The Val Denn Agency

NEWS & UPDATES

2008 has been a great year at the Val Denn Agency. We moved our offices to Austin, Texas, where Poppy answers the phones happily each day from 8am to 5pm. Kelley Mickwee has joined the team as my new assistant and office administrator. I am so pleased with this new addition.

Please make note of our new address and phone numbers.
We are now located at One Congress Plaza, 111 Congress Ave Fourth Flr. Austin, Texas 78701.
Our new numbers are 512-391-3855 and fax: 512-279-2477.

Ribbon of Highway, Endless Skyway, A Tribute to Woody Guthrie is going strong and we are very excited about our new release, a double CD of the live show with the narration. After a year hiatus and regrouping The Cottars from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia have rejoined the Val Denn Agency and will be out on tour this winter/spring. The group is, by many accounts, the hottest Celtic band to arise out of the rich musical landscape of Cape Breton in recent years.

We have also added Sarah and Johnny to the roster this year. Sarah lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion return to Val Denn Agency after a year of touring with Arlo Guthrie and family and working on a new family record, and DVD. All will be out in the beginning of the year.

We are looking forward in 2009 to bringing you the best in roots music…
along with some of the top singer-songwriters in North America.

Please take a look around our site to learn more about the artists we represent.

News:

Gretchen Peters:
Gretchen's new Christmas album, Northern Lights, is on sale now! Visit the www.gretchenpeters.com to order yours!
$2.00 from every sale of Northern Lights goes to Room In The Inn, a Nashville-based homeless outreach program which provides food, shelter and clothing to the homeless during the cold winter months.
Independence Day/McCain Palin press release

Gretchen Peters donates royalties from "Independence Day" to Planned Parenthood. Donation made in the name of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

October 4, 2008 - Nashville, TN

When Sean Hannity began using Gretchen Peters' song "Independence Day" as the theme song for his Citadel Broadcasting radio talk show, Peters quietly stepped up her donations to causes including the ACLU, PFLAG, and Moveon.org.

But when the GOP used "Independence Day" to usher Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin to the stage after the debate in St. Louis, Peters realized the party was truly perverting the chorus of her composition to suit their agenda and it was high time for Peters to make her feelings known.

"Independence Day," written by Peters, was a hit for country singer Martina McBride in 1994. The lyrics tell the story of a woman's response to domestic abuse from the point of view of her daughter.

"The fact that the McCain/Palin campaign is using a song about an abused woman as a rallying cry for their Vice Presidential candidate, a woman who would ban abortion even in cases of rape and incest, is beyond irony," Peters says. "They are co-opting the song, completely overlooking the context and message, and using it to promote a candidate who would set women's rights back decades. I've decided to donate the royalties from 'Independence Day' during this election cycle to Planned Parenthood, in Sarah Palin's name. I hope with the additional income provided by the McCain/Palin campaign, Planned Parenthood will be able to help many more women in need."

To join Gretchen in donating to Planned Parenthood on behalf of Sarah Palin log on to:
https://secure.ga0.org/02/pp10000_inhonor

Ask that the donation be made in the name of Sarah Palin and send the card to:
McCain for President 
1235 S. Clark Street 1st Floor 
Arlington , VA 22202
For more information about Gretchen Peters, log on to gretchenpeters.com or contact Tamara Saviano at tamara@ellis-creative.com

Tom Russell:
Veteran's Day," the two disc - 37 Track Tom Russell anthology is now available at www.villagerecords.com All songs are re-mastered; there's plenty of surprises and a big book of notes. Great photos.

Also the new DVD "Ian Tyson and Tom Russell: Mano a Mano" - a songwriter workshop in Elko that is "unplugged and uleashed." Much talk of songs and Bob Dylan and the early days. Great footage. Cool song swapping and singing of the old Cowboy songs. Vintage footage and a special Tyson interview. www.villagerecords.com

There are still seats aboard the Flatlanders - Tom Russell train coming the second week of November. Ask about "specials." See www.rootsontherails.com

The BIG WEST COAST tour in looming for late November, early December....check all dates at www.tomrussell.com or www.myspace.com/russelltom California and Nevada....Elko Cowboy gathering coming in late January.

Eliza Gilkyson:
This week iconic folksinger and political activist Joan Baez released her new studio album Day After Tomorrow, featuring covers of some of her favorite songwriters, including Steve Earle, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits and Red House Records artist Eliza Gilkyson. Featuring two of Eliza's songs, the album features new songs that sound like timeless classics. As Joan said on NPR's Weekend Edition on September 7th, "This album is very much like my roots many years ago....It does sound like home." She chose Eliza's songs "Requiem" and "Rose of Sharon" because they were new songs that sounded like old traditional songs. To hear Joan Baez talk about the album
on NPR and play a live version of "Rose of Sharon," visit www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94315624.
Grammy nominated songwriter Eliza Gilkyson has been called "one of the most influential artists on the American folk music scene" (Maverick). A member of the Austin Music Hall of Fame along with musical greats Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt and Nanci Griffith, her poetic, politically minded songs have won her fans all over the world. Her 2005 Red House release Paradise Hotel won her 4 Folk Alliance Music Awards and featured her meditative tune "Requiem," which was written as a prayer for those who lost loved ones in the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia. A song that spoke to people everywhere experiencing loss, it was recorded by the choral group Conspirare and was nominated for a Grammy. The song also appears on Eliza's live album Your Town Tonight.

Eliza Gilkyson has been touring behind her internationally acclaimed new release Beautiful World, released in May 2008. Called her masterpiece by All Music Guide, the record mixes Americana, folk, rock and jazz, hitting themes of love, war, corrupt politics and a crumbling environment, all cleverly disguised in optimistic undertones

Sarah Lee and Johnny:
Coming up in 2009, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Friends "Daddy's Shoes" invites four generations of Guthries and Seegers to sing, play and clap along to 14 newly recorded children songs. "Daddy's Shoes" features previously unreleased Woody Guthrie lyrics set to three new songs and 11 original compositions written by Sarah Lee Guthrie and her husband Johnny Irion. Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Tao Rodriguez Seeger, Johnny Irion and seven grandkids contribute guitar, ukulele, banjo, autoharp and vocals amidst Sarah Lee's beautiful voice. Recorded over a two week period in Washington, MA, "Daddy's Shoes" was inspired by everyday experiences as Sarah Lee and Johnny's family sang together at the dinner table, drove along singing songs on road trips, and from bringing their guitars and voices to their children's "Show and Tell" at school. Carrying on the Guthrie tradition of timeless family friendly songs, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Friends "Daddy's Shoes" is a playful and charming set of down-home, country-folk tunes fit for an assortment of family occasions.

RedFlag Design + Promotions 2008