season sponsor
10% of
the Events Barn ticket proceeds
after expenses will go to benefit Challenge
Mountain.
Special thanks to the
following show sponsors.
Sunday June 21 at 7 PM
Ticket Information
Jill Jack &
Billy Brandt
with special guest Sarana Verlin
About Jill
Jack
April
20, 2007
Jill Jack wins THREE 2007
Detroit Music Awards!
-
OUTSTANDING ACOUSTIC/FOLK SONGWRITER
- OUTSTANDING ACOUSTIC/FOLK VOCALIST
- OUTSTANDING ACOUSTIC ARTIST/GROUP
_________________________________________________________________
"Her voice can soar like opera and smoke like the blues ...
one of the strongest voices in Detroit, or in the country
for that matter."
-- The Detroit Free Press
A woman with a strong drive and ambition, Jill Jack has a
unique voice, with a distinct timbre that sets her apart.
Fusing folk, rock and country, Jill draws comparisons to
such singer/songwriters as
Emmylou Harris,
Sheryl Crowe, and Lucinda
Williams. The intuitive sensitivity of Jill's songwriting
is often compared to
Woody Guthrie and even
John Mellencamp.
A seasoned and captivating performer, Jill expends an
incredible amount of energy on stage with her vocal
athleticism and the raw emotion of her live performances.
There's an honesty in Jill that people immediately identify
with -- she's very real, and performs and relates to the
audience with such ease.
Jill Jack has worked relentlessly for years and has risen
to the elite of Detroit's music scene, building a large and
loyal fan base that literally stretches from coast to coast
(with her website receiving thousands of hits each week).
For this singer/songwriter, performing countless shows
while balancing all the risks involved between her music
career and raising her daughter have really paid off. Jill
has produced and released six critically-acclaimed albums
(selling well over 18,000 copies), and has won 22
Detroit Music Awards for
outstanding
vocalist,
songwriter,
album, and
artist across three
different genres (Acoustic/Folk, Country, and Pop/Rock).
Jill has garnered TEN nominations between the 2006 and 2007
DMA's, including
Outstanding Acoustic Artist; Oustanding Folk Recording;
Outstanding Folk Vocalist; Outstanding Folk Songwriter;
Outstanding Live Performance; and
Outstanding Pop Artist.
Jill grew up in Michigan, the middle of five children. Her
musical tastes and interest in playing guitar were
hand-me-downs from her older sisters who cultured her in
the rock 'n roll of the times. From her early days of
school choir and talent shows, Jill's done it all --
singing on numerous commercial jingles, movie soundtracks,
headlining colleges, and sharing the stage with national
acts such as Loretta Lynn, Kim Ritchey, Dan Fogelberg, Ron
Block (Allison Krauss), Will Kimbrough, Pat Benatar, John
Michael Montgomery, Duncan Sheik, Jethro Tull at Detroit's
major music venues: DTE Energy Music Theater, Meadowbrook
Music Festival, State Theater and Americana Music
Conference.
In 2008, Jill will be performing at the prestigious Ann
Arbor Folk Festival with the ULTIMATE line up of EmmyLou
Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin and many more. Look for
more music in 2008 where Jill will be releasing her Live
DVD "Jill Jack...Live from the Stage" and also her
"Songwriter" Acoustic Album.
"Jill
Jack has all the makings of a major talent. She's got the
stage presence, the voice, the ability to interpret songs
passionately ... there's a lot of soul in what she
does"
-- Billboard Magazine
About Billy
Brandt
Having
spent decades in the music business supporting other bands
and artists,
Billy Brandt has now found
his own musical voice and steps into the spotlight as a
singer-songwriter for the first time in his amazing career.
Influenced by the likes of Gram Parsons to the Grateful
Dead, Billy Brandt has molded his sound by creating his own
unique guitar picking that creates a haunting melody which
stays with the listener long after the song is over.
Billy’s road to success reads like a captivating
novel that is still being written. His musical journey has
taken him to every corner of the country in a very diverse
variety of roles – everything from solo acoustic
artist, to rock-and-roll tour merchandiser, to manager, and
headlining performer at major outdoor music festivals.
Billy's love for music was created the minute he was born
– almost as if he was born with guitar in hand. Early
in his career, Billy sang harmonies with friends and
skipped school just to write songs. During college in
Arizona, he took his guitar everywhere, even writing songs
on the 10,000 foot Mt. Lemon, and started the first local
country music band in Tucson in 1974. After several years
of performing and songwriting in Arizona, Billy moved to
New York City, taking a job selling merchandise at rock
concerts, which lead to a two year job touring the country
with the rock band .38 Special as the bands official
merchandiser. During those years on the road, Billy wrote
songs in the truck with his business partner and would sing
songs at the hotel after the show with the band’s
backing singers.
After moving back to Michigan in the late 1980’s,
Billy moved into artist development and started his own
label, Drum Dancer Records, in 1993 as a management label
and cultivated several bands to the point of major label
interest. Drum Dancer soon grew to become a full record
production label, and soon after he met a singer-songwriter
named Jill Jack and signed her to his label. Billy helped
launch Jill’s career by releasing her first four
CD’s, managing and playing guitar in her band, and
co-writing several songs with Jill. Billy continues to
perform frequently with Jill both as a duo and with the
full band.
In 2002, Billy started his latest music endeavor called
Grievous Angel, an all-star caliber band of Detroit’s
top musicians that blends the best elements of roots-rock,
folk, bluegrass, and country. Grievous Angel took the area
by storm and quickly became a staple on the Detroit music
scene, winning two Detroit Music Awards for Outstanding
Folk/Acoustic group in 2004 and 2005.
Billy Brandt is the winner of the 2006 Detroit Music Award
for Acoustic/Folk Instrumentalist. He has been recognized
with 11 more DMA nominations for Songwriter, Guitarist, and
Vocalist in both the Acoustic/Folk and Country categories,
as well as almost two dozen additional DMA nominations as a
member of Grievous Angel and the Jill Jack Band.
Performance
Highlights:
- DTE Energy
Music Theatre – Detroit
(opening for Pat
Benetar, Kim Richie, Billy Nann, Clay Walker)
-
Blissfest Music Festival – Michigan
- Riverfest
Music Festival – Michigan
- WCSX-fm Riverfront
Concert Series
- Trinity House Theatre –
Livonia, MI
- Fox 2 News TV – Detroit
-
WCSX-fm – Detroit
- Live performances on Pam
Rossi’s ‘Over Easy’ show
Awards
& Nominations:
- 2006
Detroit Music Awards – Outstanding Acoustic/Folk
Instrumentalist (Guitar)
- 11 Detroit Music Award
Nominations for Songwriter, Vocalist, and Instrumentalist
in both the Acoustic/Folk and Country music categoriesJ
Sarana
Verlin
About Sarana
VerLin
Sarana VerLin begin writing songs and playing guitar and
violin at age 10. In her teens, she played in coffehouses
accompanying herself on guitar at the same time she was
playing violin in The International Youth Symphony. It
wasn't until she was in her twenties that she turned her
attention to rock music.
Throughout the eighties she performed in alternative and
rock groups. She fronted her own band,Natasha,
in which she was lead singer/songwriter as well as
violinist. After their first record release, Natasha toured
US cities throughout the midwest/eastern states and Canada
as well as having a loyal Detroit area following. Their
popularity was boosted by numerous TV & radio
appearances and press in both the US and Europe.
It was during that time that VerLin won three years in a
row at the Detroit Metro Times Music Awards (19981, 1982,
1983) and is in the Detroit Metro
Times Music Hall of Fame.
In 1985 she was one of the original members of the
supergroup Dark Carnival, a rotating group of superstars
primarily from the Detroit Area...most notably Niagara, Ron
Asheton, Scott Asheton...Cheetah Chrome and Jim Carroll.
VerLin has worked with grammy award winner Don Was, Greg
Apro of Rhythm Corps, producer Steve King (Eminem, 50 Cent,
Romantics), Ben Grosse (Marilyn Manson, Debby Harry),
Niagara, Art Lyzak (Mutants), Joe Hayden from Aretha
Franklin, Ivan Suvanjieff of Peacejam.org,
Jerry Vile, Beaux, Cristina and Robb Roy.
In 2004 she moved to the renaissance and celtic festival
circuit, playing a blend of celtic, rock and acoustic
throughout Michigan and Ohio with The Gutterpups, and got
the chance to jam with Jeff Daniels at his 10th Annual
Comedy Golf Jam. In 2007 she teamed with Walter der
Rattenfanger and Gibbon the Troubadour to perform nautical
& celtic folk as Amadon Crest.
And now she has come full circle, and can be found
performing in coffeehouses and clubs once
again...