Claire Holley
Claire Holley writes songs that are literary, playful, meditative, and earthy. A native of Mississippi, she owes much to the southern tradition of storytelling, and just as much to the southern tradition of charm. With spare, delicate arrangements and a frank, lovely, and versatile sound, she sings deceptively simple songs. Claire began playing music when she was just two years old, when she and her grandmother, an accomplished jazz pianist, would play chop sticks on the piano at her home in Jackson, Mississippi.
But it was the guitar that really got her interested in playing music. She would take a ukulele to church and sit out in the hot car strumming it between Sunday school and the church service. She ruined her father’s classical guitar by replacing the nylon strings with steel strings so she could imitate what she’d been hearing on her favorite record, Chet Atkins and Merle Travis Traveling Show.
She moved to Chicago for college and began performing at coffeehouses and writing songs. At the suggestion of one of her professors, she studied the poems of William Blake and set one of them to music. That, along with two songs she wrote for the college arts CD, Kodon, set a nice foundation for recording songs for Night Air, her first independent release. Soon after college she moved to Chapel HIll, North Carolina, where she began recording in earnest, getting radio play on WUNC’s Back Porch Music. She signed with Yep Roc Records and her self-titled debut was featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition.
She moved to Los Angeles in 2003 and, after falling in with some stellar west coast musicians, recorded Hush in a friend’s living room. She also began collaborating with directors and filmakers on their projects. She was nominated by the 2006 LA Weekly Theatre Awards for Best Original Music for the songs she wrote for the play, See Rock City. She has composed music for a feature length documentary, three short films, and two of her songs have been on ABC’s Men in Trees.
These songs and performances display Claire’s commitment to staking out new musical ground while still remaining true to her southern song-writing roots. She has released six records, and of her latest, Hush, one blogger wrote “…just plain, unabashed, good quality songs…delightful.” In 2009, Image Journal featured Holley as April’s artist of the month (from which some of this bio was taken). She lives in Los Angeles but goes home to Mississippi a lot!
Learn more at https://claireholley.com
Shay Martin Lovette
Shay Martin Lovette is a singer-songwriter originating in the foothills of Appalachia in North Carolina. He has placed in nationally recognized songwriting competitions like Merlefest's Chris Austin Songwriting Competition and Telluride's Troubadour Songwriting Competition. He has performed at music festivals such as Merlefest, Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion, and Carolina in the Fall.
Learn more at https://www.shaymartinlovette.com
The South Carolina Broadcasters
As they begin their tenth year, the South Carolina Broadcasters’ eclectic sound may be harder to categorize than ever. Labels such as old-time, bluegrass, gospel, and folk tell part of the story, but with the Broadcasters the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. Their unique brand of American roots music harkens back to the 1930s and ‘40s – a time when country music was inclusive and uncomplicated.
Whatever you choose to call it, there’s no doubting that this trio’s music is dynamic, authentic, and from the heart. No Depression magazine has called the Broadcasters, “a band that tackles tradition in such a way that you feel their very current, present personalities leaping out of the speakers or the stage.” In other words, the Broadcasters inhabit the music they play and make it exciting and accessible.
Learn more at https://www.facebook.com/scbroadcaster
