Award winning acoustic and bluegrass songwriters Louisa Bramscomb and Wil Maring will have a special Sunday afternoon show at Charles and Myrtle's at 5 p.m. The coffeehouse is inside Christ Unity Church at 105 McBrien Road. There is a $15 donation at the door.
Review for Louisa Branscomb:
Louisa Branscomb is considered iconic among songwriters in acoustic and bluegrass music, Branscomb is a lifelong pioneer in songwriting, performing, and teaching – work that earned her the coveted Distinguished Achievement Award (IBMA, 2017). Her distinctions include an additional three International Bluegrass Association Awards (two Recorded Events of the Year and Song of the Year), two Grammy cuts (Alison Krauss and John Denver), 2014 IBMA Song of the Year ("Dear Sister," with Claire Lynch), 1993 SPBGMA Song of the Year (“Steel Rails,” Krauss), and over 230 recorded songs, many reaching #1 in bluegrass, roots, and folk music.
Branscomb is in the Alabama Bluegrass Hall of Fame, the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame and has a Georgia Lifetime Achievement Award.
Her career as a psychologist focuses on how creativity can transform lives, work that guides and informs her unique original model of teaching songwriting and her non-profit work using songwriting to transform individuals and communities. She is a sought after presenter and trainer, and directs the longest continuous experiential songwriting retreat, Woodsong Farm Songwriter Retreat. She has recently explored integrated performances that use original music and poetry to unite musicians of different genres in one performance with a “meta-level” life message.
Review for Wil Maring:
As Wil Maring sat for long summer hours as a teenager at her family's roadside vegetable stand, picking out self-made tunes on her Sears guitar to pass the time, she never dreamed of the path she would one day follow. Wil has become a highly acclaimed songwriter, a previous winner of the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at Merlefest, and has appeared on the Grand Ole Opry with her original music, in addition to touring extensively in Europe and Japan. She honed her songwriting skills playing music professionally in Europe with her group Shady Mix.
The well-crafted songs, her solid rhythm and fingerstyle guitar work, and her clear, airy, expressive vocals give her music a unique, appealing sound. Added to the contributions of the accomplished musicians with whom she tours, you get a beautiful original acoustic music which straddles the fence between bluegrass, folk, and acoustic country, sometimes containing subtle hints of celtic, oldtime, and even pop music. Her songs paint pictures of the rural southern Illinois landscapes where she grew up, and delve deep into universal human emotions, evoking a nostaglic, introspective melancholy that delivers the listener to a comfortable, hopeful place. Wil’s music is a heartfelt music, not easy to categorize.