Hit Songwriters present a very special Concert on Friday, Jan. 4, 2013
Nashville Comes To La Jolla: Concert on Fri., Jan. 4, 2013, 7:30 p.m. This concert features a talented trio of troubadours – Hit Songwriters Steve Seskin, Craig Carothers, and Grammy Award winner Don Henry. Tickets are $20 when reserved in advance; $25 at the door. (NSAI members get a discount.) To reserve your tickets click here: http://www.nsaisandiego.com/. . If you reserve your seat in advance, the price includes 1 FREE ticket to the Friday night concert.
A Master Songwriting Workshop takes place on Sat., Jan. 5, 2013, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with Steve Seskin, Craig Carothers, and Don Henry.
Grammy Award Winner Don Henry will perform with Steve Seskin and Craig Carothers.
Cost is $90 when reserved in advance; $100 on the day of the workshop. Price includes a continental breakfast, lunch and refreshments throughout the day, feedback on a song, and 1 FREE ticket to the concert if reserved by Fri., Jan. 4! (NSAI members get a discount.) To reserve your seat: http://www.nsaisandiego.com/
The concert and workshop are at La Jolla Lutheran Church, 7111 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla, 92037 (just a few blocks from the Comedy Store).
Steve Seskin, Craig Carothers, and Don Henry will be on stage at the same time, where they will take turns playing songs old and new and chatting with each other and the audience about the stories behind their songs. The audience will hear many songs they’re familiar with but there’s nothing like hearing the writer sing the song.
“There’s something really dynamic about a show like this,” said Carothers, who lives in Nashville. “Let’s say I’m sitting next to Don. I don’t know what he’s going to play, so when Don plays a song it becomes the springboard for what I’m going to play next.”
Seskin, who lives in the Bay Area, met Carothers in California and was introduced to Henry in Nashville. They have written many songs together since meeting in 1995, and have toured as a trio several times.This is their first show in the San Diego area.
Originally from New York City, Seskin has lived in the SF bay area since 1972. In the late 1990s, his focus shifted from being a performing singer/songwriter to writing songs for people in Nashville and throughout the country.
His songs have been recorded by Tim McGraw, John Michael Montgomery, Kenny Chesney, Peter Frampton, Peter Paul and Mary, Alabama and many others. His biggest hit so far is “Don’t Laugh at Me,” recorded by Mark Wills. The song has become the centerpiece for a tolerance movement, the Don’t Laugh at Me Project.
“I wrote it with my friend Allen Shamblin,” Seskin said of the song, which sends an anti-bullying message. “We were just talking about our kids at first. His daughter was having some trouble at school with kids teasing her, and he asked me if my son had ever been in situations like that.”
“Don’t Laugh at Me” was born, and Seskin said it has changed his life, as now he spends a lot of time doing school assemblies and songwriting workshops for students based on the message of the song. It has found new popularity recently, as a Serbian translation is now used to teach awareness of people with disabilities.
Carothers is based in Nashville, but spends a lot of time on the road, where he has driven more than 80,000 miles in the last three years to play in more than 20 states. Originally from Portland, Ore., he moved to Nashville in 2000 to take advantage of its music scene and the fact that it’s at most a six-hour drive to more than 20 major U.S. cities.
Carothers’ songs have been recorded by Trisha Yearwood, Kathy Mattea and Peter, Paul and Mary, among others.
Rounding out the trio is Don Henry, a Morgan Hill native who now lives in Nashville. His work has been recorded by Ray Charles, Conway Twitty and the Oak Ridge Boys, and the Kathy Mattea hit “Where’ve you Been” earned a Grammy for Henry and Jon Vezner, as well as awards from the Academy of Country Music and the Nashville Songwriters Association International.
Seskin said people who attend the concert can expect to hear 20 to 30 songs from the trio. “The whole idea of this show is that we’ll all be on stage at the same time, so it’s not like one set by one and then another set by another,” he said. “The three of us will be up there swapping stories and going back and forth singing songs.From laughter to tears,we hope to take you on an entertaining and moving journey via our songs. If you’re a songwriter,you might also be interested in our workshop
STEVE SESKIN: Steve is a successful songwriter who has written seven number one songs, including Grammy-nominated “Grown Men Don’t Cry,” recorded by Tim McGraw, and “Don’t Laugh at Me,” winner of NSAI Song of the Year and Music Row Magazine Song of the Year in 1999 as recorded by Mark Wills.
His other #1 hits are “No Doubt About It” and “For a Change,” both recorded by Neal McCoy, “No Man’s Land” and “If You’ve Got Love,” both recorded by John Michael Montgomery, and “Daddy’s Money,” recorded by Ricochet. Other chart toppers include “I Think About You,” recorded by Collin Raye, and “All I Need To Know,” recorded by Kenny Chesney. The video for Raye’s “I Think About You” single was named the Academy of Country Music’s Video of the Year in 1997, and the song and video were also given an award by the Tennessee Task Force Against Domestic Violence.
Recent recordings of his songs include “Pictures,” by John Michael Montgomery, “We Shook Hands,” by Tebey, and “I’ll Always Be There For You,” by Brian McComas.
While Steve is best known for writing hits, he is also a successful performer and recording artist. He is currently touring in support of his latest CD, Steve Seskin “Live”. This is his 17th recording released on his own record label.
“Don’t Laugh at Me” was recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary and became the impetus for the Operation Respect/Don’t Laugh at Me project, a curriculum designed to teach tolerance in schools. This program has already been implemented in more than 20,000 schools across the country. Steve now enjoys performing at school assemblies in support of this program. The song is now available as a children’s book, Don’t Laugh At Me, which was featured on PBS’s Reading Rainbow in September 2002.
Steve is also an active keynote speaker and songwriting teacher for the West Coast Songwriters Association, the Nashville Songwriters Association International, the Swannanoa Gathering, and the Song School at Rocky Mountain Folks Festival.
Steve spends time in Nashville writing for Larga Vista Music and pitching his songs, while maintaining an active performing career both back home in Northern California and at festivals and acoustic venues throughout the United States and Canada. He has been a featured performer at the Kerrville Folk Festival, the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival, the Vancouver Folk Festival, and the Napa Valley Music Festival.
Website: http://www.steveseskin.com
_______________________________________
DON HENRY: Grammy Award winner Don Henry’s songs have been recorded by legends like: Ray Charles, Patti Page and Conway Twitty…
By country crooners like: Gene Watson, John Conlee and B.J. Thomas…
By young hit makers of today like: Blake Shelton, Lonestar and Miranda Lambert…and the list goes on.
And he’s shared the stage with performers as diverse as Joey Ramone to Keith Urban.
The wit and wisdom of Don’s songs are widely renowned whether it’s campfire favorites, the hilarious “B.F.D.” and biker lullaby “Harley”, to the wonderfully poignant tribute to Martin Luther King “Beautiful Fool”, and of course his Grammy Award winning country classic “Where’ve You Been”.
In addition to a Grammy, Kathy Mattea’s version of “Where’ve You Been” won Don (and co-writer Jon Vezner) song of the year honors from ACM (Academy of Country Music), CMA (Country Music Association) and NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International).
“Where’ve You Been” was the first song in country music history to be awarded all four honors in the same year!
Website: http://www.donhenry.com
QUOTES:
“Henry comes across as a first cousin to Randy Newman, writing hot-wired songs about born-again whores, interfaith marriages, and the homeless taking over the White House. This is funny and thought provoking stuff, all of it good” – Entertainment Weekly
“Henry serves up right-brain whimsy on par with WHITE ALBUM era McCartney, John Sebastian, and John Prine… Don Henry’s songs are little movies that are every bit as funny and moving as something like “RAISING ARIZONA.” – BAM Magazine
“Don Henry may be the next Randy Newman, a piercingly insightful songwriter who uses irony like a scalpel. From musings on the cult of leadership to bittersweet love songs and sheer whimsy, Henry is a winner on every track.” – L.A. Reader
________________________________
CRAIG CAROTHERS: In the last few years alone, Craig has driven 80,000 miles to play in more than 50 cities in 20 states. When you figure in the airplanes and rental cars, it adds up to a lot of scenery and a lot of songs.
The journey, and the songs, began in the Pacific Northwest. Craig’s parents were both music teachers. Around the house, sounds ranged from Brubeck to Mancini; Victor Borge to Jonathan Winters. Later influences included Motown, Joni Mitchell, Tom Lehrer, and The Beatles.
Venues were plentiful around his home in Portland, Oregon, and Craig spent more than 20 years playing almost every night of the week inside a forty-block radius.
During that time he shared the stage with a wide variety of acts: Mose Allison, Karla Bonoff, Jonatha Brooke, Rosanne Cash, Bruce Cockburn, Paula Cole, Robert Cray, Catie Curtis, Crash Test Dummies, Donovan, Peter Himmelman, John Hiatt, Janis Ian, Leo Kottke, Patty Larkin, Michael McDonald, Dennis Miller, Anne Murray, Danny O’Keefe, Leroy Parnell, Paula Poundstone, Boz Skaggs, Toad The Wet Sprocket, Richard Thompson, Jethro Tull, Romeo Void, Loudon Wainwright III, Tim Weisberg, David Wilcox, Warren Zevon, and many others.
Things changed in 1995, when country music star Trisha Yearwood recorded Craig’s song “Little Hercules.” He hung a gold record on the wall and started traveling to Nashville on a regular basis.
A publishing deal followed, and over the next five years his travels produced new performance opportunities as well. Soon, he had regular gigs all over the country. In 2000 he made Nashville his home.
In recent years, in addition to Trisha Yearwood, Craig’s songs have been recorded by artists including: Kathy Mattea, Lorrie Morgan, Sons Of The Desert, Kate Markowitz, Andrea Zonn, Steve Seskin, Berkley Hart, and Peter, Paul and Mary.
Craig also teaches songwriting workshops all over the country with NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International) at “song camp,” as well as other NSAI workshops with local chapters in California, Florida, and Ohio. He’s been on staff at the Swannanoa Gathering in North Carolina, the Fishtrap Writers Retreat in Eastern, OR, the NCSI (Northern California Songwriters Inc), the Portland Songwriters Association, the Songwriters Gallery in Hot Springs, SD, the Song Sisters in Asheville, NC, as well as numerous independent seminars and workshops alone and with fellow songwriter and teacher Steve Seskin.
Website: http://craigcarothers.com/
QUOTES:
“…smart, memorable material put across with abundant personality…” – Birmingham News
“…the right mix of weary-eyed cynicism and helpless hearted romanticism…” – Performing Songwriter Magazine
“He has a voice that should be famous.” – Patty Larkin
“Who? Never heard of him.” – John Prine
__________________________________
Category: Education, Entertainment, Music
