Born in Iowa, raised in California, I grew up with a mother who played Scott Joplin on the piano and show tunes on the cello and a father who sang me to sleep with haunting folk songs like Go Tell Aunt Rhody. At age 14, I made up advertising jingles and pop songs for fun, while teachers encouraged me to study classical voice.
I earned a B.M. in voice performance at the UOP Conservatory of Music in Stockton, then married a charming East Indian pharmacist and went on to graduate studies in French Literature and Comparative Literature at Indiana University, Bloomington. Before my Ph.D. dissertation was complete, babies came along to snap me out of my academic groove. While caring for my two daughters, I wrote poetry and humor, performed and painted faces at birthday parties, taught drama and improv classes for kids and adults, led creative writing groups, studied hypnosis and meditation, and eventually found my way back to songwriting at age 37. In songwriting, I can make use of anything I have ever done or been or wished to be.
I am thrilled to be settled in Davis, California, singing and playing (string bass, percussion, guitar, etc.) with various local musical collaborators. The acoustic trio MudLark was born during work on my eclectic 2005 solo CD, Bloom, and includes Alaskan singer- songwriter and banjo mistress Katie Henry and guitarist/singer Ray Frank, originally from the Bronx. Together, the three of us created powerful new work that is deeply rooted in American musical tradition: MudLark's debut CD, Nest, was released in 2007.
Since then, I have completed another community-based solo project, a CD titled "In Equal Measure: Songs for the Tender Witness." This collection of sensitive original songs was created with the support and guidance of Yolo Hospice, where I have been a volunteer since 2003, and was funded in part by a City of Davis Art Contract. This work has led me to speaking and singing engagements at churches, memorials, meditation circles and support group meetings.
When I am not in the studio or preparing for a gig, I might be found at choir rehearsal (I currently sing with the Vocal Art Ensemble and direct the Free Range Singers and the Patwin Chorus), or teaching music to students from age 2 to 72+, or composing music for Winters Shakespeare Workshop, or assisting with services at the local Unitarian Church, or taking walks around the neighborhood, or working on creative writing projects. I have two novel-length manuscripts in development-- the semi-autobiographical Wingspan, and A Thousand Glances, a romantic and metaphysical romp with Indian food and ghosts.