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Singer/Songwriter Showcase

The New Jersey Folk Festival’s
Annual Singer-Songwriter Showcase

Deadline for submission of applications was DECEMBER 15th, 2011

 

2012 Winners

Jesse Terry

Jesse Terry

Jesse Terry is a nationally touring, award-winning singer-songwriter and road warrior. His music has been compared to the likes of Jackson Browne, Ryan Adams, Paul Simon and James Taylor. Jesse has toured relentlessly in support of his debut record “The Runner”, including recent support slots for Darrell Scott (member of Robert Plant’s Band of Joy), Tony Lucca and Rachel Platten. He has shared festival stages with the likes of Mat Kearney, Shawn Mullins, Dar Williams, David Wilcox, The Indigo Girls, Rodney Crowell and Lori McKenna.Jesse recently finished recording his second full-length album, slated for an official release in July of 2012. Jesse has won Grand Prize in several international songwriting competitions, including the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, the CMT/NSAI Songwriting Competition, the Ourstage.com 2012 Finals and the We Are Listening Singer/Songwriter awards. His debut record was licensed to nine major television shows including MTV's "The Hills" and "The City”. He has performed in Bluebird Cafe rounds with Tony Arata, Angela Kaset, Craig Carothers, Steve Seskin and many other songwriting luminaries. Jesse is a regular at some of the finest listening rooms in the country, including The Bluebird Cafe (Nashville), Club Passim (Cambridge, MA), Rockwood Music Hall (NYC), Eddie's Attic (GA) and The Bitter End (NYC).

jesseterrymusic.com

Lora-Faye Whelan

Lora-Faye Whelan

Lora-Faye's music seems to be more in a conversation with Greil Marcus' "Old Weird America" than it does with the Brooklyn indie scene. The lyrics, contemporary in their own right, reassert the eerie politics and unique poetry of American folk traditions into modern issues. Social Magic (2011), Lora-Faye’s debut album, was recorded over the course of a few months in quiet living rooms in New York and Vermont She describes it as a collection of "folk songs about the internet." Lora-Faye is currently in the middle of recording her second album—this time in a studio—expected to be released at the end of 2012.


Liat Arochas

Liat Arochas

Liat’s voice has a haunting quality that is somehow comforting, and a musical style that has been described as “folk-edge.” I am writing about living life the way you want to...about loving yourself and a light at the end of the tunnel. Be it live, download, on CD, or radio and television, you won’t want to miss this emerging and deserving artist.



Heidi Winzinger

Heidi Winzinger

A native Jersey girl, Heidi was influenced by old time Country music her father loves. As she developed her own taste, it included everything from Johnny Cash to Neil Diamond and Pink Floyd. With a dream to work her own farm, Heidi studied agriculture in college while continuously nurturing her love of singing and writing. Today Heidi preserves farmland in New Jersey, is a proponent of supporting local agriculture and an advocate for animal rights and rescue. She writes songs which combine her influences of Folk, Country, and Rock in her own unique style. Telling stories of women losing themselves to their jobs, the loss of farmland to development, the friendly feeling a snow day brings, celebrating a beloved dog and the fabled Jersey Devil.

www.heidiwinzinger.com

Richie KayeRichie Kaye

Richie Kaye is a singer-songwriter-guitarist following a tradition that stretches back to the troubadours. One man, one guitar, one voice. He sings about life (and death and Art and grace) with an original voice clarified by rough experience and seasoned with good fortune.Compared by one critic to the Fado Portoghese, but clearly American in tone, he writes and performs original music based on his awareness — with all its faults — of the True and Real in the style of the Here and Now.

www.richiekaye.com

Christine MartucciChristine Martucci

Christine Martucci is renowned for her soulful tenacity, kind-hearted interaction and emotional songwriting, pulling heart strings and opening minds all across the country.Raised in a musical family, Christine has music in her soul. She has her own grass-roots following dubbing themselves the “Tucci Train”. Martucci’s bunch literally made it possible for her to outdraw headlining national acts by showing up in droves to cheer her on and support her newest projects. Asbury Park, NJ is Christine's home base. Touring the country is her dream, and she is living her dream every day!

Singer-Songwriter Judges

Dave Ambrosy

Dave Ambrosy is a local television producer, cameraman and editor for Channel 3, East Brunswick, NJ for the past 25 years. Dave is also a drummer who has backed many well-known bluesmen including Otis Rush, Frankie Lee and Sonny Rhodes. Currently, Dave is recording and performing at clubs and festivals with The VooDUDES.

Eddie Konczal

Eddie Konczal is a Unit Computing Manager for the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He is also a keyboardist and composer, and won an ASCAPLUS Award for his instrumental album “Edification” (2008). Eddie lives in New Jersey with his wife, Laura, their dog, Mikey, and their cats, Charlotte and Sophie.

Richard Skelly

Richard Skelly is a music journalist whose stories and reviews have often appeared in Goldmine, Sing Out!, Folk Roots, Roots World, Guitar World Acoustic, The Independent Music Producer's Journal, Y'all, and he is a writer for the music sections of The Asbury Park Press and U.S. 1 Newspaper. He is also a contributor to several books, including the All Music Guides to blues, jazz and rock, and has been the host and prouder of The Low Budget Blues Program on Thursday nights on WRSU (88.7FM) since 1981. His other areas of journalistic expertise include golf, real estate, and the environment.

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