Biography
A SELECTION OF PLACES PATTY HALL HAS PERFORMED:
FESTIVALS
• Adams Avenue Roots & Folk Festival (San Diego)
• Adams Avenue Street Fair (San Diego)
• Berkeley Old-Time Fiddler’s Convention (CA)
• Calabasas Pumpkin Festival (CA)
• Fresno Folk Festival (CA)
• KPFK American Folk Fair (CA)
• National Women's Music Festival (IL)
• Original Raggedy Ann & Andy Festival (IL)
• San Diego Folk Festival (CA)
• Tennessee Grassroots Days (TN)
• Sam Hinton Folk Festival (San Diego)
• UCLA Folk Festival (CA)
• UC-Santa Cruz Folk Festival (CA)
CONCERTS
• College of the Redwoods (CA)
• Fresno Friends of Folk Music (CA)
• Hudson Guild Theater (NYC)
• Moorpark College (CA)
• San Diego Folk Heritage (CA)
CABARETS & CLUBS
• Exit/Inn (Nashville)
• Claire de Lune - SDSAI (San Diego)
• Folk Arts (San Diego)
• Ice House (Pasadena, CA)
• McCabes (Santa Monica)
• Phranks-n-Steins (Nashville)
• Seventh Seal (Los Angeles)
MUSEUMS & HISTORIC SITE PERFORMANCES
• Belle Meade Plantation (TN)
• The Hermitage (TN)
• Indiana Historical Society (IN)
• South Bend Antiquarian Society (IN)
• Travellers’ Rest Historic Site (TN)
STORE-SPONSORED PERFORMANCES
• Barnes & Noble (stores in CA, IL, IN, OH, KY)
• Borders Books & Music (stores in CA, IL, IN, OH, KY)
• FAO Schwarz (NYC)
• Storyopolis Books (CA)
WORKSHOPS & RESIDENCIES
• Barry Olivier’s Guitar Workshop (CA)
• California Institute of the Arts (CA)
• Country Music Hall of Fame (TN)
• Middle Tennessee State University (TN)
• National Association for the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling (NAPPS) (TN)
• Sweets Mill Folk Music Camp (CA)
RADIO APPEARANCES & INTERVIEWS
• KALW-FM “Michael Johnson Show” (San Francisco)
• KPFK-FM “Folkscene with Howard & Roz Larman" (Los Angeles)
• WFYI-FM “Standing Room Only" (Indianapolis)
• WLAC-AM “The Les Jameson Show" (Nashville)
• WPLN-FM “Rebecca Bain” (Nashville)
• WFXW-FM “Joy Wagner” (Illinois)
TELEVISION APPEARANCES
• QVC-TV (National Cable)
• WSIX-TV "Channel 5 Extra" (Nashville)
PATTY CAUGHT FOLK MUSIC FEVER AT AGE 14…A diligent plunker on her Dad’s ukulele, in 1963 Patty won series tickets to the BERKELEY FOLK FESTIVAL from KPFA radio, and it changed everything. High on folk music, she taught herself clawhammer banjo, harvested material from every Folkways album she could lay hands on, and made her performing debut at Hayward High in an all-girl old-timey band.
CAREFUL WHAT YOU WRITE…In the early '70s, Patty penned her first original song, “ORGANIC.” This topical ode to the health-food feeding frenzy became an audience favorite, taking on a life of its own among folkies, Girl Scouts, and summer campers. The song was eventually included in the songbook HERE'S TO THE WOMEN! and is still among Patty's most-requested.
A DASH OF FOLKLORE...Patty was accepted into UCLA's FOLKLORE GRADUATE PROGRAM in 1972, and in between courses on Anglo-American folksong and fieldwork, she became a popular performer on the Southern California folk circuit, performing a growing repertoire of original and traditional material at festivals, coffeehouses, clubs, and on radio.
A DAB OF COUNTRY...Folklore M.A. in hand, Patty ventured to Nashville in 1975 to work at the COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME, where she led banjo workshops, produced albums of historical country music for ROUNDER and FOUNDATION RECORDS, and wrote album liner notes for the FRANKLIN MINT and TIME-LIFE.
A DOSE OF HISTORY…Nashville was bliss for a songwriting folklorist, and Patty was soon performing, songwriting, and co-hosting a MUSIC ROW women’s writer’s night. However, music soon shared the stage with a budding career in the museum field, and as Director of Education at the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR STATE & LOCAL HISTORY (AASLH), Patty trekked about the U.S. for nearly 10 years, coordinating programs on local history, folklore, and museum planning, and becoming known as the banjo-toting seminar director.
BOOKS ‘N’ MUSIC…In 1984, Patty retired from AASLH to started a family and write books and music full-time. Her first book, JOHNNY GRUELLE, CREATOR OF RAGGEDY ANN AND ANDY (an illustrated biography published in 1993 by PELICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY) was followed by a number of others (for more on Patty’s books visit http://www.pattyhall.com/products.shtml )
EARLY TIMES…In the 1990s, Patty formed a music duet called EARLY TIMES, which interpreted historical family life thru period music at museums and historic sites throughout Tennessee. She also began researching her own genealogy, delighted to discover that she was a 4th-generation Californian, whose ancestors had come from England, Germany, and Portugal to settle in Visalia and the MOTHER LODE, long before the Gold Rush.
A NATIVE DAUGHTER...Roots-driven wanderlust struck, and in 2000, Patty and her family moved back to the land of her western ancestors. Back home again in California, her passion for songwriting, performing, book-writing and family history at an all-time high, Patty mined for more old songs and penned some new ones, pulling it all together in a brand-new musical showcase called "NATIVE DAUGHTER OF THE GOLDEN WEST™"
JUST BE GLAD!…In 2005, PATTY released JUST BE GLAD! (Native Daughter Records, NDR-1001), a CD Celebration of traditional music, folklore, and original songs.
JUMP ON UP!™...Meanwhile, on the "kid" front, when SIMON & SCHUSTER contracted with Patty to author their series of new Raggedy Ann and Andy “Ready-to-Reads” and “Board Books” (visit http://www.pattyhall.com/products.shtml for more info), she began composing and performing original songs about Johnny Gruelle's rag-doll duo--among them, "RAGGEDY CANDY HEART," which she officially premiered at the Raggedy Birthday Bash in NYC, hosted by UNITED MEDIA and FAO SCHWARZ. Patty also began presenting a roots-based music program for kids called JUMPIN' UP!™ SONGS & STORIES, tying together themes of her children's books with traditional and original songs.
A RARE BLEND...Patty always looks for ways to interweave her book-writing and love of history into her music and makes a point of including tunes and songs in her book programs and signings. Sharing her special mix of original, traditional, topical, and children’s material is what she loves best.
CURRENTLY...PATTY stays busy playing concerts, festivals, coffeehouses, libraries, schools, and bookstores throughout the country, performing as both a single and with a backup band, and on occasion, with her girl-group, THE JAVETTES. She’s also at work on a brand-new CD of songs and tales especially for kids, entitled JUMP ON UP!™.
AFTER 25 YEARS... spent in the wilds of Music City, PATTY HALL is delighted to be, once again, living, writing, performing (and keeping those many hats balanced) in the GREAT GOLDEN STATE, where her roots run deep, new book and song ideas abound, and folk music is, thankfully, very much alive and kicking.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PATTY HALL AND HER MUSIC, BOOKS, PROGRAMS, AND UPCOMING APPEARANCES, VISIT WWW.PATTYHALL.COM
Instrumentation
PATTY HALL performs on guitar, five-string banjo, keyboard, and autoharp in her NATIVE DAUGHTER OF THE GOLDEN WEST® folk-music showcases and concerts. She adds a variety of percussive and rhythm instruments in her "JUMPIN' UP!™ SONGS & STORIES" programs.
Patty plays an L-9 Taylor acoustic guitar, a 1975 Fender Telecaster electric, a National tri-cone resonator, a Bart Reiter 5-string banjo, an Oscar Schmidt Model 15 Autoharp, and any keyboard that stands still.
Discography
• JUMP ON UP! (LP-CD) (Native Daughter Records NDR-1002) Released 2008
• JUST BE GLAD! (LP-CD) (Native Daughter Records NDR-1001) Released 2005
• THOMAS HART BENTON: THE SOURCES OF COUNTRY MUSIC (DVD, VHS of award-winning documentary film by John Altman) estured artist on soundtrack. Released 1976.
Links
| http://www.pattyhall.com |