Get to Know Our Musicians

These musicians have generously given us permission to use their music in worship here on QuestForMeaning.org.  We are very grateful to them.  Please visit their websites and buy their beautiful music! 


Meg Barnhouse
Meg Barnhouse grew up in North Carolina and Philadelphia. After graduating from Duke University and Princeton Theological Seminary she spent a chapter of her life in Spartanburg, SC, working first as a college chaplain teaching Public Speaking, Human Sexuality, and World Religions, trying not to get them mixed up.  Earning her credentials as a Pastoral Counselor, she ran her own counseling practice while raising her two sons who are now in their twenties.  She was active in the community, preaching and teaching in many churches, recording commentaries for NC Public Radio and "Weekend All Things Considered," serving as Interim Minister in several congregations and helping to found the SAFE Homes Network for battered women. Along the way she earned a second-degree black belt in American Karate. She finished up that southern chapter with seven years as the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spartanburg. After two years as Interim Minister for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton, NJ, Meg is settled as minister at the First UU Church of Austin.  She travels nationwide as a speaker, preacher, and singer/songwriter. 

Her books, “Rock of Ages at the Taj Mahal,” “The Best of Radio Free Bubba,” “Waking Up the Karma Fairy,” “Return of Radio Free Bubba,"   “Did I Say That Out Loud?”  and "Broken Buddha" are compilations of stories from the radio and of her columns for the UU World online. Her CD, “July Blue,” is a mix of 12 original songs and 3 stories. The CD, “Mango Thoughts in a Meatloaf Town,” contains more original songs, including “All Will Be Well.” Her newest CD, "Heart of Compassion," is a collection of Meg reading her favorite stories from her books.


Ysaye Barnwell
Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell, a native New Yorker now living in Washington, DC, appears as a vocalist and/or instrumentalist on more than thirty recordings with Sweet Honey In The Rock and other artists.  She has spent much of her time off stage working as a master teacher and choral clinician in African American cultural performance. Her workshop “Building a Vocal Community ®:  Singing in the African American Tradition” has been conducted on three continents, making her work in the field a significant source of inspiration for both singers and non-singers, a model of pedagogy for educators, and cultural activists and historians.  Dr. Barnwell has been a commissioned composer on numerous choral, film, video, dance and theatrical projects.  Three axioms have proven significant in Barnwell’s life.  To whom much is given, much is required.  As one door closes, another door opens. Everything matters.


Namoli Brennet
Tucson-based songwriter Namoli Brennet has been touring the country with her own brand of moody and inspiring folk since releasing her first CD in 2002. Since then she's played over 1000 shows and logged over 274,000 miles on her still-running 87 Volvo station wagon ("I have a great mechanic", she says). Touching on often poignant themes, her music and lyrics ultimately paint a vivid and redemptive portrait. She's a breathtaking and moving performer, and her sweet, road-weary voice is as quick to deliver her wit and humor as it is a turn of phrase. She's been described as a cross between Lucinda Williams, Patty Griffin and Sheryl Crow, and Zocalo magazine called her music, "Gorgeous and introspective."

Although the themes of identity and freedom weave their way subtly through her songs, being transgender is not the focus of Namoli’s music: "I know it's kind of a quirky and interesting part of my story, but as a human being I'm interested in life, spirituality, meaning, social issues, justice, compassion...and these are the things I write about."

Namoli's 9th CD, We Were Born to Rise, was released in September 2011 and she's currently working on a live CD with a release date in fall 2012. You’ll often find this prodigious musician in the studio dividing her time between engineering, producing and playing most if not all of the instruments on her recordings.

A 4-time Outmusic award nominee, Namoli has also won the Tucson Folk Festival Songwriting Award and was a finalist in the ISC songwriting competition. Her recent release 'Black Crow' garnered critical acclaim and was named one of KXCI FM's top albums of 2010. Her music has been featured on NPR, PBS and in films including the Emmy-award winning documentary "Out in the Silence", which details the struggle of a gay teen growing up in rural Pennsylvania.


Lui Collins
Lui Collins, folksinger/songwriter, has been performing, writing and recording since the 1970s, earning international recognition for her music and releasing several highly-acclaimed recordings, on Philo, Green Linnet, her own Molly Gamblin Music, and Waterbug.  A native Vermonter, Collins' early music education included classical studies on piano, violin and French horn, followed by music theory studies at the University of Connecticut.  While these formal studies provided a solid foundation for her music, folk music has been her inspiration and her path.

The Boston Globe has described Lui as "one of New England's first and brightest stars," and Sing Out! Magazine calls her "incomparable."  Renowned guitarist Dave van Ronk called her "one of the best guitarist-arrangers I have heard in years."  Michael Devlin of Music Matters Review wrote: "...there are relatively few artists who are bringing a traditional sensibility to modern songwriting, and in the process creating new traditional music.  Lui Collins is among the barefoot royalty of this group..."

In 2003, after training with the international early-childhood music program Music Together, Lui founded the educational branch of her work, now called Lui Collins’ Upside-Up Music.  Along with teaching Music Together and her own curriculum for older children, Kids’ Jam, Lui’s current focus is on adapting this 8-season traditional music based curriculum for use by homeschooling families - and others - with lower elementary-aged children. 

For concert schedule, recordings, and more information see www.luicollins.com.


Steve Crump
Steve Crump, jazz vocalist and UU minister, from Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge, was born in Bloomington, Illinois, and comes from a musical family in which he and his four siblings each played a band instrument.  Living now in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he conducts a popular Jazz Worship Service the Sunday before Labor Day, and has done so for 30 years. 

Steve is lead vocalist for Relationship Jazz, a concept album of original jazz tunes and lyrics that examines the relationship themes of our lives.  Steve is songwriter and vocalist on the project.  Pianist-arranger Mike Esneault led the combo of horns and rhythm section in a New Orleans studio session on the west bank of the Mississippi River –before Hurricane Katrina hit the region.

CD or lyrics and lead sheets are available by contacting Steve Crump directly at:  Minister@UnitarianChurchbr.com or 225.751.3207.
 

Bil Cusack
Bil Cusack started music lessons at age 8 in his hometown Chicago, and by age 11 was the youngest member of a local band. Throughout life he has played guitar, saxophone, piano, vocals and been an arranger. The songs on Speak With Your Life came at a time when he wanted to express lessons learned on the spiritual path. Bil is married with a son and daughter, works as a piano technician in concert production, and directs music at a Unitarian Universalist Church.




Ellis
Her fans describe her as not only a talented folk musician, but also as a supportive friend who offers encouraging words and humor alongside her compelling songs.  She leaves audiences better than she finds them, with softened edges & opened hearts.  With songs that capture deep wisdom as well as a childlike playfulness and joy, Ellis’ music is being spread across the globe by fans who are so moved that they have to share it others.

A native of Texas, Ellis moved to Minneapolis at the age of 16, where she quickly built a local following that blossomed into a nationwide presence, with extensive touring and seven albums released in the last sixteen years.  In addition to selling more than 40,000 copies of her CDs independently, Ellis has accrued a wealth of accomplishments including winning the 2011 Midwest Regional Round of the Mountain Stage New Song contest, and the 2009 Just Plain Folks Best Female Singer Songwriter Award.  She also received Top 5 recognition in the Telluride Troubadour Song Contest and the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Song Contest was voted "Most Wanted To Return" at both the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival and Sisters Folk Festival.


Clif Hardin
Clif is a composer, conductor and pianist living in the Washington, DC area. Along with his freelance work in theater, he has served as Director of Music at River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation since 1983, where many of his arrangements and compositions were first performed.

Peter Mayer
Peter began playing the guitar and writing songs when he was in high school. He studied Theology and music in college, and then spent two years in seminary. After deciding that the priesthood wasn't for him, he took a part-time job as a church music director for 8 years, while performing at clubs and colleges, and writing and recording his music. In 1995, he quit his job and started touring full-time. He has nine CDs to his credit, and has sold over 70 thousand of them independently.





Paul McAuliffe
Paul’s solo ethnic flute music offers us meditative and peaceful moments – especially poignant for those who want to create calm, quiet space for reflection. A flute player, flute maker and social services worker, Paul McAuliffe is a member of the UU Fellowship of Bay County, FL. He researches the history and performance techniques of ethnic flutes, as well as drums and other wind instruments.

Paul has Asperger's Syndrome (high functioning autism) and gives his program "Flutes, Autism & a Different Way of Seeing" throughout the Southeast. He was featured recently on CNN's "Health Minute." He loves to serenade the Florida Panthers at Bear Creek Feline Center, a sanctuary for big cats unable to live in the wild. He's a member of the Bay Storytellers and gives another presentation entitled "Flutes & Storytelling: Two Ancient Arts."

His music is available on CD or via digital download.

Linda Myers
Linda has been writing music since age 12, and much of it with a Unitarian theme, even though she didn't discover UU'ism until 1999.  Both of her albums, Paradox Clock, and Something Is Different contain a tapestry of styles and themes. All the songs have threads that weave together creating a wonderfully rich fabric of music including jazz, electronica, and alternative/singer-songwriter genres.  Both albums are available for FREE downloads here.  Several of the songs on each album have a social justice theme, and one of these, Destiny II, from the Something Is Different album, won the 2011 NM Music Awards for Best Song Overall, going against songs written and produced by former Grammy award winners.   Another social justice themed song, "We Want Peace" from Paradox Clock, has been sung by the choir at First UU, several times.  Linda invites you to listen and share her music for free as long as it's used in non-commercial ways.  Linda's music can also be found at iTunes, Amazon, Jango, and lindamyersmusic.com.  For more information, you can email her at: lindamyers@comcast.net


Holly Near
Holly Near is a unique combination of entertainer, teacher, and activist. An immense vocal talent, Near’s career as a singer has been defined by an unwillingness to separate her passion for music from her passion for human dignity. She is a skilled performer and an outspoken ambassador for peace who brings to the stage an integration of world consciousness, spiritual discovery, and theatricality.





Mineko Ogata
Mineko Ogata, a Japanese acclaimed Jazz pianist, has released three albums, the first of which sold out in Japan.  "CD Journal" in Japan has said, "Once you listen to her music, you will be impressed by her brilliant and straight sound."

Mineko's mother was a singer and her father was a Jazz pianist.  Mineko's father was able to give her a solid classical music education at their own music school. Mineko joined a Japanese fusion band as a keyboard player and has performed at many live house concerts in both Japan and the US.  She has played under the direction of the  famous Japanese choir conductor Kenji Otani, and, while residing in the US (August 2007 - December 2010), Mineko performed at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Reading, MA and Ryles Jazz Club.


Jennifer Pratt-Walter
Jennifer Pratt-Walter communicates her reverence for her instrument and music with her hands, searching to define and transcend human experience. Her musical background includes instrumental, choir, and madrigal performance.  Her true love since 1995 has been the Celtic harp. She studied classical harp before forging out on her own with the folk harp, and has been building a repertoire of Celtic, Early, contemporary, original, and light classic pieces.  Jennifer has garnered praise and prizes for harping and composing, winning the Advanced/Professional title at the Pacific NW Scottish harp competition twice. She also won the Sacred Oak Grove Eisteddfod in 2000 for original music. Jennifer most recently captured the new regional Pacific NW Scottish harp championship in 2003, and has been an adjudicator.

Jennifer is a Certified Healing Musician and Thanatologist, providing therapeutic music for the dying and those anxious or in pain.  She finds this particular ministry very rewarding.  Her recording "Ancient Slumbers" reflects this type of music.  Jennifer teaches and performs on the harp, and collaborates with Valerie Blessley in the duo Celtic Muse for three recordings, plus released solo albums "Ancient Realms" and "Ancient Muse," which are available from CD Baby.


Ann Reed
A touring musician for more than 30 years, Ann has gotten to know a bit about the geography of the United States and Canada. She has toured North America coast to coast, doing concerts, clubs, and festivals including Bumbershoot, Winnipeg, Black Mountain, and National Women's Music Festival. And she's met wonderful fans and made friends all along the way.



Sally Rogers
Sally Rogers is a musician/educator with a big life and long history. She has been a performing and recording artist in the world of folk music for over thirty years, with fifteen recordings left in her wake, and many with national awards. She is a well-known songwriter whose songs have been featured in both the Unitarian Universalist and Quaker Hymnals as well as in both national music textbook series. Her children’s picture book, “Earthsong” was published by Dutton/Penguin, based on her song “Over in the Endangered Meadow.”

Since 2001, Rogers has spent more of her musical energy in the classroom rather than on the road. She taught PK-4 music at Pomfret Community School for 9 years, spent a year in a pilot arts-based literacy program in the Bridgeport, CT public Schools, and now is teaching K-2 music at the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley, MA. She is also an adjunct professor at Lesley University in their Creative Arts in Learning Master’s Degree program. Rogers has served as a Master Teaching Artist with the Connecticut Office of the Arts since 1997. She lives in Northeastern Connecticut with her husband, winemaker and musician Howard Bursen.

Dan Schatz
Dan Schatz has been playing folk music since his childhood in Kensington, Maryland.  Nurtured by the active folk music community in the Washington, DC area, he has performed concerts, festivals and workshops since the age of 12.  Since then, Dan has become a GRAMMY nominated singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer and interpreter of traditional and contemporary folk music.  He combines a strong voice with instrumentals that have been described as both “brilliant” and “yummy."



Jim Scott
Jim Scott has brought his contemporary and multicultural music to more than 500 UU Churches over 27 years. His much loved Gather the Spirit and a number of others are included in the UU hymnbooks. Former Co-chair of the UU Ministry for the Earth, Jim was involved in creating the "Green Sanctuary" program. He was awarded a grant from the Fund for Unitarian Universalism to compile and arrange the Earth and Spirit Songbook, a collection of over 100 songs of earth and peace that has been acclaimed as a great resource for worship and RE programs.

In concerts and Sunday services, Jim speaks with passion on ecology, justice and peace, and often works with choirs, inspiring singers to new levels of expression. His lyrical poetry and stories are calls to action, full of hope and gentle wit. Though Jim is often brought in as the “speaker,” his services are always very musical. As song-leader he lifts joyous participation from congregations.

Jim Scott, P. O. Box 4025 Shrewsbury MA 01545, Tel. (508) 755-0995. Further info can be found on Jim's website: www.JimScottMusic.com, e-mail: Jim@JimScottMusic.com.


Jason Shelton
The Reverend Jason Shelton is a composer, arranger, conductor, singer, multi-instrumentalist, workshop and retreat leader and Associate Minister for Music at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, where he has served since 1998. His compositions have been performed in churches and concert halls throughout North America, and his workshops for choirs, musicians and ministers are helping to redefine music ministry in the liberal religious tradition for the 21st century.
 

Bill Staines
For more than forty years, Bill has traveled back and forth across North America, singing his songs and delighting audiences at festivals, folksong societies, colleges, concerts, clubs, and coffeehouses. A New England native, Bill became involved with the Boston-Cambridge folk scene in the early 1960's and for a time, emceed the Sunday Hootenanny at the legendary Club 47 in Cambridge. Bill quickly became a popular performer in the Boston area. From the time in 1971 when a reviewer from the Boston Phoenix stated that he was "simply Boston's best performer", Bill has continually appeared on folk music radio listener polls as one of the top all time favorite folk artists. Now, well into his fifth decade as a folk performer, he has gained an international reputation as a gifted songwriter and performer.


Sweet Honey In the Rock
Founded by Bernice Johnson Reagon in 1973 (with Mie, Carol Maillard and Louise Robinson) at the D.C. Black Repertory Theater Company, Sweet Honey In The Rock®, internationally renowned a cappella ensemble, has been a vital and innovative presence in the music culture of Washington, D.C., and in communities of conscience around the world.

The metaphor of sweet honey in the rock captures completely these African American women whose repertoire is steeped in the sacred music of the Black church, the clarion calls of the civil rights movement, and songs of the struggle for justice everywhere.

Rooted in a deeply held commitment to create music out of the rich textures of African American legacy and traditions, Sweet Honey In The Rock possesses a stunning vocal prowess that captures the complex sounds of Blues, spirituals, traditional gospel hymns, rap, reggae, African chants, Hip Hop, ancient lullabies, and jazz improvisation. Sweet Honey’s collective voice, occasionally accompanied by hand percussion instruments, produces a sound filled with soulful harmonies and intricate rhythms.


Amy Carol Webb
The Reverend Amy Carol Webb is the "beloved song weaver” - passionate, powerful, and poignant. Born and reared in Oklahoma, Amy traces her heritage back to Native Americans through her Great-Grandmothers who settled Oklahoma when it was still a Territory. Amy's music and ministry reflect the same pioneering spirit, tenacity, integrity and never-quit grit. With her undergraduate degree in performing arts, Amy cultivated a long and rewarding career travelling the world as a performer, recording artist and voice coach. Answering a life-long call to ministry, she earned her M.Div. from Andover Newton Theological school, and is now ordained to Unitarian Universalist Ministry. She currently serves as a hospice Chaplain, fills pulpits throughout Florida and the eastern seaboard, coaches congregational singing and composes both worship and secular music. She is presently at work on her 9th CD from her home in Miami, Florida. A congregant says, “Amy not only moves you, she moves you forward.”
 

Visit this page again.  We will be adding more musicians to the QuestForMeaning.org family.