Annie Patterson
About Annie...
Annie Patterson is one of America's premiere song leaders. She has been singing around the globe for over 40 years and is well known for her work as co-creator/editor of the songbooks Rise Up Singing and Rise Again. An accomplished folk performer and jazz vocalist, Annie carries with her a suitcase of incredible song knowledge and a repertoire that includes over 2400 songs from many genres, including Americana, contemporary folk, ballads, and gospel. She is a master song interpreter, accompanying herself on guitar and banjo.
Annie's folk recording, Mountain Side, features her stunning vocals along with haunting harmonies by the talented voices of Tracy Grammer, Katryna and Nerissa Nields, Mary Witt of the O-Tones, and Claire Brandenburg. Annie sings in the swing band Girls From Mars, the acoustic trio Dear Ella, and the Joni Mitchell tribute band Big Yellow Taxi. She has also toured with well loved folk musicians Charlie King, Emma's Revolution, and Magpie, to name a few.
Songwriter Peter Berryman sums up Annie's performances well: "Her stage presence is infectious; she could get a roomful of store mannequins to break out in song."
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Praise for Annie's performances
For booking information write: rasongbook@gmail.com
For upcoming concert appearances go to: www.riseupanding.org/events
Annie sings When the Ship Comes In (Bob Dylan) with Katryna & Nerissa Nields on harmony, Jim Henry on guitar & mando, Chris Haynes on accordian, Paul Kochanski on bass
Annie sings Bountiful River with Charlie King (Lorre Wyatt / Pete Seeger) Annie on lead vocal & banjo, Charlie King on harmonies & guitar
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TWO LINE BIO: Annie Patterson has spent her life working for justice through music. She is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and jazz vocalist who is best known as one of the creators of the popular songbooks Rise Up Singing and Rise Again.
SHORT PROMO BIO 1: Annie Patterson has a rare voice that spreads hope, stirs your soul and makes you glad to be working together for a better world. She is a singer songwriter, old timey banjo player as well as jazz vocalist with the swing trios Girls from Mars & Dear Ella. Annie has played a central role in helping create a quiet revolution of group singing in North America. Her long time partner and co-editor, Peter Blood, often accompanies her on fiddle & guitar. The award winning documentary film, We Began to Sing, follows Annie & Peter's musical journey, as well as the work of their friend and mentor, folk legend Pete Seeger. https://www.riseupandsing.org
SHORT PROMO BIO 2: Annie Patterson has performed and led music retreats at folk festivals, coffee houses, schools and camps throughout North America, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the British Isles. She is best known for co-creating the popular songbook Rise Up Singing, along with her husband, Peter Blood. Their 2015 songbook, Rise Again, contains 1200 additional songs in the same format as Rise Up Singing. Annie has honed her skills as a folk performer and jazz vocalist over the last 3 decades. She loves to sing songs from the Appalachian Mountains and British Isles, accompanying herself on banjo and guitar. Annie is also a jazz and swing vocalist with the swing band Girls from Mars (for over 30 years) and the trio Dear Ella. You can find out more about Annie and her music work at www.riseupandsing.org.LONGER PROMO BIO 3: Annie Patterson has been singing around the globe for over 30 years and is well known for her work as co-creator/editor (along with her husband Peter Blood) of the songbooks Rise Up Singing and Rise Again. An accomplished folk performer, singer songwriter and jazz vocalist (Girls From Mars), Annie sings old songs and new. She carries with her a suitcase of incredible song knowledge and a repertoire that includes over 3000 songs from many genres, including Americana, contemporary folk, ballads, gospel, country and jazz. She has spent her life working for justice through music, often accompanying herself on guitar and banjo. The award winning short documentary We Began to Sing is about Annie and Peter's lifelong commitment to foster communal singing and their friendship with the inspirational late Pete Seeger.
JAZZ PROMO BIO: Annie Patterson is a jazz vocalist with the swing band Girls From Mars. She has also sung with many other notable musicians including Mary Witt of the Western Massachusetts based funk and R&B band The O-TONES, John Cabán, Bob Ferrier, Lea Gilmore, Jim Henry, Paul Kochanski & Tom Mitchell. Her latest solo EP, Make Your Move, features Annie's rich and clear vocals as well as an all-star back up band. When she is not singing jazz, you can find Annie making songbooks and performing folk music at clubs and festivals. Rise Up Singing, which she co-edited with her husband Peter Blood, is one of North America's most popular and widely sold songbooks. For more info about Annie visit: www.groupsinging.org
LISTEN: Here is a Youtube video of Gone, Gonna Rise Again (by Si Kahn) off Annie's album Mountain Side. Her swing band, Girls From Mars features Wendi Bourne, Lauren Jansen & Annie on 3 part harmonies. Their latest cd is called Return to Planet Swing. Here's Annie singing the lead on Drum Boogie by Gene Krupa and on the beautiful ballad Don't Blame Me off their new cd.
PERFORMANCE HISTORY: Annie Patterson has performed and led music retreats at folk festivals, coffee houses, schools and camps throughout North America, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the British Isles. Known for co-creating the popular songbooks Rise Up Singing (Sing Out, Inc 1988) and Rise Again (Hal Leonard Pub 2016), along with her husband, Peter Blood, Annie is also a performer and recording artist. She has honed her skills as a song leader, jazz vocalist and singer songwriter over the last 3 decades. She is one of 3 lead vocalists with the swing band Girls from Mars and is a guest vocalist with The O-Tones, a swing band based in Western MA.
SONGBOOK EDITOR & ARTIST: Annie worked along with her husband Peter Blood (and a wonderful team of volunteers) on all aspects of creating Rise Up Singing and Rise Again, including song selection, permissions, research, layout and illustrations. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Illustration, Annie has also worked as a graphic artist, illustrator and art teacher. Her illustrations, along with the work of 3 other talented visual artists, can be found in Rise Again (with Mona Shiber and Meghan Merker) and in Rise Up Singing, supplementing Kore Loy McWhiter's illustrations.
Read more about Annie's musical interests and folk music background on the Folk Performing page...
From Annie on singing together and the new songbook...
Working on Rise Again (released by Hal Leonard Publishing June, 2015) as well as our earlier songbook, Rise Up Singing, has drawn upon a variety of my life experiences. I'm a teacher, musician, artist, peace activist, mother and community organizer. I've been an advocate for children with learning challenges and know what it's like to care and advocate for dying loved ones. These experiences have taught me to speak out when I see injustice happening and to listen carefully when people want to share their story. Singing songs together can be a very effective and non-violent way to speak out as a community and can also help us listen better to each other so we can find unity and hope together.
I am passionate about our songbook work and our latest extensive collection Rise Again. Like Rise Up Singing, this next edition is a collection of 1200 (more) songs that inspire hope, teach us about social justice and tell the stories our history books leave out. This new collection includes songs that are hauntingly beautiful, songs that touch our hearts and songs that are just plain fun to sing. Singing can knit communities together and touch peoples’ lives in a unique and amazing way. It has been an enormous privilege to lead groups together in song and feel the power of hundreds of voices singing in harmony. It is clear to me that people want to sing together and I am grateful for the opportunity to help them do this. ~ Annie
