Lisa Redfern is an award winning singer-songwriter who recently moved back to Maine from the San Francisco Bay area. She was raised in Maine and first performed with her father, Bob, who taught her to play guitar at age 14. Bob was a folksinger who had his musical beginnings at the legendary Seeger family hootenannies in Washington, DC in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Throughout her high school and college years she honed her talents in a variety of settings such as musical theatre, forming her own folk trios as well as an Andrews Sisters tribute group.
With eight solo recordings to her credit so far (including, “Hushabye, Lullaby” which has sold more than 50,000 copies) she is a singer-songwriter who blends her roots in folk, bluegrass, country, gospel, blues, and swing to create something unmistakably her own. Lisa’s seven recordings have garnered positive critical review, extensive radio play and she has also made several TV appearances. She has added her clear, beautiful voice to dozens of other artists’ projects and song compilations and has performed with many notables including Pete Seeger, Dave Mallett and The Roches.
A versatile vocalist comfortable in many styles, Lisa is also an experienced wedding/church soloist and children’s concert performer. As a voice-over artist she can be heard speaking and singing on several toys for Fisher Price and Play Along Toys. For the past twenty summers Lisa has appeared at the much beloved Sweet Chariot Music Festival on Swan’s Island, Maine and she continues to perform and record. She now produces and performs in the local monthly songwriter series: Songwriters in the Round in Brunswick, Maine.
Two hours after informing his voice teacher that he was leaving the world of classical music, Randall Williams graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Mons, Belgium at the head of his class. He felt that classical music lacked the inclusiveness of folk music, and that the inevitable division between performer and audience was unbearable. And so Randall returned to the world of traveling with his guitar, writing songs in train stations and sleeping on couches, then singing and playing on street corners, cafés, and pubs. For a time he lived aboard a 20' sailboat that he bought for $800, teaching himself how to sail by single-handing through the Baltic and North Seas with his guitar sleeping in the berth beside him at night. He wrote a book about the trip, which begins with the story of almost getting squashed by a tanker before dawn one morning in the North Sea. He moved to North Africa, then set off across the Sahara by hitching with locals - bouncing through a minefield on the way that made his mother have bad dreams. He loved the adventure, but he missed the music.
In 2005, Randall returned stateside to scrounge up a career as a performing songwriter, hoping it wasn't too late. So far, it hasn't been. As the "Partial Capo Guy," Randall has written two books for Hal Leonard, recorded a DVD for Kyser Musical Products, and given workshops at some of the biggest festivals in United States. As a performer, Randall has been a finalist in the Founder's Title and Mid-Atlantic Song Contests, A regional finalist at Kerrville, a showcase artist at Northeast and Midwest Folk Alliance, and at the International Folk Alliance in Memphis, and an Audience Favorite at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. His 2007 live release, "One Night in Louisiana" made a respectable dent in the folk DJ charts (One single, "Lebanon," was #8 in May,) and he's generally a nice guy to have around, capos or not.
Randall is as much at home in a Bangkok slum or a Senegalese village, at the Kennedy Center in D.C. or the Fine Arts Palace in Brussels sandwiched between a twitchy orchestra and a full house, or shoeless on the floor of your living room. Randall has sung in a dozen languages in over 35 countries.
Lynne Andrews: "When Randall left the confines of classical music largely behind, they lost a great talent, but the world gained a good friend - a friend who will tell its stories with grace, compassion, humility and humor."
Please contact Sandilion49@gmail.com and RSVP for directions and details about this May 15th concert.
