Mollie Weaver
http://www.mollieweaver.com
mollie@mollieweaver.com
Mollie is a native of Colorado and began singing
as a little girl, growing up in a family of
musicians. She desired to further her study at
the Conservatory of Music in Kansas City, where
she studied vocal performance under
world-renowned opera singer/performer Michael
Cousins. Entering UMKC on both academic and
vocal scholarships, Mollie soon graduated with
honors. During her tenure at the University, she
made a name for herself by performing in many
operas, musicals and both jazz and choir
concerts with nationally acclaimed
conductor/professor Dr. Eph Ely. Not only was
she vocally active within the University, but
independently as well.
Mollie quickly became familiar with the local
recording studios in the Kansas City area, doing
television and radio jingles, singing on a
variety of albums and several conventions
throughout the United States. Most of 2001
Mollie spent performing in Kansas City a lead
role she developed in the new Sticks of Thunder
high-energy production produced by VPR Creative
Group.
Mollie has performed at Coffman and Arrowhead
stadiums in Kansas City, the Paramount Theatre,
Magness Arena and the Pepsi Center in Denver,
the Denver Coliseum, on Channel 9 and on Denver
radio stations - most recently a live
performance on KYGO to promote her summer
concerts. Singing with orchestras, big bands,
and with such entertainers as Jay Leno, Vince
Gill, Amy Grant, Tracy Byrd, Jimmy Ibbotson of
the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Jim Salestrom, Jenny
McCarthy, and for as many as 60,000 people,
Mollie used her vocal versatility. While
recording on albums, jingles for
television/radio and musicals, she would often
be found working a part time job or teaching
dance and music lessons.
For the past four years she has performed around
the country in the John Denver Tribute concerts
to benefit many organizations like challenge
aspen, cystic fibrosis, dyslexia, and more.
Mollie, along with former friends and members of
John Denver's band including Jim Horn, Pete
Huttlinger, Chris Nole, Michito Sanchez and Bill
Danoff, perform these very special tribute
concerts. Mollie knew John Denver as well as
Kris O'Connor, who was John's close personal
friend, road manager and co-producer for 27
years.
Kris and Mollie produced "Love, Mollie" in 1997
and "Mollie" in 2000. Both albums were recorded
in Nashville with musicians that have recorded
and performed with John Denver, Faith Hill,
Shania Twain, Garth Brooks, The Rolling Stones,
Billy Joel, Wynonna, Alan Jackson, Joe Cocker,
Elton John, Louise Mandrell, Vince Gill, Travis
Tritt, Lionel Ritchie, The Beach Boys, John
Lennon, James Taylor, Barbara Streisand, Frank
Sinatra, Ringo Star, José Feliciano, The
Supremes, Trisha Yearwood, George Burns, Andy
Griggs, Clint Black, Eric Clapton and Tina
Turner to name a few!! The songwriters who
approached and gave Mollie their songs to record
have written songs for some of the artists
listed above.
Mollie has promoted her CD's through headlining
in concerts around Colorado and the western
states, performing with the same band from
Nashville that she recorded with. With a
beautiful voice that appeals to all ages and her
four-octave range, Mollie has the unique ability
to sing a broad range of styles from pop to
classical and everything in between! The
concerts she gives are examples of her
versatility as a vocalist and performer.
Mack Bailey
http://www.mackbailey.com
mack@mackbailey.com
You can tell a lot about singer/songwriter Mack
Bailey by the musical company he keeps. He once
sang backup to Vince Gill and Amy Grant, only to
have them sing backup to him a song later. The
Grammy winning Jordanaires sang backup on his CD
Why I'm Here. Mary Chapin Carpenter sang on his
first album - which was produced by Bill Danoff
of "Country Roads" and "Afternoon Delight" fame.
John Denver once sang with Bailey on stage. And
Denver's long-time producer, Kris O'Connor
produced Bailey's collection of songs, Through
Your Eyes. Three of Denver's former band
members, Jim Horn, Chris Nole and Pete
Huttlinger played on the album. Bailey is also a
graduate of the North Carolina School of the
Arts, where he used to jam with Jim Lauderdale.
Bailey's rich melodic voice earned him the Best
Male Vocal honors in the Traditional Folk
category at the 1992 Washington Area Music
Awards. Four times he's been chosen to sing the
national anthem for the Baltimore Orioles' home
games. He advanced yet another step toward
artistic immortality when his song "High Gear"
was featured on National Public Radio's
irreverent and wildly popular "Car Talk." He has
been called "DC area's most perfect tenor."
While other kids his age were locking onto rock
music, Bailey was listening to his father's old
Limeliters and New Christy Minstrel folk albums.
"I played them all the time when I was growing
up," he says. "I just loved their harmonies. I
loved how their voices worked together. It was
fun music. They just struck a chord that could
take me away and make me feel great." Later,
under the sway of John Denver's music, he taught
himself to play the guitar.
Although Bailey would go on to earn his degree
at the North Carolina School of the Arts, he
transferred briefly to the University of North
Carolina. It was here that he got his first
taste of club performing, working with the
locally popular Blue Moon Saloon Band.
Once out of school, Bailey moved to New
Hampshire to become the in-house minstrel for
the Mount Washington Hotel. "It gave me a chance
to have a different audience each week," he
explains. "But I still had a core group of
supporters at the hotel."
After four years in New Hampshire, Bailey
relocated to Maryland to work as bar manager and
weekend entertainer at a friend's restaurant.
Here he met the Hard Travelers, a folk group
originally formed at the University of Maryland
in the 1950s and then reunited for occasional
gigs more than 20 years later. Bailey continues
to perform with the group and has recorded five
albums with it.
Bailey moved on, this time to the renowned King
of France Tavern in Annapolis, Maryland. In
addition to working as a solo act, he also
hosted the "Mack Bailey Folk Jam" series. It
featured performances by folk acts that were
touring the region. In the mid-80's, Bailey
began involving himself in vibrant folk scene in
Washington, DC. This led to the recording of his
first album, On My Way, in 1988. That effort was
followed by Just Another Thursday Night (a live
album) in 1990 and a children's album, Friends,
in 1995.
As a wandering troubadour in his own right,
Bailey has commanded the stages of such famed
venues as the Birchmere, in Alexandria,
Virginia; Passims, in Cambridge, Massachusetts;
and the Bluebird, in Nashville. He has played
many festivals, among them Rocky Gap,
Philadelphia Folk Festival, Kerrville, Bethlehem
Musikfest and the World's Fair in Knoxville. In
addition, Bailey has opened for or shared the
stage with such notables as Alabama, Vince Gill,
Amy Grant, Randy Travis, Chet Atkins, Brooks and
Dunn and John Denver. One of Bailey's high
points was being asked to fill in for the
Limeliters' absent tenor when this beloved group
from his childhood played the World Folk Music
Concert in Washington.
Bailey composed and performed the soundtrack
music for the PBS specials, Block Island - A
Gift Of The Glaciers and Smith Island - Land
Water People Time. And he co-wrote the theme for
the Johns Hopkins Children's Miracle Network
telethon.
Each October since the fall of 1999, Bailey has
performed in " A Musical Tribute To John
Denver," a series of concerts by Denver's band
members and friends to raise money for the
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Challenge Aspen and
the National Dyslexia Foundation.
Besides writing, performing and recording,
Bailey is musically active in several medical
and environmental causes, among them Maryland
Therapeutic Riding, the Cystic Fibrosis
Foundation, the Johns Hopkins Children's Center,
the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Mack also
performs regularly in nursing homes and
Alzheimer's units playing group concerts and
individual outreach.
Noting both his voice and sense of mission,
former Limeliter Glenn Yarbrough dubbed Mack
"the next great singer in folk music."
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