The buzz: This young, smart and powerful artist offer(s) the clarity of a young K.D. Lang or Lucinda Williams ... Breathtaking.
South Bend Tribune
Where she grew up: On her parents farm outside Moville, Iowa
(pop. 1653), 20 miles east of Sioux City.
Where she lives now: Chicago's northside, with her husband,
bluegrass musician Ben Benedict.
The music she makes: Intimate, plainspoken, gorgeously sung
songs drawing on American folk, blues and country traditions which
surge with all the contradictory impulses of real, imperfect life. Her songs
address the lengths we'll go when we can go no futher. The things we'll give
up when we have no more to give. The lies we'll tell.
On stage, she's: Free-spirited, forthright and very funny.
A born-storyteller who effortlessly connects with her audience.
Current album: her third: the haunting, critically acclaimed
masterpiece Another Year Or So
Other recordings: Love and Other Crap (2001) and Small Town
Thing (2002).
Performs as: The Naomi Ashley Band, a tight three-piece featuring
Chicago fiddle-virtuoso Cathie Van Wert. And also as a solo artist, backing
herself with guitar.
Where she plays: major Chicago-area live-music clubs and performing
spaces, as well as regional theaters and festivals.
Favorite Chicago venues: Fitzgerald's (Berwyn), SPACE (Evanston),
Schubas, Uncommon Ground, Green Mill Tavern
Favorite venue outside Chicago: Acorn Theater (Three Oaks,
Michigan)
Opens for: National touring acts, including: Carrie Rodriguez,
Fred Eaglesmith, Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles, Cheryl Wheeler and Antje
Duvokot.
Also collaborating with: renowned spoken-word artists Marc
Smith (father of the 'Poetry Slam') and with poet and performer David Kodeski
to create works weaving together spoken-word and music.
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