Artist Information Biography Kitchen tables, loggers, trailers, waterfalls, loss, miners, culture clash, forest fires—Rita Hosking's show is this and more, and always fierce and lovely. Her delivery is, to put it simply, intense. "From the first time I heard Rita sing, her voice gripped me and did not let go; a voice whose beauty speaks from a deep place of honest and raw and powerful emotion." (Joe Craven.) Rita recently was selected as winner of  the 2008 Dave Carter Memorial Songwriting Contest at Sisters Folk Festival in Oregon, and finalist in the 2009 Telluride Festival Troubadour Contest.  Rita's third album, "Come Sunrise," produced and recorded in Austin by Rich Brotherton (Robert Earl Keen, Caroline Herring,) includes players such as Brotherton, Lloyd Maines, Warren Hood, Glenn Fukunaga, Danny Barnes, and many more.  Due out in June/July 2009. Short Bio: Rita Hosking blends folk, country, and bluegrass into passionate sounds and stories. She was raised in the mountains of Shasta County, Northern California, where she internalized dusty woodsheds, the scent of springwater, and the troubles of rural economies.  Her musical experience began as a child at church, and under the wings of an old time jug band made up of seasoned mountain characters.  A descendant of Cornish miners who sang in the mines, Rita grew up with deep regard for folk music and the power of the voice. On an old Gibson guitar her friends got for her, Rita began writing songs at age 20.  Now she's performing again, and quickly becoming a favorite among California folk  fans.  Accolades and enthusiastic audiences have won Rita slots at distinguished venues and many music festivals in the U.S., including the prestigious Strawberry Music Festival, Kate Wolf Music Festival, Grass Valley Father's Day Bluegrass Festival, San Francisco Bluegrass and Old Time Festival, Sisters Oregon Folk Festival, American River Music Festival, U.C. Davis Whole Earth Festival, Plymouth Bluegrassin in the Foothills Festival (where she won the emerging artist award,) and more.  Rita tours with accompaniast Sean Feder as a duo, in addition to often playing with a  full quartet. Sean Feder plays primarily banjo and dobro with Rita, and is a multi-instrumentalist who has performed at the California World Fest, High Sierra Music Festival, with the Boston Pops Orchestra at the Arco Arena, and even Apple Computer Headquarters.    Rita's quartet, "Cousin Jack," includes Sean Feder as well as: Bill Dakin, who plays upright bass, some rhythm guitar, and sings harmonies with Rita.  He's got a sensitive, soulful style and lots of experience with old-time country music. Andy Lentz--been fiddlin' since he was six--he plays in many high energy bands including the Mad Cow String Band, Ol' Snakey's Bluejass Ramblers, Alkali Flats, not to mention the UCD Baroque Ensemble. For video:  See Rita Hosking's YouTube Channel--FAVORITES for latest fan videos--thank you! Of Rita's new record, Come Sunrise, Twang Nation writes "Rita Hosking might call Davis, CA home (18 km / 11 mi West of Sacramento) but the geographical and cultural influences that shape her excellent new release, Come Sunrise, could plot here anywhere between a rural West Texas roadhouse or the front porch of an Appalachian cabin. Recorded in Austin with producer, engineer and Robert Earl Keen guitarist, Rich Brotherton and featuring some of Austin’s best musicians – Lloyd Maines on Dobro, Glenn Fukunaga on upright bass, and Danny Barnes on banjo, Warren Hood on fiddle, Brotherton plys several instruments himself and Sean Feder from Hosking’s backing band Cousin Jack on percussion and harmony vocals. With a vocal style somewhere between Natalie Merchant and Gillian Welch Hosking sings all 11 of her original songs with a delicacy that belies the force of her delivery. This is the kind of music I imagine a few generations ago would have easily landed on bestselling Hillbilly charts before some executive in the 40’s decided the term too degrading (and probably less market-friendly) and changed the name to Country & Western. Now this music finds its home in the Americana genre, where skilled musicians like Hosking remind us that music that tells tales of people’s lives, with instrumentation and arrangement that also hearken from that heritage, is so wholly satisfying in a world more and more addicted to entranced and irony. The slow burners are the real stand outs.  Simple pleasures yearn from the title track as Maines’ Dobro and Hood’s fiddle envelope you with the sonic equivalent of a down comforter, Montgomery Creek Blues is a dreamy pedal-steel laced tale of drunken revelry that ends in murder and Hiding Place (my hands-down favorite) is a sparkling ode to solitude that betrays a hint of menace from possible pursuer. Precious Little, Little Joe and Holier Than Thou are straight up honky-tonkers that shoudl strike shame in the heart of every Music City big label suit. With Come Sunrise Hosking gives us a prism that isolates the distinct historic threads of country and folk music and then combines it again into a wholly satisfying and extraordinary body of work." Rita's debut, 2005 album Are You Ready? received national airplay, and inspired Eric Rice of KVMR’s 20 year old Countyline Bluegrass Show to name Rita Hosking as “Best New Artist” that year. Says Eric, “Rita Hosking is the best bluegrass songbird in Northern California.”  Rita's song Kitchen Table and Chairs, a story about what her parents chose to take with them when forest fire invaded their home, won honors in the West Coast Songwriters' International Song Competition in the Americana category.  Are You Ready?, the title cut, is a gospel tune penned by Hosking--becoming well known in Northern California acoustic circles due to excellent airplay.  Rita's very first CD placed on the bluegrass chart of Roots Music Report for four weeks. Rita’s 2007 release, Silver Stream, features her band Cousin Jack, as well as guest musician, co-producer, and recording engineer, Bill Edwards. Again, Rita has brought together stories, sounds and emotions that evoke the power of people and place. The title cut is a glimpse of a rough and tumble old mountain man that lived with Rita’s family, and how his trailer melted to a “silver stream” in a forest fire. In Northern Idaho is a study on the struggle to keep your home, an old-style country song fitting of a folk standard. Rita brings together the tragedies of miner’s consumption and the taking of one’s life in Cool Black Water. Taking You In—a song she sung at a friend’s memorial, touches on impermanence, and I Want You on gut feelings when your lover passes on. Cole Younger Killed My Brother ends the album with a rambling yet rousing, movie-soundtrack style tune featuring the guitar wizardry of Edwards. This and more, Silver Stream also captures some of the band’s typical set lists with covers such as the traditional Dream of a Miner’s Child, Bob Dylan’s Farewell Angelina, Hazel Dickens’ Only the Lonely, and Delmore Brothers’ Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar. Here is Dennis Brunnenmeyer of KVMR, Nevada City/Grass Valley 89.5 FM on receiving Silver Stream, "Expecting the best, I have to tell you that I found a whole lot more than I had hoped for. There's more than just a large handful of gems...all written by Rita, as it turns out. There's also a delivery I haven't heard before, complete with a soft and tender ballad or two, a bunch of sweet-crisp falsettos and some down-home phrasing that could very easily make Lucinda Williams green with envy. I love it!" And from Midwest Record, "RITA HOSKING/Silver Stream:  Remember when you wanted to like Gillian Welch or Iris DeMent but there just wasn't something you felt you could grab onto?  Hosking takes it to the next level of the game. Maybe it's because her organic elements weren't crafted by a major label and really are organic.  A rising bluegrass queen with strong folk/rock elements and an appreciation for all things country, her latest gets higher marks than the usual DIY recording because it's running on a lot more than good intentions.  Loaded with verve, spirit and out of the box energy, you don't have to be a hardcore bluegrass fan to play this often and loud.  A top shelf recording all the way." Volume 31/Number 96 February 4, 2008 MIDWEST RECORD CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher "Rita of course is her own person when it comes to her music and style but for those wondering what her style and sound are, mix a little Gillian Welch and Hazel Dickens and add Rita's song writing and cheerful disposition and that is Rita,"  --Bruce Hayden of Q-Note Productions, a Folk DJ List quote. Instrumentation Rita Hosking: Rita Hosking--lead vocal and acoustic guitar Sean Feder--banjo, dobro,  harmonies Rita Hosking and Cousin Jack: Rita Hosking--lead vocal and acoustic guitar Sean Feder--banjo, dobro, harmonies Bill Dakin--upright bass, guitar, harmonies Andy Lentz--fiddle Discography Are You Ready?  May 2005 Silver Stream, June 2007 Come Sunrise, produced by Rich Brotherton, released in June/July 2009 Links http://www.ritahosking.com