There’s a wealth of songwriting talent in the San Francisco Bay Area, much of which was well-represented at the West Coast Songwriters Conference this weekend. I’ve been fortunate to meet, many, many wonderful musicians through both WCS and the less-formal ‘Bay Area Songwriting Collective’ which also gathered this weekend. The latter is a loosely knit group of several dozen of the Bay Area’s committed songwriters who’ve been coming together for years to share and critique their newest songs. Think peer-review over a good meal. While most members actively perform and record, we’re starting a performance residency, second Sundays at The Actual Cafe in Oakland next month. Each turn, three or so members will be featured performers.
The Songwriter Sundays at Actual Cafe kicks off October 10, at 4pm. Come, come…and expect new and great material in a community friendly venue.
6334 San Pablo Avenue (@ Alcatraz Avenue)
Oakland, CA 94608
Tel: 510.653.8386
Fax: 510.595.1124
Deborah Crooks (www.DeborahCrooks.com) is a writer, performing songwriter and recording artist based in San Francisco whose lyric driven and soul-wise music has drawn comparison to Lucinda Williams, Chrissie Hynde and Natalie Merchant.
Singing about faith, love and loss, her lyrics are honed by a lifetime of writing and world travel while her music draws on folk, rock, Americana and the blues. She released her first EP “5 Acres” in 2003 produced by Roberta Donnay, which caught the attention of Rocker Girl Magazine, selecting it for the RockerGirl Discoveries Cd. In 2007, she teamed up with local producer Ben Bernstein to complete “Turn It All Red” Ep, followed by 2008’s “Adding Water to the Ashes” CD, and a second full-length CD “2010. She’s currently working on a third CD to be released in 2013.
Deborah’s many performance credits include an appearance at the 2006 Millennium Music Conference, the RockerGirl Magazine Music Convention, IndieGrrl, at several of the Annual Invasion of the GoGirls at SXSW in Austin, TX, the Harmony Festival and 2009’s California Music Fest, MacWorld 2010, Far West Fest and many other venues and events. She toured the Northwest as part “Indie Abundance Music, Money & Mindfulness” (2009) with two other Bay Area artists, and followed up with “The Great Idea Tour of the Southwest in March 2010 with Jean Mazzei.
