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Blurb for Venue Websites, Show Previews:
SLOAN WAINWRIGHT
Folk-pop artist Sloan Wainwright belongs to a musical dynasty of impossibly gifted singer-songwriters.
Her family tree (brother and folk-music luminary Loudon Wainwright, sister-in-law Kate McGarrigle, nephew Rufus Wainwright, nieces Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche) reads like a who's who of contemporary folk music. Sloan's incredible gift is not only her unique songwriting ability but her dramatically voiced rendition of her original songs.
"She's folk-influenced, obviously (you can't grow up in the First Family of Folk and not be, one imagines),
but the real star here is her voice. Warm and smoky and smooth, it makes her earthy, ominous lyrics seem all the more intense."
Defying standard categorization, singer/songwriter Sloan Wainwright consistently demonstrates her easy command of a variety of American musical styles -- pop, folk, jazz and blues -- held together by the melodious tone of her rich contralto. The end result, a unique and soulful hybrid.
With a solid and impressive discography of 7 original CD releases to her credit, Sloan continues to write, sing and perform live.
In addition, Sloan has written numerous musical compositions for theater and dance and teaches at many of the best-known master songwriter series and workshops. Sloan's open spirit and first-hand experience is welcome --year after year-- in the musical classrooms of such prestigious song camps as The Swannanoa Gathering, Summersongs, Wintersongs, WUMB Radio's Summer Acoustic Music Week (SAMW) and Lamb's Retreat.
Sloan is an independent artist making grown-up girl music in the truest sense.
"...A lot of singer-songwriters are whitebread. Sloan is whole grain." WFMT Radio, Rich Warren
"...Sloan Wainwright, whose regal voice could fell a redwood." The Boston Globe
"...one of those singers whose performance is a force of nature." Sing Out Magazine
" ...earth mother voice that she pours into unexpectedly sensitive blends of folk, jazz, blues and funk." The New York Times
ROYAL ALBERT HALL, LONDON ENGLAND, DECEMBER 09, 2009
"...while Queen’s Thank God It's Christmas was fabulously re-imagined by Rufus and Martha’s aunt, Sloan Wainwright. Christmas magic, indeed."
The London Evening Standard.
Vocal Workshop Description:
Workshop Title: Singing with your heart, soul and body
Singing is fun! Inside each of us lives a beautiful and unique instrument.
In this workshop we will move our bodies, soften our hearts, open our mouths and let our voices out to play.
We will use a combination of vocal warm-ups and work-outs to help relax and strengthen the voice....making it more flexible and reliable. There will be an emphasis on vocal health.
Individual attention and support is offered to each person in class as well as for the group as a whole.
The brightest star in the constellation? That would be Sloan Wainwright, who delivered killer sets everywhere she appeared and with everything she sang. If you’re going to cover Marvin Gaye, you’d better have chops. She has ‘em, alright. Talk about your family trees! She’s the sister of Loudon Wainwright III, the sister-on-law of Kate McGarrigle, her nephew is Rufus Wainwright, and her nieces are Martha and Lucy Wainwright. Believe us when we say that Sloan is more talented than any of them! She does it all—soul, pop, acoustic folk, jazz, rock…. and boy does she get into it. If you don’t know her you might be tempted to say that she’s stagey, but it’s genuine—the woman simply loves to sing. And so would you if you had a contralto voice like hers. Imagine what Celine Dion would be if she know how to sing. She still wouldn’t be as good as Sloan Wainwright.
Loudon Wainwright III Touring In 2010 To Support Grammy-Nominated 'High Wide and Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project
January 6, 2010 TOP-40 CHARTS
'High Wide Handsome' features such acoustic music luminaries as Chris Thile, Geoff Muldaur and Rob Moose, along with Wainwright's distinguished extended family members: Martha and Rufus Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Sloan Wainwright, Maggie Roche, Terre Roche, and Suzzy Roche.
Friday, 4 December 2009 THE INDEPENDENT UK. By Kate McGarrigle
"Next week, I am joining my children Rufus and Martha Wainwright on stage at the Royal Albert Hall for a Christmas concert, to raise money for cancer research. We've done two family Christmas shows at New York's Carnegie Hall but this is our first time in London.
A big highlight will be Sloan Wainwright, Loudon's sister, singing Queen's "Thank God It's Christmas".
"Sloan Wainwright has spent her music career walking the road less traveled with her distinctive and soulful hybrid of rock,
folk, jazz and blues. “Her songs, like her voice cast a lasting spell,” says the Washington Post.
The Warmth of Winter: The McGarrigle Christmas Hour
[excerpt]
Carnegie Hall was particularly rosy and cozy last night as the McGarrigle family took to the
stage for its annual Christmas love-in. “Welcome to our living room…” joked Rufus Wainwright with a
sinister laugh, reminding everyone just how awkward, tiresome and spirited Christmases tend to be.
Fun can only last so long though and Sloan Wainwright decided a tempo change was in order with her
song Big Bright Beautiful Tree which described the haunting beauty and sacrifice of the Rockefeller Christmas tree.
The resulting ambiance ...."
New York Press December 11, 2008
CARRYING ON THE WAINWRIGHT TRADITION
SLOAN WAINWRIGHT’S house, with its peaked roof and gingerbread shingles, has a gnomelike quality that sets it
apart, even in this hamlet of fairytale homes. Or perhaps it’s that lone pink flamingo on the sun deck.
As Ms. Wainwright, an acclaimed songwriter from a family with a seemingly endless supply of them,
stepped out onto the sloping lawn, she was not accompanied by her big brother, Loudon, or her nephew
Rufus, or her ex sister in law, Kate McGarrigle. She was with her son Sam McTavey, as burly and bearded as his mother
is blonde and cherubic, and who, at 25, is starting to make a name for himself.
The two discussed their musical lives in a room with several guitars, a miniature keyboard and
lots of space for pacing should inspiration run dry.
The New York Times August 08, 2008
"Rufus Wainwright must love challenges. That's the only way to explain some of his recent projects. The
eccentric singer-songwriter, who is the son of musicians Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, presented tributes to Judy Garland in
2006 and 2007 that re-created her April 23, 1961, Carnegie Hall concert in its entirety. His live album, "Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall,"
came out last year, as did his fifth studio album, "Release the Stars."
Q. Your aunt Sloan is opening these shows. She's 11 years younger than your father, so is she more like a sister?
A. No. I actually have an aunt, as well, who's younger than I am -- my grandfather was very popular -- so she's not my youngest
aunt, even. But she's definitely the baby of that wing of the family, and she's always maintained a youthful perspective. Q. Will you do any songs with her?
A. We haven't had time to pin that down. I'd love to. What's interesting about her -- about her act -- is that,
in my opinion, of all the many singers that exist in both my mother's and father's families, Sloan and I have the most similar voices.
On one of her albums, we sing a song together where we trade off voices, and sometimes it's hard to tell which one is which."
The Newark Star Ledger April 13, 2008
"Martha Wainwright has grown up and is ready to party
Has marriage mellowed Martha Wainwright? No, but her second album shows she’s grown
[excerpt]Her brother, for whom she started out singing backing vocals, guests on the album,
as do her mother and a couple of cousins. Just how many musical family members are there? “Ha! Too many,” sniffs Wainwright. “I may
have to murder them one by one. My secret weapon is Lily Larkin, Anna McGarrigle’s daughter, who has always sung with me. There is
my half-sister Lucy Roche, who has just released a fantastic album, and my dad’s sister Sloan Wainwright, who is the best out the lot of us.
I have another cousin who recently started up. I try to discourage them, but it’s not working. I guess none of us is good at anything else.”
The London Times April 13, 2008
"It's a big family. You've got Loudon Wainwright III, once declared a "new Bob Dylan," who's been
singing and recording personal folk songs for coming on four decades now. His ex-wife is Kate McGarrigle, of Canada's beloved McGarrigle Sisters.
Their children are singer-songwriter Martha and the grandiose pop star Rufus Wainwright. One of the Roches and her daughter lurk in this family tree,
too. Everyone has their own career, and sometimes they even sing together.
But, as Yoda once said, there is another.
Sloan Wainwright -- Loudon's sister, Rufus and Martha's aunt -- is the undiscovered treasure of this musical dynasty.
Writing and singing since her youth (she's not quite 50), she's been recording only for the last decade. But already her
six CDs have set her apart from her brother's witty, documentarian and occasionally caustic songs..."
The Chicago Sun Times September 7, 2007
"Our live "Folkstage" artist was Sloan Wainwright. What a voice! What
a presence! As I said when I introduced her: A lot of
singer-songwriters are whitebread. Sloan is whole grain.”
WFMT Radio: THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL with host Rich Warren, September 8, 2007
"MUSIC REVIEW:
A few surprises spice up Newport folk fest. ... "Even though there were three other opening sets Saturday morning and Linda Ronstadt's
concert the previous night, Martha Wainwright -- wiping her streaking mascara in the 90-degree heat -- launched the festival
with a stellar performance. Later, Wainwright joined her aunt Sloan Wainwright (whose regal voice could fell a redwood) and half-sister Lucy Wainwright Roche
in a song circle that wrapped a pensive take on Hank Williams's "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." It left Harris nodding and mouthing
the words as she sat quietly on the sidelines."
The Boston Globe. August 6, 2007
"However, two of the best performers of the day were solo acoustic
singer-songwriters on the second stage. Martha Wainwright was an iron woman, playing a long set of her own and then
joining a song circle with her half-sister, Lucy Wainwright Roche, and her aunt, Sloan Wainwright....
Sloan Wainwright brought a big, earnest voice to her songs in the circle, including covers of “Mercy Mercy Me”
and “Ring of Fire,” while Lucy Wainwright Roche was sweet-sounding on songs such as her own “I’d Rather Go” and the
traditional ballad “Wild Mountain Thyme.”
The Providence Journal August 6, 2007
"Loudon Wainwright's little sister has a more dramatic voice than he does,
but her songs owe just as much to the 1970s singer/songwriter tradition. Wainwright certainly has her own stamp,
but she still evokes recollections of Carole King and Roberta Flack. "Wild in this World" is a blues that
rocks steadier and cooler than most from this demographic can bring off. "Out of Her Hands" presents an
intensely personal subject in raw detail, but somehow finds its way to hope. The woman has soul."
Dirty Linen Magazine. April/May 2007. Issue #129
"Sloan Wainwright is one of those singers whose performance is
a force of nature. Her big alto voice wraps itself around the lyrics and then wraps the music around you. All of the
11 songs on this CD are originals, many coauthored with Stephen Murphy, her talented longtime producer and engineer....
Wainwright's songs reveal personal dramas and the stories of those within her field of view. Her songs poetically
expose the inner workings of relationships using highly original metaphors and images. ... This recording is far
from the acoustic singer-songwriter sound. There's ample talent here, but you must accept it on its very contemporary terms."
Sing Out! Magazine. Winter 2007. Vol. 50 #4
"Rufus and Martha Wainwright are white hot these days, but the most
talented acorn to fall from the family tree might be their Aunt Sloan. Any nut would tumble from the mighty quake that
is her voice, a muscular and supple sound that soars the high scales one moment and growls with the gutter cats the next.
Life Grows Back is a collection of original and diverse songs. Wainwright can play the straight-up folk singer, but she's also
at home keeping time to Appalachian-style banjo, gritting it out to the bluesy strains of a National guitar, or vocally
matching a cello's resonance. "Out of My Hands" sounds like a lost Joni Mitchell 'Blue' track, and "Something That Comes
Close" has the pent-up power of a climax show tune. This is one of the overlooked gems of 2006."
Valley Advocate. January 2007.
"OK, let's get this out of the way first - - yes, she's a Wainwright,
and yes, of the Rufus and Loudon III sort. She is, however, talented enough to survive - and even thrive - were her
surname, say, 'Whifflepickle.' She's folk-influenced, obviously (you can't grow up in the First Family of Folk and not be,
one imagines), but the real star here is her voice. Warm and smoky and smooth, it makes her earthy, ominous lyrics seem all the
more intense. Thankfully, she never succumbs to wailing or calling attention to herself, or worse, doing the sexed-up heavy
breathing thing so many twee-folk chix rely on"
Creative Loafing. October 2006
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