I have a friend, Jess, who is a much better blogger and writer than I, but heck she READS for a hobby. Feel free to follow her blog, but this post she shared on Facebook and got my music juices flowing again. Mixtape is right up my alley, and because my tastes never completely align with anyone's here's some phenomenal women songs she should add to her mix tape for 2016. (most were not released in 2016 but Jess this is the first year you likely heard them)
First up has to be Natalie Gelman. I met her first at the Root Note after she had asked to play my house concert and I didn't have an open spot. Fast forward three years, and I made her 11th best fan list, and I've hosted her now.
If you have never heard of Sarah Jarosz, don't panic but she would be one artist I would love to get to the fest if we could afford it. The good news is that she seems to a favorite of Chris Thile and she's been on Prairie Home Companion more now. Her cover of Dylan is the best with the Transatlantic Sessions but they have seemed to have deleted that from YouTube.
Norah Rendell wins awards for her Celtic singing skills and here's one from our house concert that I put behind a Christmas tour. She and her husband played the night before.
Kelley McRae is an outstanding sensitive songwriter, but she can rock it a little when her hubby Matt gets cooking on that guitar. Kelly has played both my house concert and the Great River Folk Fest.
Barbara Jean has to make my list. Such a low key talent, she just slowly takes your heart away especially if you look into those beautiful eyes; but I wouldn't have booked her just because she's beautiful. She writes great songs, and here she is with her new group Dusty Heart.
HALFWAY through my ten songs.
If you scroll through this blog you will find I've been blogging a long long time, and met some of my favorite artists on MySpace before it died. Here's an upbeat one from one of the smartest woman I know (her day job is at MIT)
A dear MySpace friend who isn't touring at all anymore but her stuff should be out there to buy, Allison Sattinger. Back in 2009 she played my house concert, and I did this video to her song just for fun.
Scroll through the blog and again you will find Kendel Carson is one of my favorites. This is a duet but it was one of the first time I heard her sing. Being from Canada, she just doesn't get much publicity in the states but she is awesome. She's toured with Chip Taylor and has sung with my hero John Prine.
Oh my two left.. I'm going to leave off friends and favorites, but this one came to mind since you were looking for up beat. Jill Barber and her brother up in Canada are another great reason to move up north.
Ok I have to end on one you might have heard of, Jillian Rae. She's another talented soul that has played my house concert. Truly I get blessed by any honest hug from anyone I host, even if they are male. If you haven't seen this video, it was one that got me hooked on Jillian.
Ok like Spinal Tap, we need to take this to ELEVEN with Lindsay Lou
Again I was lucky enough to book this eclectic string band who is lead by Lindsay who grew up loving the wildly passionate Claudia Schmidt, this song is so much like something she would do:
