2017 Moab Folk Camp Instructors
Cyd Smith
Guitarist, singer/songwriter Cyd Smith is not easy to pigeonhole. In demand as a swing jazz guitarist and vocalist, she is also a highly respected songwriter. Well known as an educator, she has taught at prestigious music camps around the country, including the California Coast Music Camp, Port Townsend Vintage Jazz Workshop, Augusta Heritage Music Festival, and Colorado Roots Music Camp.
She began studying classical guitar in her early teens, then continued her musical studies at Stanford University and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. While living in the Bay Area, she was introduced to the rich treasury of American folk music, especially bluegrass, vintage country music, and jug band music. From there it was a smooth transition into swing jazz, an idiom which she has delved into deeply. In recent years she has been living and performing primarily as a soloist in clubs and wineries in southern Oregon.
www.cydsmith.com
Guitarist, singer/songwriter Cyd Smith is not easy to pigeonhole. In demand as a swing jazz guitarist and vocalist, she is also a highly respected songwriter. Well known as an educator, she has taught at prestigious music camps around the country, including the California Coast Music Camp, Port Townsend Vintage Jazz Workshop, Augusta Heritage Music Festival, and Colorado Roots Music Camp.
She began studying classical guitar in her early teens, then continued her musical studies at Stanford University and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. While living in the Bay Area, she was introduced to the rich treasury of American folk music, especially bluegrass, vintage country music, and jug band music. From there it was a smooth transition into swing jazz, an idiom which she has delved into deeply. In recent years she has been living and performing primarily as a soloist in clubs and wineries in southern Oregon.
www.cydsmith.com
Nina Gerber
A fixture on the West Coast folk and acoustic music scene, Nina Gerber is rarely in the spotlight because she doesn't sing, but those who know her, know her as the pre-eminent accompanist for touring folk, acoustic, and Americana artists. Gerber's guitar has backed up artists ranging from Kate Wolf to Greg Brown to Queen Ida to Karla Bonoff. She possesses both an awesome, crystal tone as well as tasteful, melodic fills and solos, always phrased perfectly. In 1984, Nina attended the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood, CA to further her understanding of the guitar and learn how to torture her students with theory knowledge.
A fixture on the West Coast folk and acoustic music scene, Nina Gerber is rarely in the spotlight because she doesn't sing, but those who know her, know her as the pre-eminent accompanist for touring folk, acoustic, and Americana artists. Gerber's guitar has backed up artists ranging from Kate Wolf to Greg Brown to Queen Ida to Karla Bonoff. She possesses both an awesome, crystal tone as well as tasteful, melodic fills and solos, always phrased perfectly. In 1984, Nina attended the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood, CA to further her understanding of the guitar and learn how to torture her students with theory knowledge.
Johnsmith
John was born into a rural eastern Iowa, large Irish Catholic family of ten kids. Pursuing a life of music has led him far from his small town roots. He’s shared his music at festival, clubs, and house concerts from coast to coast and abroad. He now resides along the upper Mississippi River in western Wisconsin.
A past winner of many songwriting awards including the Kerrville Folk festival New Folk contest. He has seven solo CDs including his recent ‘The Longing Road’. John has been featured on NPR's New Dimensions radio program.
John was born into a rural eastern Iowa, large Irish Catholic family of ten kids. Pursuing a life of music has led him far from his small town roots. He’s shared his music at festival, clubs, and house concerts from coast to coast and abroad. He now resides along the upper Mississippi River in western Wisconsin.
A past winner of many songwriting awards including the Kerrville Folk festival New Folk contest. He has seven solo CDs including his recent ‘The Longing Road’. John has been featured on NPR's New Dimensions radio program.
Cara Luft
Singer/songwriter/guitarist extraordinaire Cara Luft is that rare artist steeped in folk and traditional roots music almost from birth yet willing to alter that fabric, stretch the boundaries, not afraid to bend genres and styles. Born into a folk musical family in Calgary (Canada), Cara played with dulcimers and autoharps while her peers played with Barbies and Nintendo. An original founding member of The Wailin' Jennys, Cara has become a widely-respected and well-traveled member of the Canadian folk/roots music community and has wowed audiences and critics with her solo performances across North America and Europe. Although she has a Juno award and many other nominations under her belt, there's nothing pretentious about Cara. She's the real deal. And that sense of honesty, integrity, personality and spontaneity permeates and resonates throughout both her music and her live performances.
Singer/songwriter/guitarist extraordinaire Cara Luft is that rare artist steeped in folk and traditional roots music almost from birth yet willing to alter that fabric, stretch the boundaries, not afraid to bend genres and styles. Born into a folk musical family in Calgary (Canada), Cara played with dulcimers and autoharps while her peers played with Barbies and Nintendo. An original founding member of The Wailin' Jennys, Cara has become a widely-respected and well-traveled member of the Canadian folk/roots music community and has wowed audiences and critics with her solo performances across North America and Europe. Although she has a Juno award and many other nominations under her belt, there's nothing pretentious about Cara. She's the real deal. And that sense of honesty, integrity, personality and spontaneity permeates and resonates throughout both her music and her live performances.
Charlie Hall
Charlie Hall is a full-time teacher and performer on guitar and mandolin. He’s a co-founder and past president of the Black Rose Acoustic Society in Colorado Springs, and co-founder and director of the Colorado Roots Music Camp. He was a finalist in the 2000 National Finger Style Guitar championship, and a nominee for Bluegrass Guitarist of the Year in 1996 by the Colorado Bluegrass Music Society. He’s a co-founder and member of The Sister Brothers, Big Honk and Black Rose and has performed with Joe Uveges, Phil Volan, the nearly-famed Trio Reynoso, and the fully-famed Flying W Wranglers.
Charlie Hall is a full-time teacher and performer on guitar and mandolin. He’s a co-founder and past president of the Black Rose Acoustic Society in Colorado Springs, and co-founder and director of the Colorado Roots Music Camp. He was a finalist in the 2000 National Finger Style Guitar championship, and a nominee for Bluegrass Guitarist of the Year in 1996 by the Colorado Bluegrass Music Society. He’s a co-founder and member of The Sister Brothers, Big Honk and Black Rose and has performed with Joe Uveges, Phil Volan, the nearly-famed Trio Reynoso, and the fully-famed Flying W Wranglers.
Cosy Sheridan
Cosy Sheridan has been called "one of the era's finest and most thoughtful singer/songwriters." A storyteller as well as a songwriter, she weaves children's fables into tales of modern adulthood. She has written about the stock market crash of 2008 and fall-out from uranium mining in the American southwest. She has re-written greek myths: Persephone runs away with Hades the biker. And then there are her signature parodies on aging and women.
She first caught the attention of national folk audiences in 1992 when she won the songwriting contests at both the Kerrville Folk Festival and The Telluride Bluegrass Festival. She has been touring, writing and recording ever since. Her latest CD, Pretty Bird, was included in Sing Out Magazine’s “Great CDs of 2014”.
For the past 20 years she has taught classes in songwriting, performance and guitar at workshops and adult music camps across the country including the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, California Coast Music Camp and The Swannanoa Gathering. In 2008 she co-founded the Moab Folk Camp.
Cosy Sheridan has been called "one of the era's finest and most thoughtful singer/songwriters." A storyteller as well as a songwriter, she weaves children's fables into tales of modern adulthood. She has written about the stock market crash of 2008 and fall-out from uranium mining in the American southwest. She has re-written greek myths: Persephone runs away with Hades the biker. And then there are her signature parodies on aging and women.
She first caught the attention of national folk audiences in 1992 when she won the songwriting contests at both the Kerrville Folk Festival and The Telluride Bluegrass Festival. She has been touring, writing and recording ever since. Her latest CD, Pretty Bird, was included in Sing Out Magazine’s “Great CDs of 2014”.
For the past 20 years she has taught classes in songwriting, performance and guitar at workshops and adult music camps across the country including the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, California Coast Music Camp and The Swannanoa Gathering. In 2008 she co-founded the Moab Folk Camp.
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Eric Jones
Eric Jones plays mandolin (and guitar)(and is a vocalist) for the popular western slope Bluegrass and Swing band Big Timbre, and has been a cornerstone of the regional music scene for many years. He was a founding member of the Irish-American band Keltika, and his music reflects a fondness for an eclectic mix of traditional Americana styles. A former student at the Steve Kaufman Mandolin Kamp in Tennessee, Eric continues to explore the many nuances of mandolin expressions. |
Anke Summerhill
Anke has been with the Moab Folk Camp since its beginnings and is an invaluable member of our staff. In recent years, she has worked with people of all ages in her community and beyond and is continually inspired by the healing power of music. She especially enjoys exploring songwriting & the creativity of playing the guitar with others as a way to weave community.
Originally from Munich, Germany, Vancouver, British Columbia; and now surrounded by Utah's desert beauty, Anke’s diverse background and powerful gift of observation has seasoned her songwriting and performances with qualities which show genuine compassion. In addition to recording her own well received full-length CD projects, The Roots Run Deep & Shine On Through, her songs have found their way onto many CD compilations and samplers used in a wide variety of community fund raising projects. She recently recorded Utah Phillips' song: "Miner’s Lullaby", for the 2010 tribute project, “The Long Memory ~ Utah remembers Bruce “Utah” Phillips” and loved singing harmonies on Hal Cannon's debut solo recording.
Anke has been with the Moab Folk Camp since its beginnings and is an invaluable member of our staff. In recent years, she has worked with people of all ages in her community and beyond and is continually inspired by the healing power of music. She especially enjoys exploring songwriting & the creativity of playing the guitar with others as a way to weave community.
Originally from Munich, Germany, Vancouver, British Columbia; and now surrounded by Utah's desert beauty, Anke’s diverse background and powerful gift of observation has seasoned her songwriting and performances with qualities which show genuine compassion. In addition to recording her own well received full-length CD projects, The Roots Run Deep & Shine On Through, her songs have found their way onto many CD compilations and samplers used in a wide variety of community fund raising projects. She recently recorded Utah Phillips' song: "Miner’s Lullaby", for the 2010 tribute project, “The Long Memory ~ Utah remembers Bruce “Utah” Phillips” and loved singing harmonies on Hal Cannon's debut solo recording.
Roland Tec
Roland Tec's work as a composer and playwright has been commissioned and performed widely in the U.S. and abroad. He served as Artistic Director of Boston's New Opera Theatre Ensemble, leading a core ensemble of singer-actors in the development and performance of new operas mounted in the most unlikely venues. In recent years Tec has also produced and directed several feature films, two of which he also scored – ALL THE RAGE and WE PEDAL UPHILL. Roland has taught Music Theory at Harvard and Brandeis Universities, is currently a faculty member at Hollins University and the Dramatists Guild Institute, and is a frequent guest at institutions throughout the country where he presents his popular and innovative workshops in music-theatre creation.
Chad Niehaus
Chad is an award-winning artist based in Moab, Utah. He creates acrylic paintings, pastel drawings, and linocut prints inspired by the open spaces of the Colorado Plateau.
His work has been featured in A Century of Sanctuary: The Art of Zion National Park,Painters of Utah's Canyons and Deserts, and on NPR's Radio West.
Chad's work can be viewed at www.MoabArt.com.
Chad is an award-winning artist based in Moab, Utah. He creates acrylic paintings, pastel drawings, and linocut prints inspired by the open spaces of the Colorado Plateau.
His work has been featured in A Century of Sanctuary: The Art of Zion National Park,Painters of Utah's Canyons and Deserts, and on NPR's Radio West.
Chad's work can be viewed at www.MoabArt.com.
Charlie Koch
Charlie Koch has trained horses, sailed across the Atlantic more than once, and fronted an R & B band. He skippered a race boat for Buckminster Fuller. He whipped in for a fox hunt in Ireland and saddle broke young horses on a breeding farm in France. He taught tennis, skiing and horseback riding. He trained as a body oriented psychotherapist. These days, he tours as the bass player for his wife, singer/songwriter Cosy Sheridan. In his first CD, Help Me To Believe, Charlie sings of his father - who was also a sailor, and of his longing for a place to call home. His love songs are heartfelt - his melodies influenced by such diverse writers as Otis Redding, Ray Charles and James Taylor. His guitar playing has roots in soulful country blues.
Charlie Koch has trained horses, sailed across the Atlantic more than once, and fronted an R & B band. He skippered a race boat for Buckminster Fuller. He whipped in for a fox hunt in Ireland and saddle broke young horses on a breeding farm in France. He taught tennis, skiing and horseback riding. He trained as a body oriented psychotherapist. These days, he tours as the bass player for his wife, singer/songwriter Cosy Sheridan. In his first CD, Help Me To Believe, Charlie sings of his father - who was also a sailor, and of his longing for a place to call home. His love songs are heartfelt - his melodies influenced by such diverse writers as Otis Redding, Ray Charles and James Taylor. His guitar playing has roots in soulful country blues.
