Tena Moyer

Renaissance Woman.

Ask anyone who knows Tena Moyer to describe her and that’s what they’ll say. An accomplished guitarist, she has won multiple awards for her playing, and her fingerstyle instrumentals have been covered by guitar enthusiasts around the country. She has taught at many of the finest music camps, including Puget Sound Guitar Camp, California Coast Music Camp, Swannanoa Gathering (both the songwriting and guitar programs), Summersongs and WOMAMU (Women Making Music.) An award winning songwriter, she has twice been a finalist at The Napa Valley Folk Festival and has won three SAW awards in the jazz category. Her voice is strong and clear with an impressive three octave range, reminiscent of the great Broadway singers.

But her talents and interests extend beyond the musical sphere. As an undergraduate she studied biology and art, combining these two disparate fields into a freelance avocation as a medical illustrator. She has extended her love of the visual arts into the arena of fiber arts and has won awards not only for her paintings but for her embroidery work as well. She has also developed needlework designs for both private individuals and large companies. As a prose writer her essays have been published in such prestigious publications as Discover Magazine and reproduced in college textbooks on writing. Her writings are even used to help teach English to medical students in Kuwait! And finally, as a physician, she is a psychiatrist who specializes in psychotherapy and the treatment of trauma and substance abuse.

Tena’s musical interests are as diverse as her talents. Her parents were season ticket holders at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, so she was introduced very early to the great musicals of Broadway. As an adolescent she absorbed the acoustic guitar influences of the seventies, filching licks from such great players as James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Leo Kotke. Her parents had kept an extensive collection from their own adolescence and, much to her dismay, she had to concede that the music on her parents’ 78’s was pretty cool. This began her love affair with jazz. She attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied guitar and composition. She has also studied guitar with Ted Greene (Chord Chemistry), Leon White (Styles for the Studio) and Rick Ruskin. She studied voice with Seth Riggs (“Vocal Coach to the Stars” including Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler). Riggs was impressed enough with her vocal skill to offer her the opportunity to teach voice under his tutelage, and recommend her for an audition to the musical theater director at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. An evening of music with Tena is likely to be a diverse experience, from flashy guitar instrumentals to introspective ballads and clever jazz compositions. Her music is exciting, intelligent and dynamic and her playing has led to such nicknames as “Guitar Goddess” and “Chord Queen.”

A native of Los Angeles, Tena currently makes her home in Tucson, Arizona where she and her husband Jim promote acoustic music through a series of house concerts that include not only a feast for the ears but for the palate as well. Her tortilla soup has become “World Famous.” So add that to her list of talents, too – chef.