when in hemingstown radio configuration: jennifer seidel (vox), chris gregoria (drums), from time to time with annie yoder (keys/vox) www.myspace.com/amnieyoder, and in soulstice config, with annie, dylan rosenthal, carrie yoder and drummer/percussionist/vibe maker/videographer bernard hankins.
Influences
way, way too numerous to cover. still, the highlights.... from my youth--cream, creedence, blood sweat and tears, richie havens, ray charles, hendrix, stevie wonder, traffic, neil young.
later on: u2, REM, Bruce Cockburn, Van Morrison (all eras), Martin Sexton, Shawn Colvin, Ani DiFranco, Pearl Jam, STP, Goo Goos, Ray LaMontagne, Gnarls Barkley, Ben Harper, Over the Rhine, Patty Larkin, Mindy Smith, Rob Thomas, ETBG, Raul Midon, The Bens, Steve Forbert, Brett Dennen, Imogen Heap, Johnny Cash! and so, so many more.
and that's just musicians. poets wm. shakespear, wm. wordsworth, wm. blake (innocence/experience) wm. butler yeats, emily dickinson, stevie smith, ee cummings, maya angelou.... all slay me. i could never say anything as well as these folks do.
y'shua, my mom and pops, my sweet wife, my kids, my soul friends...
Sounds Like
i hope it sounds like me. i think folks project who/what they like onto what they hear. so i've heard "sounds like" in front of everything and anyone you might imagine, except hardcore, electronica or rap. it's folkclectic alt something, or whatever. eschew obfuscation...
I grew up in a household full of music. Both parents sang in choir. My dad played jazz standards on piano and Sweet Georgia Brown on the ukelele. My mom simply sang her heart out around the house. I was encouraged explore and enjoy music of all kinds. Many nights I fell asleep with a battery-powered radio on my pillow, pulling in album-rock stations from around the country. After playing trumpet for 5 years, including jazz band, I quit in high school when the director required us to be in the marching band. Not my gig.
I started writing "lyrics" (poems without music) in my late teens, knowing I couldn't sing (a real passion) with a trumpet in my mouth. I signed up for a community college class in guitar to kick my butt into learning to play, and ended up penning my first tune at 20: a jazz-folky diatribe toward a girl who enfuriated my melancholia with her optimism. Nice. 30 or so songs later gets us to today.
Still writing, still loving it. It's who I am. I fronted a band called Image for 3 years, was half of the electric-acoustic duo Zofia Drone for 2 years, and have mainly done solo since 2003. Last year I pulled a couple friends to form a new thing called Hemingstown Radio for several gigs from Crozet Music Fest to Gravity to a couple cofeehouses. Liking that well.
Most stuff here is me emoting the world I see and feel through my senses and in my soul. Singing and writing is catharsis and therapy for me. It's my calling, whatever that means in the Good Father's grand scheme.
I've played venues large and small, mostly in my hometown Charlottesville. But nothing's been sweeter or realer than busking on the street. Maybe some day, you'll be walking the downtown mall, and hear some grizzled fella wailing. If he can make you smile or dance, he'll know he's keeping it real.
i sincerely enjoyed meeting you all! It was exciting to see Annie and Carrie able to collaborate with other talented people! I loved it!!! Hope to be able to see another "solstice" performance in the near future. :) Happy to be your friend.. haha
tewks! o me too, i can't even express my thanks adequately! I actually have some friends coming in from out of town, so they will be catching the show most likely so it is AWESOME timing, i'm really stoked they'll be able to come!
