Nashville/Cincinnati-based recording artist Alice Peacock has released five albums as a major label and independent artist. Her eponymously titled album Alice Peacock featured the hit “Bliss”, a duet with John Mayer and her most recent CD, Myrick/Peacock is a duo project with longtime collaborator Danny Myrick. Many of Peacock’s songs have appeared in feature films and TV shows including Because of Winn Dixie, Men In Trees, The Ghost Whisperer, Pepper Dennis, What I Like About You, Dawson’s Creek and Smallville; feature films Because of Winn Dixie and Win A Date With Tad Hamilton and TV commercials such as Hershey’s product launch of Bliss chocolate.
In addition to touring extensively as a solo artist and with other artists including John Mellencamp, Aimee Mann, Toad The Wet Sprocket and Heart among others, Peacock has made many TV and radio stops including a special guest spot on the popular radio show A Prairie Home Companion. Besides her musical pursuits, Alice is a socially conscious artist. She is a trustee of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (GRAMMYS) as well as a past President of NARAS’ Midwest Chapter. She is also the founder of Rock For Reading, an Illinois non-profit organization, which raises awareness and resources for reading and literacy programs through high profile music concerts
Alexander Stanton (Pittsburgh). townsppl is Alex Stanton’s performing and recording music project. Alex is a folk pop singer with a nice tone to his voice and imaginative lyrics and song concepts. A keen multi-instrumentalist, Alex works with crap parlor guitars, 60’s 2 knob tube amplifiers, chinese and american ukuleli (ukulelen?), his grandmother’s upright bass, an open piano that he describes as “intune-ish”, found percussion implements and plenty of layered voices. Alex’s recent album “twigs” was awarded the local album of the year by 91.3 WYEP for 2018
Alex is also the owner and founder of Sunburst School of Music, which since 2011 has helped thousands of kids and adults in the Pittsburgh area discover their passion for music.
Rupert Wates was born in London and studied at Oxford University. He has been a full time songwriter since the late 1990s, when he signed a publishing contract with Eaton Music Limited.In London he worked with some of the best performers in the city.Moving in 2001 to Paris, Wates formed his own quartet and began playing live regularly. In fall 2006 he came to the US. He is now based in New York City and Colorado.Since coming to the US, he has won more than40 songwriting and performing awards.His music is an eclectic mix of acoustic, melodic art/folk, with flavors of jazz, vaudeville and cabaret. He has released nine solo CDs. They have received outstanding reviews in the international online press and tracks from them have been played on radio all over the world. In addition, Wates’ songs have been covered by other artists in the UK, Canada and the US.
rupertwatesmusic.com • A Song of Your Own
Heather Kropf has been a Pittsburgh-based musician for over two decades, earning acclaim for her evocative singing and songwriting. Trained in classical piano but intuitive in her approach to songwriting, she has charmed audiences with her lush, literate blend of Americana and jazz-influenced pop that captures the complexity of modern life and romance. Her honeyed vocals are reminiscent of early influences Suzanne Vega and Joni Mitchell, and her live shows feature some of Pittsburgh’s finest players.
She recently went to Nashville to collaborate with producer/multi-instrumentalistLexPrice.Together, they created her fifth releaseLights, a starkly beautiful album of heart-wrenching pop songs, listed as a best album of 2017 by Pittsburgh’s Trib LIVE, and a finalist for Top Entertainment + Media Projects of the Year (2018) by the Creative Industries Network.
Letitia VanSant (Baltimore). In her music as in her life, VanSant has always sought to wrestle with worthy questions. Before her return to Baltimore, VanSant earned a Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues concentration from Macalester College (St. Paul, MN). Afterwards she worked for the Obama campaign in Detroit, and then did environmental organizing in Baltimore. Five years of work with a progressive advocacy group landed her in Washington DC. On weekends, she reflected on the state of society through her songs, earning a regional following in coffee shops and clubs.
The pull of music eventually got the best of her, and she ultimately left her nine-to-five job to become a musician. She hasn’t looked back since, and for good reason. In 2017 she won the Kerrville New Folk Songwriting Competition, an honor shared along with the likes of Lucinda Williams, Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Anais Mitchell, and Caroline Spence.Songs from her new album have also won critical acclaim from theMid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest (Gold; Folk Category),Falcon Ridge (Emerging Artist), and Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Songwriting Contest (1st Alternate). She’s graced the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, and placed among the Top 10 listener-voted “Songs of the Year” by her local radio station 89.7 WTMD. BBC Radio calls her “very, very, very good -a fascinating new artist.”
letitiavansant.com • Taking Back the Reins
Ben Shannon (Pittsburgh) has been busy since his last BurghSong appearance, winning the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Songwriter Showcase in 2015 and
being named a finalist in the 2017 Kerrville Folk Festival New Song Contest, touring in both the Southeast and Southwest, and releasing his second recording, Farewell Mountain, a “rich and sometimes rocking Americana record” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Songs from that record, his debut Move On, and from his growing stock of new songs will be part of the program.