Local 1000 AFM

The Traveling Musicians Union

Guitar

John Miller

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At age 11 I began playing guitar and learning Beatle songs. This love of folk and rock morphed into a broader study of Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Jean Ritchie and a trove of other 60s and 70s musicians.

But work and life as a civil engineer and Navy officer got in the way, and my musical growth hit stasis til I retired for good in 2010. After some years playing at the senior center I helped form 4 Man String Band. But a simpler life beckoned me to join Charles and Phyl to birth Crawlspace. Now, thanks to mentoring from John McCutcheon and Charles Absher I am composing new material.

Hot dang!

colleen kattau

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Colleen is a bilingual songwriter who stirs listeners with her clear voice, collective spirit and rhythmic sensibility. Her music is informed by nature, social and environment movements, and Latin American progressive folk in a genre she likes to call “americaña” (TM) aka “gringa latin”. She’s a twice nominated Sammy nominee and has seven albums and three benefit compilations for antimilitarism and antifracking causes. Her latest release is Besos/Kisses (with one on the way). Her original song honoring the early feminist movement, “Dangerous women’ is now featured in the National Women’s History Museum in Seneca Falls NY. Here is a link for it:  

Kray Van Kirk

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Folk singers often try to one-up each other with obscure details and pastimes. No slouch in that regard, Kray Van Kirk, who will be playing our house concert series on Friday, May 19th, has not one but two obscure distinctions. First, he holds a Ph.D. in fisheries population dynamics modeling. If that’s not obscure enough, he does a spot-on impression of Japan’s nineteenth century blind swordsman, Zatoichi.

A fine finger-style guitarist with a precise baritone, Van Kirk obtained his doctorate from the University of Alaska. Coming off five years of living in his van and playing music across the US and Canada, he thought that a career in the sciences might be a bit more secure than playing music for a living, especially as a single parent. Eventually, however, he realized that healing the world was primarily a matter of the heart, not the head, and he put aside his computer, picked up his guitar, and set out again.

When Van Kirk reached Scotland and the prestigious Fringe Festival, the Daily Fringe Review wrote “The evening’s act was Kray Van Kirk, whose 12-string guitar and soaring vocals were spellbinding; the Alaskan singer-songwriter, in his Edinburgh debut, was not the reason I arrived early, but was certainly why I stayed late.”

Van Kirk, however, is not your average crying-in-your-coffee singer songwriter. “We need a renewal of myth and wonder and hope,” he says.

This is where the Zatoichi impression comes in handy. Shintaro Katsu played the blind but fictional wandering masseuse as a bumbling nobody in movies from 1962 to 1989. Prior to unleashing his unrivaled swordsmanship, he closes his eyes, cocks his head to one side and listens intently, as does Van Kirk. “We are driven by myth and the seasons of the heart. We need new stories and new myths so that everyone, absolutely everyone, regardless of creed, color, gender, sexuality or anything else, can listen and look and see themselves on the Hero’s Quest.”

Thus his songs: ‘Thunderbird’ resurrects the Phoenix in an empty desert diner in the American Southwest (yes, the Phoenix drives a Thunderbird), ‘The Queen of Elfland’ plucks Thomas the Rhymer from the English-Scottish border in 1250 and drops him and the Queen into a subway car, ‘The Library Song’ has Superman moonlighting as a librarian, and ‘The Midnight Commander’ celebrates an insane old man leading the city of New York to take up arms (and underwear) against hatred.

Of this charming, Quixotic, and decidedly eclectic performer, the Borderline Folk Club in New York wrote “it is what every singer-songwriter should aspire to.”

Elise Witt

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Elise Witt’s concerts of Global, Local & Homemade Songs™ and her Impromptu Glorious Chorus™ workshops create and connect singing communities around the globe. Her songs are available for choruses and choirs through the Elise Witt Choral Series and for solo and community singing in All Singing: The Elise Witt Songbook, as well as on 12 CDs.
She currently serves as Director of Music Programs at the Global Village Project, a special purpose middle school for teenage refugee girls in Decatur GA, where she uses singing to help students learn English, share their cultures, gain self confidence, and learn to navigate their new world.

Daniel Senie

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Dan is half of the duo Dan & Faith, an acoustic, singer/songwriter/storyteller duo from New Hampshire. Dan plays guitar, harmonica and banjo. Faith plays acoustic bass guitar, mandolin, dulcimer and ukulele. Their songs tell the stories of people and places, real and imagined. 

Tom Kastle

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Tom Kastle has been a singer and folk musician for decades, traveling the world, collecting and performing maritime songs and stories, and captaining sailing ships on the Great Lakes. These days, Tom lives in Madison and his passions are even more diverse and include a recording of original songs based mostly on traditional fiddle tunes, film projects like Francisco Torres’ Delight In the Mountain, with Richard Riehle and Tom Wopat, an opera role, and television where he hosted a short documentary that was nominated for an Emmy Award. Add in musical director and composer credits, and recent theatrical roles ranging from musicals to Shakespeare, playing a political pundit with the legendary Ed Asner in God Help Us! and a one man play based on the life of Joe Hill and you have an artist living a vivid life, indeed!

“With his solo recording and original songs, Tom Kastle shows further dimensions to his talent and range of material. His resonant voice, heartfelt lyrics, and solid instrumentation proves he is a more “grounded” talent, as capable as writing about the open road as he is about the open waters.” — Lilli Kuzma: Folk Festival WDCB-FM Radio

 

“What do you say about a guy who can command a tall ship and all her crew, whose songs can make an Irishman cry tears of pure Tullamore Dew?”  — Bryan Bowers

 

“I heard Tom Kastle sing his song, ‘Whose House? Our House!’…. Timely. Inspiring. A great gathering song sung with power and presence.”  — Holly Near

Kyla Tilley

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Kyla Tilley is a Canadian prog-folk singer-songwriter known for her emotionally turbulent live performances, her gymnastic guitar playing, and her fabulous shoe collection.
Using whatever words she likes, Kyla constructs tales true and tall of fantastic exploits, mundane tasks, and moderate misadventure which she delivers with a mix of vocal fusillades, chaotic finger-picking, and kaleidoscopic rhythms.
Twelve such songs can be found on Kyla’s sophomore album Bloom & Grow. A mercurial collection of songs about personal growth, self-acceptance, and the obstacles that get in the way of an individual’s desire to leave something of themselves for the ages.
Kyla lives in a small town in Newfoundland and Labrador where you will find her strolling on the beach, hiking in the woods, and broadcasting glimpses into her songwriting sessions live on Twitch, where her stalwart followers are encouraged to heckle, cheer, and distract, as Kyla wrestles words, cajoles melodies, and hammers out guitar parts.
Kyla’s endeavours over the years have ranged from country to metal with many digressions in-between. She appeared in the documentary “Water Street” with country/folk band Bareback; performed at the Sound Symposium with experimental music group Sound Circus; had a song recorded by Canadian Idol finalist Jenny Gear; played art galleries and events as a solo classical guitarist and with the bass and guitar duo Cat’s Paw; performed with violinist Ed Hudson in folk duo Tea & Bread, which melded Kyla’s original material with Ed’s love of British folk song. She’s composed cat-walk music and provided guitar solos for comedian and fashion diva Cara Winsor-Hehir, and is one half of progressive death metal duo Molt. As Mistress Pandemonium, she was the riff-generating half of Newfoundland heavy metal band Endearing Perversion. She spent a decade singing a mixture of folk and classical music in Montreal’s La Chorale Harmonia community choir including 2 stints on the board.
Kyla Tilley singer-songwriter began releasing music in 2018 with Whimseys, a 5 song EP of some of her more whimsical numbers performed simply with guitar and voice, and Loose Summer, a mostly instrumental composition for a fashion show featuring 5 short episodes of airy guitar, flute, bottles and found percussion. These were followed in the summer of 2019 with New Shoes, Kyla’s first full length album, then Vagarys in 2020, another 5 song EP of odder fare, this time with bass and drums thrown into the mix.

Annie Patterson

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One of America’s premiere song leaders and co-creator of the songbooks Rise Up Singing and Rise Again, Annie is also an accomplished performer and jazz vocalist. She carries with her a suitcase of incredible song knowledge and a repertoire that includes over 2400 songs from many genres, including Americana, contemporary folk, ballads, gospel, country and jazz.  Annie is a master song interpreter, accompanying herself on guitar and banjo. She loves to collaborate with other artists. Her folk recording, Mountain Side, features Annie’s stunning vocals along with haunting harmonies by the talented voices of Tracy Grammer, Katryna and Nerissa Nields and Mary Witt of the O-Tones.

Annie sings in the swing band Girls From Mars, the acoustic trio Dear Ella, and the Joni Mitchell tribute band Big Yellow Taxi.  She has also toured with well loved folk musicians and union buddies Charlie King, Emma’s Revolution, and Magpie, to name a few.  She is an accomplished side musician as well as solo performer, knows her way around sound (including running hybrid concerts) and has been involved in many studio projects for other musicians, as well as having several records of her own.

“It isn’t enough that Annie Patterson co-edited two of the most popular songbooks in history (Rise Up Singing and Rise Again).  She is also a compelling performer with  a passion for singing songs of hope, love and justice.  She can sing jazz standards or songs from the folk repertoire, with enthusiasm that can make the meekest singer join in on the chorus. Her musicianship, dynamic presence and commitment to making the world better through song ring out with every note she sings.” – Sally Rogers

 “Her stage presence is infectious; she could get a roomful of store mannequins to break out in song.”  – Peter Berryman

Joel Simpson

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Joel Simpson has been a self-employed musician since 2001. Growing up in a musical family, Joel started playing guitar as well as singing/songwriting at a young age. His passion for music led him to earn a music business degree from Elmhurst University, and found Randomosity Records in Downers Grove, Illinois. He splits his time between private instruction, music production, and music performance.  Joel is proficient on voice and many string instruments. His production work focuses on folk and jazz. Joel has recorded with Lee Murdock, Ashley & Simpson, The Chancey Brothers and many more.

Sharon Abreu

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Sharon Abreu (“Ah-BRAY’oo”)

Sharon Abreu is a singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, teacher, and student of life. She was singing harmony with her family around the dinner table by the age of 3. Sharon grew up with many musical influences, from classical and opera to Broadway to folk, pop and rock, and she enjoys mixing those up in her concerts. She performs as a solo artist and also as half of the acoustic Irthlingz Duo with her partner Michael Hurwicz. She has performed at venues as diverse as the Northwest Folklife Festival, the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, and the United Nations.

Sharon was studying classical singing in New York City when she attended a pumpkin festival in the West Village and ended up joining the sponsoring organization, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. Through her work with Clearwater, she started using her voice and songs for environmental education and ended up singing in concert with legendary folksinger Pete Seeger.

Sharon has sung lead roles in operas including The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute.  She’s been a soloist in performances of major choral works including Bach’s Magnificat and B Minor Mass and Mozart’s Requiem and Vespers. Sharon starred in a sold-out run of the musical The Taffetas at the Orcas Center and in summer stock at the Ferry Terminal in Bellingham, Washington. Sharon has provided music for major international Earth summits at the United Nations in New York and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa. And she was honored to sing for Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai in Berkeley, California in 2006.

In 2007, she prepared New York City high school students to perform her climate change musical revue Penguins on Thin Ice for the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development, receiving a standing ovation from a full auditorium of international delegates.

In 2016, Sharon performed her one-woman musical show The Climate Monologues in the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival, the United Solo Theatre Festival in New York, and for The MarshStream Theatre Festival online in 2021. She received the “Spirit of Nature, Ecology & Society” Environmental Justice Award for her performance of The Climate Monologues, at the Culture of Climate Change Colloquium at the City University of New York in 2011. Sharon composed and recorded the songs for Zero Waste Washington’s public school education program.

Sharon teaches voice, violin and piano, and she has been the vocal coach for musicals including Billy Elliot and Mamma Mia. For 2-1/2 years, she was a Musician-in-Residence with the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, bringing music and singing to local preschools. She is featured in Professor Mark Pedelty’s books, Ecomusicology (2012) and A Song to Save the Salish Sea: Environmentalist Musicians in the Pacific Northwest (2016).

Sharon has been a member of the Local 1000 North American Traveling Musicians Union, American Federation of Musicians, AFL-CIO since 1997.