Focus Member Performers

Focus Features Our Member Performers:

Singer/songwriters are invited to be a part of this page by joining Focus or renewing your membership.

 Please go to http://www.focusmusic.org/ResponseForm.html  

We look forward to promoting our Focus member performers on this page!

Performers:

If you join Focus, we will

include you in our showcase of

Performing Members.

Nick Annis   "Whether in his songs or in the spoken interludes between them, there is a natural theatricality to his presentation that rivets the attention." -Mike Agranoff, Minstrel Coffeehouse	Ken Avis & Lynn Veronneau   A Quebecoise vocalist and English singer/songwriter/guitarist. "I am very happy to know that we have another beautiful voice out there making magic and making my heart smile." - Laurin Wollan, Monthly Music magazine	Laura Baron   "Laura's songs soar with rhythm, beauty, and intelligence. The lyrics stand as poems alone and her voice seduces. . . Pick any one of her songs  and discover a voice you need to hear." -- Terry Kester, WPFW
Jerry Bresee   "A charismatic performer who plays 'industrial strength' guitar and writes songs that the workaday crowd can easily relate to." --Kelson Slayman, Folk at the Cannery, Dataw Island, S.C.	Don Bridges   “Mister Don” has emerged as one of the mid-Atlantic regions best-loved family entertainers. “Don Bridges and Friends” appear in coffeehouses, showcases, senior centers, open mics, song circles, and parties.  He is on the board of Songwriters Association of Washington.	Julie Clark   Clark’s award-winning songwriting matches the quality of her voice - clear, direct and full of emotion. Her lyrics paint vivid images of love and lust, heartbreak and obsession, secret yearnings, and the struggle between temptation and commitment.
Karen Collins   "Think Dolly Parton before she went Dollywood or the good clean fun of the Oh Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack."   - - - Takoma Voice	Carey Creed   Carey Creed is an award-winning singer/songwriter and performer whose folk- and jazz-inspired music can bring your heart and mind to a better place through poetry, pathos, and humor--with a little backbeat.	Rachel Cross & Henry Cross   ”Simply put, Rachel combines the gifts of artistry, humanism, and a great sense of humor into a truly unique package." -Tim Gregory, Director of Nada Brahma Productions
Gina DeSimone   Using both acoustic and electric guitars, Gina serves up a spicy mix of finger-slapping funk, jazzy blues and smoky folk guitar.	Ron Goad   He has enjoyed joining a variety of people onstage from the Johnny Artis Band to Sue Trainor, Angie Miller, Jimmy Cole, The Meteors, Random Act, Bugleweed, Janet Saadian, TM Hanna among many others. A specialty of Ron's is filling in on the drums when there is a "drum emergency,"	Bob Gramann   Bob Gramann likes songs that say something new or look at something old in a new way – songs that make the listener think, feel, and connect the dots. So his own songs have to have that spark of insight, that “Aha!” of listener satisfaction.
Paul Iwanico and Nita Paul   "Songs that deal with gender issues, liberation, spirituality, love and the pursuit of happiness."	Cletus Kennelly   "Cletus Kennelly wields a mean 12-string acoustic and writes a moving tune…the earnest and true kind." - Eric Brace, Washington Post	Jesse Palidofsky   Jesse uses his music to transport people to a profound level of self and soul, which creates openings for people's deeper experience . . ." - Margaret Kornfeld, American Association of Pastoral Counselors
Siobhan Quinn & Michael Bowers   "She sings, I surrender." Combined, Siobhan and Michael produce rich original and traditional music with strong harmony laden vocals over acoustic & National Steel & high strung Sting guitars.  It's folk--with an attitude. It's acoustic rock with a traditional foundation.	Claudia SanSoucie and Randall Williams   Randall Williams and Claudia SanSoucie deliver quiet acoustic ballads and stories born from lives of travel, living strong and loving true. Their strong voices and rich but mellow guitars speak to the beauty of human warmth and kindness.	Dulcie Taylor      "Dulcie Taylor is a gifted writer; she also has a compelling voice which she employs with nuance and emotion." -- Kerry Dexter, Dirty Linen
Mary Sue Twohy   "Mary Sue Twohy's airy soprano is well suited to material that straddles the fine line between traditional and contemporary folk; on the latter front, she's like a graceful, guitar-strumming Sarah McLachlan." -Richard Harrington, The Washington Post	Jay Votel   Jay plays mandolin, guitar and sings vocals with Allegheny Uprising, a versatile quartet performing music that comes from some of America’s oldest traditions as well as original and contemporary songs, and unexpected acoustic interpretations of classic folk-rock hits.	Tomy Wright   "The sound is from the heart, the chords insistent, the words pouring from somewhere deep inside. The words: they're lyrical, poetic, flowing...the expression of a life's worth of living and loving and working and traveling." Clare Lopez
Lori Kelley   If Patsy Cline was a Dixie Chick . . . "Story songs of the unexpected, peculiar topics, and songs about obsession –  an invigorating voice delivered in a witty, lively performance.  Lori’s captivating songs fill the Country, Pop, and Folk genres."	Val Nebbia   Can she sing? Heck yeah! This is a voice with power, finesse, and a blues edge that pulls at the proverbial heart strings until they almost break. But don't get too distracted by the voice of this angel. Valerie Nebbia has something to say.	Vicky Emerson   The Minneapolis Star Tribune dubbed Emerson’s unique musical style "a Lilith Fair-style folkie"  but producer, Matthew Freed, said, "Vicky's voice has a body and character which is rare and I believe it to be reminiscent of Miss Peggy Lee", who was also raised in the Midwest.
Sally Spring   "I met Sally Spring about thirty years ago while touring through the South. I was taken by her wonderful voice, her gentle and soulful approach to song, her guitar and I was taken particularly with Sally as a person. Her vocal phrasing is unique and pleasing with a voice so rich and full that there is always more to discover as you listen over and over. She was fantastic thirty years ago but now she has even more depth and maturity in her performance. She is a treasure." -- Gene Parsons (Byrds)	Paddy Dougherty   Tom Kimmel of Nashville writes, “Paddy Dougherty  . . . doesn’t have to work to pull you in; she just sings and you’re already there because you can feel her heart in every song, and her voice is the voice of an angel, an angel who’s lived a little, and knows what’s going on.”	David Lafleur   With a rich tenor voice and a mastery of the guitar, dobro, mandolin, and dulcimer, David LaFleur has been performing his unique mixture of folk, blues, and bluegrass for over 25 years.
Sorren Bakken	Doug Brouder	Brad Yoder www.bradyoder.com
Camille Hall  is a member of Bliss, a world music group.	Bob Gramann (exp)