| Robert K. (Rob) Wolf
has been writing and performing music for over 25 years. With his engaging, versatile, and
inimitable American style, he has garnered attention from listeners, writers, performers,
and industry players alike. At the age of 19, Wolf signed his first publishing contract.
He was then introduced to Duke Anderson, with whom he studied theory and arranging
until 1983. Anderson worked with the likes of Duke Ellington, Count Basie,
Billie Holiday and Stan Kenton as an accompanist, copyist and arranger.
Wolf still cites him as his most important influence. While continuing
his music studies throughout the 1980s, Rob performed frequently in cover bands and
taught nearly 70 private students. He earned a BA in Music from Fairleigh Dickinson
University (with honors), concentrating on guitar, theory and writing. It was at FDU's
Madison NJ campus where he received two full tuition merit scholarships and two awards for
Outstanding Achievement in Music.
His first album, Travelin Songs ("establishes
himself as a talent to watch." CMJ New Music Weekly) received airplay in
the New York, Boston and Philadelphia markets. Life Mileage, Wolfs
next effort, revealed a deeper and sometimes darker view. He performed the cuts "Do
You Mind If I Write You a Love Song" and "Couldn't Forget You If I Tried"
as a finalist in the 1995 Riverbank Talent Competition (Stow, MA). During that same
year, Rob peered into New York Citys Fast Folk Cafe and was overwhelmed by
the venue/magazines vivid history of cultivating and documenting the work of
performing songwriters, including Shawn Colvin, Lyle Lovett, Suzanne
Vega, John Gorka and Michelle Shocked. He quickly developed a
reputation in the surrounding community as a formidable songwriter and player. This
prompted Fast Folks founder and legendary singer/songwriter Jack Hardy to
take Rob on as guitarist for two European tours and his eleventh album, The
Passing.
In 1996, Wolf headed for Nashville. He continued to be inspired by the
fierce individualism of the New York scene, but he had long seen co-writing as a potent
vehicle. Among those with whom he put pen to paper over the years include Peter Scherer of
EMI recording artists Mr. Reality, Ken Darcy, Gavin West, Joseph and Theresa Brunelle,
Lisa Aschmann, Geoff Reid, Brett Jones, Barbara Cloyd, Rand Bishop, C.J. Watson, James
Otto, Jason Matthews, Lisa Carver, Jonathan Long and longtime friend Tom D'Ovidio. Not
Too Far From Texas, a co-write with Andy Gullahorn, led to a single-song
contract with Nashvilles Major Bob Music. Rob and his wife Lori J.
Ingberg (whom he met in Nashville) earned Honorable Mentions in both the Great American
and the CMT/NSAI Song Contests with The Safest Place I Know.
Wolfs third album, Y2KOTIC, was produced by Sam
Weedman. The title track--cowritten with Rachel Owen took a skewed,
playfully irreverent look at the madcap preparations that some of us made as the year 2000
reared its, well, not-so-ugly head. Distributed worldwide on Creative Labs' NOMAD (one of
the world's first commercially available mp3 players), the song prompted a group in Brussels
to invite Wolf to play there. Wolf was also proud to learn that the band Hurricane Camille
performed it on a U.S. Army base in Japan on January 1, 2000 with no catastrophic
consequences. The albums haunting The Flower Was Gone kicked
off a historic Fast Folk Musical Revue at New York City's now tragically defunct The
Bottom Line. It was at this show that Fast Folk's archives were officially accepted by
The Smithsonian Institution. Wolf received the dubious honor of being banned for life from
playing at the Lamb of God Fellowship in West Orange, NJ after having rendered the song as
opening act for his friend Dave Murphy. The phrase "breast was a stone"
was the clincher.
Not quite satisfied with coma-inducing songwriting blandness, Wolf took his
blazingly, politically and religiously incorrect Cross Dressing For Christmas
and became a winner in the 2003 Great American Song Contest, received airplay in
numerous markets (including Washington DC drive time), and hit #4 on mp3.com. His
very well-received, over-the-top-and-then-some Intermezzo
attempted to shatter the long-held belief that hip-hop cant be performed by an
overweight, Brooklyn-born Jewish guy from New Jersey squirming in the buckle of the Bible
Belt. Rob still lives in Nashville, where he thrives on the vast, rich community of
talent. And that's where he's staying. To keep on his craft. To keep those songs coming
***
Singer-songwriter Lori J. "Lo-J" Ingberg
moved to Nashville in 1994 from Virginia by way of Boston. She plays piano
and guitar and holds a Professional Diploma from the Berklee
College of Music where she majored in Songwriting.
She has performed at writers nights in and around Nashville including the Bluebird
Cafés Sunday Night Writers Night and has been a featured writer at Talents
Coffee Studio (in Springfield, TN), the Honky Tonk Hardware Store,
Cocktails, and at Kathys Night Off.
Lori received "Noteworthy" honors in the American Songwriter
Lyric writing contest for "Secondhand Smoke". "The
Safest Place I Know", co-written with husband Robert K. Wolf, took
Honorable Mentions in both the CMT/NSAI and the Great American
Song Contests.
|
Nashville-based
songstress Nancy Moran has led the life of a contemporary folk/rock,
singer/songwriter for over a decade, releasing three albums, touring from Boston to Austin
to Anchorage, and receiving radio airplay on over 80 stations across the US and abroad.
Still, the independent career of this self-described "musical late bloomer" only
recently seems to be blossoming into what one critic called "a major
creative force to be reckoned with." With an acoustic
guitar, powerful vocals, songs you can relate to .. and a smidge of attitude, Nancy draws
her audiences in and invites them to stay for more. Her fans describe her music as "contemporary
folk with a rock 'n roll edge," "a cross between Nanci
Griffith and Melissa Etheridge," and "Bonnie Raitt meets
Carly Simon meets Billy Joel."
What makes Nancy really stand out, however, is her delivery. Her performance is
often described as "unpretentious" or "natural, not engineered." And
her fans report that she "sings from her soul," and you can "hear the
passion in her voice." One friend recently put it this way: "music
like Shawn Colvin, delivery more gutsy like Vonda Shepard."
With a flair for the serious and the silly, Nancy makes you
come face to face with your own emotions, just as she faces her own. She'll sing what your
heart is feeling. And she'll tell it like it really is: "I'm not particularly
'heady' or poetic," she explains. "Music shouldn't be something you
have to work at. I use plain English. I write about everyday subjects. I spell it out for
you ...maybe to a fault," she admits. "Some days, I wish I could be
more ethereal or nebulous. But that's not me."
Check out Nancy's Music for more information on her songs and to order her
CD's.: http://www.nancymoran.com/nancys_music.htm
"Moran is nothing short of a late-'90s Joni Mitchell."
Gordon Ely, Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch
***
Fett (who's been going by this single moniker for longer than I've
known him) has been playing music for over 30 years and recording it for over 20 years. In
and out of the studio, his exceptional ears are the key to your recording success. He'll
listen to you and what you want from the recording and then he'll deliver. But he won't
get you bogged down in technical gadgetry. All along he'll tell you "It's
all about the music!" He's able to balance the desire for excellent
recording quality with the need for a heart-felt performance.
For the last 2 years, Fett has also been the Technology Editor for Performing
Songwriter Magazine. He has penned several "Tools of the Trade"
articles and many more reviews for the magazine. His greatest strength is that he's able
to talk about a technical issue in non-technical terms so that anyone can understand it.
This is what makes his articles so popular!
And it's also why many people come to Fett for individual consulting and/or group
workshops. He's taught several songwriters to set up their own home studios - individually
walking them through the process. He occasionally offers recording workshops for
songwriters and other musicians interested in recording their own work tapes and demos.
He's available to produce and record your demo or full-length album project. Are you
interested in recording your material? Talk to Fett. Call him at (615) 834-8613 or e-mail
him at studios@azaleamusic.com.
Azalea: A Brief History
Nancy Moran and Fett began working together professionally in the Washington, DC area
in 1987. In 1991, they created the Azalea Music Group to promote Nancy's
recording and performing career with the Azalea Records label, as well as Fett's
engineering and producing career with Azalea Studios. As a result of the growth of their
respective careers, they relocated to Nashville, TN in 1993. Since then, the Azalea Music
Group has continued to expand, adding workshops, consulting and critiques to its roster of
services in 1996. |