Peggy Atwood is a solo artist whose original material over the years has been augmented with the awesome talents of many great musicians, primarily: John Guth (engineer, co-producer, guitarist, arranger); Jeff Berman (percussion); Steve Gaboury (keyboards); Albert Rogers (bass), and last but not least, the late great Steve Burgh (mixing and guitarist extraordinaire).
Influences
(This is a work in progress, just started it in January 2008) This is a partial list. As each influence came across my path, something was added to my depth of understanding, whether it was a rhythmic challenge or a soul excavation which would produce a certain vocal inflection. I honor and worship them all. Dusty Springfield, Yma Sumac, Bessie Smith, Linda Ronstadt, Emmy Lou Harris, J.J. Cale, Bob Dylan, Miriam Makeba, Odetta, Pete Seeger, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, John Denver, Kingston Trio, Kris Kristofferson, Jimmy Buffett, Ian & Sylvia, Carolyn Hester, Neil Young, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Gordon Lightfoot, The Cranberries, Loreena McKennit, Los Lobos, Chris Isaak, Villa Lobos, Segovia, Deep Purple, Concrete Blonde, Jimmy Webb, Willie Nelson, Ivory Joe Hunter, Peter Gabriel, The Police, Otis Redding, Hoyt Axton, John Stewart, Bonnie Raitt, John Prine, Moody Blues, Dan Fogelberg, Maria Callas, Tahuatinsuyo, Youssou N'Dour, Phil Ochs, Steve Earle, Guy Clark, Ladysmith Black Mambaso, Tom Paxton, Mississippi John Hurt, Oum Kalthoum, Louis Pena, Ry Cooder, Bruce Cockburn, Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, Steve Earle, Joni Mitchell, Domenico Modugno, Edith Piaf, Peter Gabriel, The Police, Bonnie Raitt, Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin, The Mamas and the Papas, Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Patsy Cline, Warren Zevon, James Taylor, Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention, The Fifth Dimension, Richard Thompson, The Band,
Sounds Like
Jeez, I have no idea. I sound like myself. What a concept. Wish I could find a way to make another space, but here's a small slide show of my MONOLITHIC DOME, which I designed and contracted:
An appearance by Peggy Atwood is always a kaleidoscopic and stimulating experience. Atwood draws an audience culled from many cultures and walks of life, every bit as colorful as she.
In her Greenwich Village days, one favorite audience member was the mounted traffic officer who, without fail, would tie his horse up to a parking meter in front of the Speakeasy and saunter into her show, laying his helmet and gloves on the bar. Naturally, from then on, the rest of the audience was on its best behavior.
What they came to hear was fresh, spontaneous, cutting edge. Atwood was never a follower, always out in front with her bold, unconventional artistry. Her music is a mirror of the independence and risk-taking she acquired from years of nomadic living. Traveling the world as a service brat, she grew up speaking five languages, the daughter of a military diplomat, living all around Europe and the Middle East, as well as Virginia and New England. Peggy started out at the age of five singing in church and kindergarten choirs, and was often chosen to sing with the adults as a featured soloist. Piano was her first instrument, but due to the traveling life, she took up guitar and soon excelled at that, performing in every school and theater function she could. Everywhere she went, she became the token performer and was in demand at high school and college functions. In high school in Beirut, Lebanon, she produced and performed in numerous variety shows and theatrical productions, as well as taking the lead in Bertolt Brecht’s “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”. At the University of Vermont, she ran the Watertower Coffee House, booking performers and running an information center for the evolution of fledgling social consciousness and environmental awareness called “Total Involvement”. She was also a DJ and host of the “Peggy Atwood Folk Show”, where unusual and eclectic writers and performers were featured that might otherwise have had little or no airplay. But her activities were more extra-curricular than academic, and she soon set out for the open road.
Out on her own, she won first prize as Best New Artist in the New England Folk Festival, and soon was playing other festivals and working with such varied musicians as Rod MacDonald (folk) to Skye (disco) and former members of Blue Oyster Cult (rock). Atwood has graced the stage as opening act for John Hall, Eric Andersen, Livingston Taylor, Tom Paxton, Odetta, Pete Seeger, John Stewart and Ronnie Blakeley, and has been on the bill with many other folk legends such as Joan Baez, Tom Rush and Don McLean. Variety called Peggy Atwood “an exceptional singer of folk, often country-flavored material; the total effect is excellent”. The Village Voice termed Atwood “. . . one of the Lower East Side’s best voices, her low notes like Bessie Smith, high notes like Joni Mitchell”.
Peggy would be the first to tell you, she is only somewhat domesticated, a free-spirit, proudly untamed in the purest sense of the word; nature is central to her being, the heart of her work. Peggy has acted on her passion for nature and the great outdoors, from teaching mountaineering and cross-country skiing during the day and singing at night, to serving on the Executive Committee of the New York City Sierra Club; she has also played countless benefit concerts in support of environmental causes and animal rights. She had a long-standing association with the Pete Seeger’s Clearwater project and the Hudson River Sloop Singers, co-producing their first album, “Broad Old River” and singing the first recorded rendition of Rod MacDonald’s “A Sailor’s Prayer”, which has been called by WFDU-DJ Bill Hahn as “the definitive version” of that song.
A few years ago, Atwood landed in Nashville to check out the new and more contemporary scene for singer/songwriters. Publisher Bob Berg called her “. . . one of the top five women singers in Nashville, and one the very few women who can really play the guitar”. While there, she performed at many local clubs and organized the Sunday writer’s night called “Something Different” at the historic Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge Backroom, to get attention for and promote the alternative country scene, with such performers as Kamie Lyle, Neil Fagan, Josie Kuhn, Claire Davidson, Will Rambeaux, and Celinda Pink. She also participated in co-founding a group to help Native Americans, H.O.N.A.R., and assisted in the collection and delivery of clothing and construction materials to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. However, Atwood’s sense of survival caused her to move back to upstate New York, and it was just in time, as the tornadoes came through and nearly demolished her East Nashville house.
Back in the saddle and currently residing high in the Catskills, she has produced two CDs of her own, titled “Northern Country” and “Renegade of the Light Brigade”. She also produced a benefit concert for the Catskill Animal Sanctuary (“Animal Aid-1”) with an accompanying CD (featuring John Herald, Tom Pacheco, Bar Scott, Kurt Henry, Danielle Woerner, Barbara Speer and performance artist Nancy Ostrovsky), and has been featured on the Hudson Valley Music website (www.HVmusic.com) as well as developing her own website (www.peggyatwood.com). Performances in local venues in the last few years have included being the opening act for Tom Pacheco and Professor Louie and the Crowmatix.
So come hitch your horse outside a Peggy Atwood gig and have a listen. The wild places in your heart might be stirred as she seeks them out with her haunting and dynamic music, taking you to places real and imagined, if only for a moment in your dreams.
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Dear PEGGY ATWOOD, It's after Thanksgiving and the busy holidays are approaching. Take a break and drop by to listen to my featured songs. You may find my music to be just the thing you need during this hectic time of the year. I appreciate your friendship and I hope you enjoy the music. I wish you much joy and peace.
Compilation CD is finished!!! Will begin mailing out to radio stations any day now!! Please come by my page and listen to “Angel Kisses” by “Delores Hershey”. I hope you will also add Delores at www.myspace.com/deloreshershey and listen to “I’ve Been Waiting For You” Both songs are on this CD. You can start calling your favorite radio stations to request these 2 songs by Delores Hershey!
Thank you so much and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
HI PEGGY! THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE ADD AND THE FRIENDSHIP! I REALLY APPRECIATE IT A LOT, AND I HOPE YOU WILL KEEP IN TOUCH! GREAT PROFILE AND SONGS!! LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP, CATHEY J JOHNSON
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