Bonnie Raitt, Tim O'Brien, Jerry Douglas, Rob Ickes, Sally Van Meter, Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Patty Griffin, Ry Cooder, Ryan Adams, Ray Charles, Tom Waitts, Mike Auldridge...
WOW! Thanks to your votes, I won the Lennon Award in the FOLK category of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest! I'm so psyched! Now I get to make a new solo record AND I'm up for "Song of the Year" too! I'll find out in July- wahooo!! Thanks a ton!
Here's some bio-esq-type info...
I was a fire-eater at 13 because I couldn't stand the high wire. My 3rd grade music teacher told me I'd never be good at anything except the violin. I played Giants Stadium in high school with my ULTRA COOL East Ramapo HS marching band (that's right, we WERE cool!!). I'm really great at burning toast and I for some reason I can hear things that other people can't hear (like a phone on vibrate in the next room).
OH, you want to know about my music?
Ok, here's the shpeal...
I've been in lotsa bands & singing groups growing up and in my adult life. Now I'm in a real fun female trio called Red Molly. I get to play Dobro (slide guitar, think Jerry Douglas except I haven't quite caught up to him yet!) and sing harmonies/lead vocals in that band all over the place. I also do swing dance gigs with my dad Herb Gardner and a 5-piece awesome band. We recorded a swing record together back in 2004 (check it out here.) and I recorded an EP and a full-length CD with Red Molly too (www.redmolly.com.) My solo record just came out in April 2006 and it's heavy on the Dobro cause I'm obsessed with the instrument (check it out here.)
Oh and here are some of those bragging things I can tell ya too...
2008 American Songwriter Magazine 1st Place Lyric Contest (Nov)
2007 Independent Music World Series Northeast finalist
2006 Independent Music World Series Northeast finalist,
2006 Rocky Mtn Folks Festival New Song Contest finalist,
2004 John Lennon Songwriting Contest winner,
and I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston University's Sarget College of Allied Health Professions. Yay for me! :)
I made a beautiful record with Anthony da Costa in three short days this February. Not because either of us needed a product to sell, but because we NEEDED to record these songs in a real, raw, powerful way. It's called "Bad Nights / Better Days" and you can hear it by clicking on this link...
Ciao Abbie ,Thank you for the add and the friendship. you are very good, I like your stupendous music a lot,and stupendous voice. you are fantastic ..really. talk to you soon, and all of my best wishes to always listen to your good music. all the best.. from italy neal
hey thanx for the support, this was painted live in the moment during juke joint @ the hop monk in sebastopol 6-11-2009. Bob Marley 4ft x 4ft acrylic on pannel by Neal Ray Barbosa.
Congrats Abbie! Had the great pleasure of hearing you sing with Anthony at the Folk Project Minstrel Show in Morristown, NJ (was that last year already??) Thanks for being a friend..