Trinity Backstage Concert Series | Santa Barbara, CA

The Waymores: Alt-Nashville Writers-in-the-Round

The stories behind the songs. The heart behind the music. Way cool Nashville in an intimate setting.

Grammy Award winner Don Henry's songs have been recorded by Ray Charles, Patti Page, Conway Twitty, Kathy Mattea and dozens of other great artists... but they shine brightest when sung by the artist who wrote them. Long appreciated as one of Nashville's finest singer-songwriters, Don is revered by fans, critics and peers alike for being one of the most inspiring, entertaining and funny(!) artists you are ever likely to see and hear.

Whether in her own hands or those of hit artists like Martina McBride or Lee Ann Womack, Sally Barris’s music makes an indelible impression. And while her writing credits mightily impress—her songs have been covered by Trisha Yearwood & Keith Urban, John Michael Montgomery, Kathy Mattea and many others—fans and peers are most captivated by her bright spirit and high mountain soprano.

Tom Kimmel's business card facetiously reads Overnight Success, but the truth is far from it. After graduating college he worked as a short order cook, bus boy, taxi driver, chef, shipping clerk, lab technician, janitor, waiter, bartender and window washer on his way to establishing himself as an award winning songwriter (Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, Joe Cocker, Randy Travis and a host of others) and critically acclaimed performing artist (seven albums).

Anyone not familiar with the music of Bill Staines is in for a special treat.

For more than forty years, Bill has traveled back and forth across North America, singing his songs and delighting audiences at festivals, folksong societies, colleges, concerts, clubs, and coffeehouses. A New England native, Bill became involved with the Boston-Cambridge folk scene in the early 1960's and for a time, emceed the Sunday Hootenanny at the legendary Club 47 in Cambridge. Bill quickly became a popular performer in the Boston area

Over the decades, you have heard Bill singing on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, HBO's award winning series Deadwood, and Public Radio's Mountain Stage. Additionally, his music has been used in a number of films including Off and Running, with Cyndi Lauper, and The Return of the Secaucus Seven, John Sayles' debut as a writer- director.

Currently, Bill has recorded 26 albums; The Happy Wanderer and One More River were winners of the prestigious Parents' Choice Award, taking a gold medal and silver medal respectively. His songs have been recorded by many artists including Peter, Paul, and Mary, Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy, The Highwaymen, Mason Williams, Grandpa Jones, Jerry Jeff Walker, Nanci Griffith, Glen Yarborough and others.

Folk music is rich in the human spirit and experience. I've always wanted to bring something of value to people through my songs." With these thoughts, Bill continues to drive the highways and back roads of the country year after year, bringing his music to listeners, young and old.

"When things got scary - as the seventies petered out and the eighties skulked in," Pousette-Dart muses, "while folks were trying to figure out how they ever got stuck in the position of having to choose between Donna Summer and Johnny Rotten, the original Pousette-Dart Band did what any halfway moral, responsible band would do - we took a break." Pousette-Dart, himself, however, kept on trucking.

This year - 2009 - Pousette-Dart will continue his solo and band performances around the country with dates in Europe as well.. In addition to performing, he continues working hard on the Estate of Richard Pousette-Dart which promotes the works of his late father, the eminent abstract expressionist Richard Pousette-Dart. Jon has worked with his family developing shows for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of Art, The Indianapolis Museum of Fine Art, the Knoedler Gallery in New York and the Museums of Fine Arts in Houston and Boca Raton, Florida, as well as ACA Munich, Germany, the Schirne Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Germany, and future shows in Europe . Shows include exhibitions at Los Angeles County Museum of Fine Art, the San Francisco Museum of Fine Art, and the Cleveland Museum of Fine Art all in 2005-2007. A major show was also mounted at The Guggenheim in Venice Italy which traveled to The Guggenheim in NYC . A major publication on Random House/ Rizzoli was also released in 2007, titled, "Richard Pousette-Dart, The New York School and Beyond." New shows of his paintings, works on paper, and photographs, are currently in the works.