what started out as a trickle of interesting songs
has burgeoned into a flood of fine music.
Elly Wininger
Elly is a classically trained musician who cleverly developed an acute
wrist ailment that forced her to give up violin lessons. By some miracle
of fate, her wrist was fine when she played guitar! As a student of David
Bromberg she played the basket houses of Greenwich Village when it was
way past her bedtime. Eric Frandsen even said she was good, "and not just
for a girl." Sleep deprivation soon became a way of life for Elly as she
picked her way through as much formal education as a musician can stand.
She has composed original scores and toured with numerous theater companies.
Elly is the co-producer of the award-winning program "Rockin ' the Boat,
which can be heard on public radio, if it still exists by the time you
read this.
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"Put this CD right next to Maria McKee, Joan Osborne and Janis in your
record collection. 
Filled with strong, gutsy tracks of R&B- and country-flavored rock, SUGAR
FREE is a debut any artist would be proud of. There is very little gentle
or delicate in DeVestern's songs. Rather, her tunes are populated by real-life
sufferers and survivors. Her tracks are vibrant, her melodies catchy and
her delivery is soulful and sure. There is passion fused into every groove...of
this disc, with DeVestern's crack team of musicians matching her every
step of the way...****" - Jennifer Shields, The Musicians' Exchange
"Kicks into high gear from the first tune, an R&B smoker on the Aretha tip. 'I'm Over It' displays a vibrato and twang descended directly from Janis, backed by an organ-fed groove evocative of Rita Coolidge's early 70s work. A tight, polished band ably backs De Vestern's bluesy flights, lifting her substantial melodies and never overpowering them... Soulful, strong and sure, Halley fits comfortably next to Joan Osborne in your unalphabetical record collection." - Jim Santo's Demo Universe Click here to Link to Demo Universe
"Halley has an incredible voice...Overall, the cd makes you wanna
go out and beat the crap out of whoever that guy was who pissed her off.
Believable emotion is key to music like this, and Halley pulls it off
expertly. Look out world, here comes Halley DeVestern."
- Women in Musica
More Information at
Halley's site.
Sugar Free
Check out the Real Audio Sound Sample
catalog# hdcd-100 CD $9.99
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"Karen Tyler succeeds where 99 percent of 'sassy blues mamas' fail, 
and it's thanks to her exceptional songwritintg skills and a voice that
can deliver the full spectrum of blues from slow, smoky and sultry to
raise-the-roof rockinitis."
- Real Blues Magazine
"This lady has a voice...a great voice...sultry and smoky...one of my
favorite blues vocalists."
- Austin Blues Monthly
"Karen Tyler is an outstanding singer and guitar picker of the smoky
blues variety...good blues, with fluid guitar playing and deeply felt
singing."
- Mike's Feedback Magazine
"...the title cut alone is worth the price of the CD. A brilliant blend
of gospel and blues, with great writing, vocals..."
- Texas Beat Magazine
"Karen blew the crowds away at the Austin Acoustic Music Festival this
year..."
ORB Confidential:The Musician's Trade Journal
Alone And Blue
So what’s next? “Alone & Blue”, Tyler’s new solo, guitar and vocal project,
was conceived as a vehicle for Tyler to showcase her prolific songwriting
talent. Where “Lovin’ the Blues Too Long” was a great introduction to
Tyler’s music, “Alone & Blue” is the perfect second date. Without her
musical chaperons on board you can really get to hear what Tyler can do
on her own. Archtops, resonator guitars, flat tops and even a six string
banjo are Karen’s canvas for her next release and an exciting and much
anticipated release it is. The songs sizzle and snap with southern imagery,
heartbreak and spunk. Sweltering hot one minute, and cool as a mint julep
the next, this project is well played, impressively sung and expertly
written. A diverse blend of blues styles, true life stories and Tyler’s
engaging personality make this a very exciting acoustic blues release.
Alone And Blue
Check out the Real Audio Sound Sample
BEST FEMALE ACOUSTIC ARTIST:
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BEST ACOUSTIC GUITAR PLAYER:
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BEST ACOUSTIC BLUES CD/TAPE:
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