Born and raised in south Georgia, Sarah Dan spent her formative years participating in her small Presbyterian Church, where she was encouraged to seek the Holy through music. She became aware of Unitarian Universalism in the late 90’s when she accepted a job as the pianist for the Georgia Mountains UUC in Dahlonega, and soon learned to love and support the Faith movement.  Sarah Dan became active in the Unitarian Universalist Musicians Network (UUMN), and has served in many capacities in the organization—from Secretary, Director of Communications, Liaision to the UUA’s Music Leadership Credentialing Committee, and currently as President. Sarah Dan also was the General Assembly Music Coordinator for two years, and has been the musician for the GA service of the Church of the Larger Fellowship.

Living now in Concord, New Hampshire with her wife, Abby Charbeneau, and doggie Dawes, Sarah Dan travels to congregations in the New England area and beyond for workshops and worship around Building Community Through Music. Her chant, Meditation on Breathing, is sung in congregations around the globe, and at social justice and peace rallies worldwide.

Her CD, Church Session, (which has the entire song When I Breathe In) is available through cdbaby.com.

http://www.sarahdanjones.com

Name four great Hanukkah songs. OK, then how about two good Chanukkah songs? Not easy, huh?

Adam Gardner (Guster) and Dave Schneider (the Zambonis) have taken up the important task of writing a bunch of great, rockin’ Hanukah songs.  This is not your regular Chanukah/Jewish music. The idea was to write some light Jewish songs as if The Kinks and Elvis Costello and The Attractions were writing them. NPR’S Music master/tastemaker and host of All Thing’s Considered Bob Boilen called The LeeVees record “The best holiday record of the decade without question”.

The record is full of indie-pop rock songs and is titled Hanukkah Rocks.  Check out the full album stream and buy the download, the CD, a sticker, or even a LeeVees t-shirt!

http://www.theleevees.com

Ferron, born Debby Foisy, is a Canadian folk singer/songwriter and poet. In addition to being one of Canada’s most famous folk musicians, she is one of the most influential writers and performers of women’s music, and an important influence on later musicians such as Ani DiFranco, Mary Gauthier and the Indigo Girls.

Ferron’s rough-hewn voicing, chewy phrasing, and poetic songwriting have brought many favorable comparisons, including Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen (cf. Stephen Holden 1994). One wit aptly summed up Ferron’s legendary status by calling her “the Johnny Cash of lesbian folk singing” (Bett Williams 2000). The reviewer Al Kaufman (2008) put the well-meaning comparisons to rest, finally, when he wrote, “Ferron is much more than the answer to the trivia question, ‘What if Bob Dylan had been born a Canadian lesbian?’ For one thing, unlike her nasal counterpart, Ferron’s voice is rich and beautiful. Yet like Dylan, Ferron is a poet who is able to convey emotion without becoming maudlin, and beliefs without edging toward the pedantic. Like the great artist that she is, she paints a picture and has the listeners derive from it what they will, based on their own personal experiences.” “Ferron … is a real salt of the earth singer who approaches her art with both sleeves rolled up, ready to dive in. She walks her talk with heart exposed and performs with a courage and commitment that few other artists ever muster. The songs don’t sound composed and sung as much as they feel wrung from the sweat and toil of hard fought experience. In Ferron’s world, the contents of her songs appear as if they’re lived out on the canvas of her life and not just inside the confines of her art…when she sings, no one can miss the gravity and weight inferred by her commanding alto voice” (Heselgrave 2008).

http://www.ferrononline.com

Her fans describe her as not only a talented folk musician, but also as a supportive friend who offers encouraging words and humor alongside her compelling songs.  She leaves audiences better than she finds them, with softened edges & opened hearts.  With songs that capture deep wisdom as well as a childlike playfulness and joy, Ellis’ music is being spread across the globe by fans who are so moved that they have to share it others.

A native of Texas, Ellis moved to Minneapolis at the age of 16, where she quickly built a local following that blossomed into a nationwide presence, with extensive touring and seven albums released in the last sixteen years.  In addition to selling more than 40,000 copies of her CDs independently, Ellis has accrued a wealth of accomplishments including winning the 2011 Midwest Regional Round of the Mountain Stage New Song contest, and the 2009 Just Plain Folks Best Female Singer Songwriter Award.  She also received Top 5 recognition in the Telluride Troubadour Song Contest and the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Song Contest was voted “Most Wanted To Return” at both the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival and Sisters Folk Festival.

http://www.ellis-music.com

Cathy DeWitt is a composer, arranger, vocalist, pianist, guitarist, and harp therapist. She is the Musician-in-Residence at the world-renowned Shands Arts in Medicine program, where she uses music to transform the hospital experience. She has been a Unity Music Director and touring New Thought musician and speaker for over twenty years, working with Revs. Sharon Connor, Marciah McCartney, Peggy Hostetler, Mary Masters, and more. She has been a guest musician and speaker at churches and spiritual retreats throughout the country, and has provided music for Alan Cohen, Marianne Williamson, Wayne Dyer and others. Her songs published in Unity Association songbooks include “Spirit of Spring (Joy Chant),” “Sweet Spirit,” and “For the Pure in Heart,” and her song “Everybody’s Somebody’s Child” was a finalist in the Posi-Awards video category in 2012. Her original melody for James Dillet Freeman’s “Prayer for Protection” is used at many Unity churches, and is available on her latest recording, “The Traveler: New Music to the Words of James Dillet Freeman,” which is a collaboration across space and time with the poet laureate of the Unity movement. A professional musician for many years, Cathy is a jazz vocalist as well as a bluegrass and folk musician. Growing up in a musical family, she always felt a sense of responsibility to go along with this gift of music, and after playing at countless benefits and writing songs for numerous causes, playing in the hospital and joining the Positive Music movement has been a natural evolution.

http://www.cathydewitt.com/unity.htm