Songwriter's Notebook CD & Concert

Bio

Ascap Award Winning singer-songwriter Laura Wetzler's Songwriter's Notebook/In Concert show features original songs from her critically-acclaimed debut CD Songwriter's Notebook spiced with World Jewish roots music in Hebrew, Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) and Yiddish and great folk, pop and blues classics.

Laura Wetzler's debut CD Songwriter's Notebook is a rollicking, high-energy collection of contemporary folk stories about group home buddies, lost jobs, sudden deaths, ancient texts, notorious canals and long haul love affairs, currently receiving airplay on over 350 stations around the world.

Hear Music

1. HOLD ON (3:03) folk rock "bad day at work?" lullaby
2. ANNIE (3:07) story song about a developmentally disabled woman named Annie.
3. TAKEN BY SURPRISE (2:32) Americana-manic loss-widows lament
4. WONDER (4:29) folk wake up call love song.
5. UNION STREET (3:28) Uncommon Blues tour of NYC's Gowanus canal neighborhood
6. SHADOWS (3:39) How'd we get here love song folk ballad
7. BROKEN TIES (3:11) Americana, survivors kit
8. CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM (3:50 )Mid-east peace song.
9. DEEPER THE TOUCH (4:56) middle of a fight ballad
10. B'MAKOM-IN A PLACE (2:08) Mid-east, ancient text roots tune based on Hillel, 2nd cent. c.e.
11. NOBODY'S GOING TO MAKE IT OUT HERE ALONE (3:05) Ms. Maya Angelou's Blues waltz.
12. THE TASTE OF YOU (3:13) late night ballad.

"Impressive poetic gifts"
Bob Sherman, New York Times/WFUV Public Radio

"A rich resonant voice weaving traditional, ethnic and contemporary threads into intelligent, literate songs."
Richard Fox, WCUW

"Airwaves Top 10"
The Phoenix

"Laura can belt out a song with the best singers on the circuit… "Hold On" is the kind of conversation that is rarely heard except around a kitchen table late at night."
Vic Heyman, SINGOUT! Magazine

"Whether it's an ode to the infamous Gowanus Canal or to the fabulous adventures of a retarded woman named Annie, Laura Wetzler paints portrait like nobody else."
WORTV

" A consummate performer with a powerful, yet refined voice. She brings a wealth of knowledge of traditional styles to her own finely crafted songs. A terrific evening."
Richard Cuccaro FAST FOLK/Acoustic Live NYC

"…folk music is alive and well…[her} ode to anti-censorship will have you running out to contribute money to the nearest NEA-banned artist."
Martha Southgate, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

"Almost the entire singer/songwriter definition can be found here with examples of each. She can project folk, folk-rock, blues world music and Americana. But even more than the breadth of style, which she cavorts around with smooth transitions, is the warm feeling she brings to every genre touched upon. Those whose view of folk music is a single musician on a stage with an acoustic guitar will really have their sense broadened with this disc."
FACE THE MUSIC

"A rare talent, beautiful voice, moving artistry"
Ken Meltzer WQED Public Radio

"From the rousing soul-folk opener 'Hold On' singer-songwriter Laura Wetzler grabs a listener and won't let go. Her songs veer from state of the art acoustic-pop to jazz shuffle to country driven two steps to world beat influenced originals… intimate portraits and song poems, including one with lyrics by Maya Angelou. Best of all is Wetzler's voice, which boasts a colorful expressive range from pretty, whispery smooth to jazzy, sexy rasp."
Seth Rogovoy Berkshire Eagle/WAMC Public Radio.

"Riveting talent"
John Stifler, Daily Hampshire Gazette

"Superb concert"
Provincetown Magazine

"Hauntingly beautiful"
Radio Montreal

"Beautiful voice, wonderful songs"
Johnny Memphis, WRSI

"Laura's songwriting is superb and her words continue to come back to you when you least expect it. With each new play it reaches me from a different level; I hear new sounds and end up with a new favorite song."
Howard Stern, Uptown Concerts NYC

"In a world populated with love songs [her} work stands alone…"
Sheryl Hunter The Greenfield Recorder

"Laura Wetzler was a real find for me-a clear soaring voice, exceptionally compelling."
New Directions, NYC

Select Venues

Annenberg Foundation
Greenwich Village Folk Festival
Clearwater Festivals
Do The Right Thing Festival NYC
Bodles Opera House
The Turning Point
WOW International Festival
Celebrate Brooklyn Summerfest
Central Park Bandshell
Cami Hall
Javits Center, NYC
Brooklyn Botanical Garden
Hudson River Maritime Museum
Trinity Concert Series
The Open Center, NYC
Northern Westchester Center for the Arts
Brooklyn Historical Society
Musicfest, Bethlehem, PA
New York Public Library
Folk Music Society of NY
Brooklyn Arts Exchange
Hurdy Gurdy Folk Club
The Great Hall, Cooper Union
Dixon Place,
SOB'S
CBGB's Gallery
The Nuyorican Poets Cafe
Kenny's Castaways
The Pyramid
The Fez Underground
Fast Folk
Stand-up NY
Outmusic Festivals
The Uptown Concert Series
House of Musical Traditions
Hanum Hall, Hartford
1794 Meeting House
Northampton Center for the Arts
Heyman's Corner, Rockville MD
Lancaster Music Festival, MA
Yale
SUNY
NYU
Rutgers

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