Cris Williamson @ The Sofia

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Cris Williamson is an American singer and songwriter. Decades before indie labels were the norm, and years before women had any real access to the industry, Cris Williamson was busy changing the face of popular music. In 1975, the twenty-something former schoolteacher recorded The Changer And The Changed, for her brainchild, Olivia Records. the first woman-owned woman-focused record company. Her music and voice quickly became the soundtrack of a movement, and was the cornerstone of what would become known as “women’s music,” music created, performed, and marketed specifically to women. Today, that recording, The Changer and the Changed, remains one of the best-selling independent releases of all time.

For Cris, the music became the vehicle for something larger. Her lyrics appear on a regular basis in books and thesis papers. Her albums are part of the curriculum for women’s studies courses, and thousands of people who may not even know her name join their voices in “Song of the Soul” around campfires and places of worship. She is embraced by women. She is sampled in hip-hop Her music is used by midwives welcoming life into the world, while hospice choirs sing her songs in tender sacred escort. Today, with 30+ full albums to her credit, Cris continues to tour the acoustic circuit adding new material at each juncture. Her performance career includes three sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall and the headlining of many of the great folk festivals, including Newport, Kerrville, Moab and Vancouver.

Barbara Higbie is Grammy-nominated, Bammy award winning composer, pianist, fiddler, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Barbara Higbie has performed on more than 100 albums, including Carlos Santana’s 2007 release. Her latest solo release, 2014’s “Scenes from Life” was recorded for at Lucas Film’s Skywalker Sound. She tours nationally and internationally, and is the mother of a 13 year old daughter.

Higbie has 13 solo and group recordings to her name, as well as contributions to 10 compilations that have sold in the millions. She was the first female instrumentalist to compose and record for Windham Hill Records, 1982’s Tideline, a duet project with violinist, Darol Anger. Tideline’s unique sound became an instant classic, thanks in part to Higbie’s innovative and moving compositions. One of her pieces from Tideline, ” True Story”, was downloaded on Pandora in 2014 more than 850,000 times.In June or 2015, Tideline was re-issued on Adventure Records. In 2011, Higbie was the first ever “Artist in Residence” at the prestigious west coast Jazz Club, “Yoshi’s”, where she created two new bands. Roots music’s, “Hills to Hollers” with icons Laurie Lewis and Linda Tillery, and the exotic “Cello Heaven” with cellists Joan Jeanreneau of Kronos Quartet fame and new age star, Jami Sieber. In addition to her instrumental music, Higbie’s singer-songwriter work, 2 CD’s with vocal dynamo, Teresa Trull, on Olivia Records and 2 solo CD’s on Slowbaby Records have won her critical acclaim and a large, devoted nationwide following.

Raised in Indiana, at age 13 her family moved to Ghana, West Africa where she studied with master drummer Mustafa Tetty Addy. After musical studies at Mills College, studies at the Sorbonne and a sojourn performing in Paris, she returned to West Africa with a Watson Fellowship to collect traditional music. A professional musician since age 17, Barbara has played everything from Traditional Jazz, Bluegrass and Irish to New Classical Music, Blues and African Pop. She is known for her ability to compose in a style that is both genre bending and accessible.

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