Over the course of her colorful career, singer songwriter Susan Werner has cultivated a reputation as a daring and innovative songwriter with a killer live show. She boldly endeavors to weave old with new to create altogether new genres of music when existing ones do not suit her muse, and she regularly keeps audiences guessing and laughing simultaneously. Most of her work infuses traditional music styles and methods with her unmistakable contemporary worldview, constantly challenging listeners to experience music from a fresh and unexpected perspective. 

With 6 albums under her belt, an active touring career throughout the U.S. and a string of accolades from the likes of The Washington Post, The Village Voice and The New Yorker, Susan Werner has become one of the defining artists of the folk music genre. Her songs effortlessly slide between folk, jazz and pop, and are delivered with a sassy wit and classic Midwestern charm. 

"Susan Werner, a clever songwriter and an engaging performer, brings literacy and wit back to popular song." -The New Yorker

"(Susan Werner is) a triply blessed artist who sings adroitly, plays the piano smartly and, best of all, writes songs of genuine distinction and high craft..." -Chicago Tribune

"(Werner is) a songwriter and musician who is in such complete command of her gifts that it's almost scary." -All Music Guide

"Vulnerability has rarely been so witty or concise in modern song." -Boston Herald

"Always an impressive songwriter, Werner continues to compose sharp, funny, compassionate lyrics, a gift rare enough to set her apart..." -The Washington Post

"The classically trained and jazz inspired singer is redefining the genre and winning admirers around the country..." -Philadelphia Inquirer

"I Can't Be New is what happens when one of the most intelligent, sophisticated folk-pop singer-songwriters turns 90 degrees. ... She succeeds marvelously." -SingOut!

"This woman is great. period." -Music Row (Nashville) Susan Werner Website

Andy Gullahorn

Andy Gullahorn moved to Nashville from Austin, TX in 1994 to attend Belmont University. After graduation, he found a job doing the very thing that drew him to Nashville in the first place: writing songs. If you ask him how to go about getting into the music business, he would say to do what he did and "marry into it". His wife, singer/songwriter Jill Phillips, signed with a major record label just months after their wedding and Andy started writing for her records and accompanying her on guitar for her concerts all over the country. In 2004 they had their second child and while Jill needed some time off of the road, Andy decided to start recording and performing his own songs again. Who else was going to pay the bills? That year he released his first recording in 6 years, Room To Breathe and began opening for and accompanying singer/ songwriter, Andrew Peterson.

Andy has since released two more records: Reinventing the Wheel (2008) and The Law Of Gravity (2010). Although he spends most of his time on the road playing concerts in houses, churches, clubs, conferences & retreats, he still makes time to write songs for other artists such as Sara Groves, David Wilcox, Big Daddy Weave, Jason Gray and Alicia Keys (in fairness, one of those artists he writes for hasn't ever heard the songs he wrote for her and has no idea who Andy is).

As a songwriter and performer, Andy has been described as a surgeon who uses laughing gas to deaden the pain before he cuts you open. Whether he is writing about marriage, honesty, faith, community or his friend's lawnmower accident, Andy's songs all come from the same desire. "I really want to write songs that can act as healing agents," Andy says. "Sometimes that healing might come through laughter and sometimes it comes from exploring deep sorrow. I try to be up for whatever it takes."

In his spare time Andy likes to bowl, play disc golf, make useless videos to post on YouTube, write Haikus, and hang out with his wife and three kids. And by "hang out with the kids" I mean "get completely worn out".

For more information, please go to Andy’s web site: www.andygullahorn.com

Grace Pettis is the 22-year-old daughter of singer/songwriter Pierce Pettis, and has just released her debut, self-titled CD, Grace Pettis, on the Blue Rock Artists label. Already, Grace has begun to earn national recognition, with her 2009 win at the Mountain Stage NewSong Songwriting Competition. Grace performed on the prestigious Mountain Stage radio show for NPR, and was also awarded NewSong's 'best song' award for her 'Nine to Five Girl.' In addition, Grace also was awarded 'audience favorite' at the May 2010 Wildflower Songwriting Contest in Richardson, TX, where she won the prize of a handmade Gallagher guitar. Summer 2010, she will compete in the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival songwriting contest.

“It might be expected that the daughter of Pierce Pettis would make music that's both brainy and quietly spiritual. Grace Pettis displays a winning idealism and an awareness of the world's injustices. 'Nine to Five Girl' is a bittersweet portrait of a harried working woman that earned Pettis top honors in the 2009 Mountain Stage NewSong Songwriting Competition. The rock-tinged 'Heard Enough Now' confronts an authority figure with a defiantly questioning attitude. More introspective are the dreamily jazzy 'A Bird May Love' and the ruminative, Sarah McLachlan-esque 'The Gypsy's Code.' 'What you Didn't Want to Know' is an engaging slice of lovelorn torment.

While Grace can't be called carefree in attitude, she does allow herself a lighthearted moment with 'Italy,' a sunny travelogue. All the tunes benefit from Pettis' clear, emotive vocals, distinguished by her keening upper range. Grace Pettis is heartfelt and free from affectation and its fresh outlook is its strength.” -Official iTunes Review. For more information, please go to Grace’s web site: www.gracepettis.com

Billy Crockett

Change is the only constant, and music is life. This is obvious in the recent transformation of veteran writer-instrumentalist-recording artist Billy Crockett. Love for the guitar, the right word, a clear idea, and a refreshing honesty has fed a creativity that has grown into 25 years of hit-yielding albums, touring internationally and virtuoso guitar-playing, and brought him to a new perspective and a new album, Wishing Sky (Blue Rock Artists; released Nov. 2, 2009).

It’s easy to summarize his life. Air Force brat born in Guthrie, Okla.; was settled in Richardson (north of Dallas) by age 6. Got his first guitar that year, a Kay acoustic free with a set of tires his father bought; Dad taught him to play by ear during lunch breaks. Studied jazz at North Texas State University. Earned a B.A. in music engineering at the University of Miami before touring Mexico and Venezuela with Latin pop star José Luis (“El Puma”) Rodriguez. BMI songwriter at Austin’s SXSW Music Festival, Artist-in-Residence at the Academy of Gospel Music Arts, guitar clinician for Yamaha International. Earned a master’s degree in 2005 from Southern Methodist University.

It’s a little harder to describe what happened between the lines, where Crockett changed and grew and a new point of view began to crystallize. But you can hear it.

He stopped recording and in the quiet, he and his wife, Dodee, began creating their shared dream, Blue Rock Artist Ranch and Studio, a top level recording facility, artist retreat and performance space on 19 pristine acres in the Texas Hill Country that they opened in 2006. As creative director, he produces albums for some of music’s most vital artists, edits a thriving journal on creative process and hosts a popular concert series.

The stillness also yielded Passages (Blue Rock Artists, 2006), an album of classical guitar pieces, unhindered by words and ideologies, that he wrote and recorded.

Wishing Sky, produced by Crockett at Blue Rock, features 13 timely and candid folk-pop story-songs; appearances and contributions by Jon Dee Graham, Ray Bonneville, Pierce Pettis and Lloyd Maines; a wide landscape of subjects and moods; flowing melodies and expressive lyrics; and the gusto of a man reunited with his first true love.

“These songs are my most personal so far,” Crockett says. “I am singing the gypsies, the howling dogs, the gaps and mysteries, the sweetness and silent remains of life as I know it. I have tried to do what poets must: tell it true.” For more information, please go to Billy’s web site: www.billycrockett.com

Dirje Smith

Dirje Smith, freelance cellist, is a natural musician whose joy in making music comes through in every note. She has spent the last 13 years supporting traveling artists at festivals and listening rooms, crafting and playing parts in the recording studio, and playing with a variety of groups. At home with many musical genres and able to read and improvise, she is, indeed, a cellist for all seasons. For more information, please go to Dirje’s web site: www.dirje.com