Annie Wenz

_

ANNIE'S LONG AWAITED ALL INSTRUMENTAL CD

IS BEING USED BY HEALTH PRACTITIONERS INTERNATIONALLY !

"Rain On Bare Skin"

CLICK ON "BUY ANNIE'S MUSIC" (ABOVE) TO HEAR SNIPPETS

(OR TO BUY DIGITAL OR HARD COPY CD'S!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Annie & Jaime Michael's song "Dirty Wine" won

"SONG OF THE YEAR"

in the New Mexico Music Awards!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ANNIE & NEALE ECKSTEIN'S SONG "ONE MONTH CRAZIER THAN YOU"

HAS BEEN RECORDED BY MUSIC LEGENDS BUSKIN/BATTEAU & TOM RUSH

& WAS PART OF TOM'S BOSTON SYMPHONY HALL CONCERT

DOCUMENTING & CELEBRATING 50 YRS OF HIS LIFE IN MUSIC!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The NY Mets

are playing "Play Ball" at Citi Park!

With Guest Artist FORMER RED SOX PITCHER BILL SPACEMAN LEE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Annie's CD "RIDE THE SKY" is being played by DJ's around the world

Including those at XM/Sirius Radio!

To hear a preview & see snippets of the making

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0RZn538i_0

~~~~~~~~

More about Annie...

As a songwriter... Annie Wenz's music has been heard...

On ESPN, as Independent Film scores, and from major league ballparks & Harley dealerships around the US, to TV/theater productions around the world!

As a touring performer... Annie has been described as…

”a Poet & Human Rights Activist on the road, blending in with the people of different lands from South America to Ireland. Annie has stayed a spell, embraced the people, understood their plight, shared songs and enriched herself as much as her new found friends”...

That after her backpacking trip around the world (written by M Plumbley/DJ/Isle of Wight, England)

But that's just one side of Annie! "So many roads, so little time!" After many years of loving a career as Nursing Supervisor at a Psychiatric Crisis Shelter in Massachusetts, (while doing music for her patients and on the side!), Annie's music career called her to the road... (though she is still an RN)

Now Annie's muse-a rama leads her from brilliantly poetic watercolor story songs about life & love & backpacking through jungles & villages around the globe... to vivid gritty & tattered hard ridden road songs penned during long distant blue highway trips on the 2 wheels of her motorcycle & 4 wheels of her camper as settles & travels & shares her music...

From the Dragons Tail in the US to the twisting switchback cliffs of the Costa Brava in Spain, Annie's circling about with Guitar & Native American flute in one saddlebag & Drum in another, using music to bring people together, writing about the characters she "shares a few with" from hovel to hacienda... & performing at festivals & human rights events around the globe as a solo artist AND as a percussionist/drummer for other artists!! (does it get ANY better? She doesn't THINK SO!)

And it was a totally different world before that... Like any true artist, Annie dives in... & becomes other sounds & instruments...

Annie's fifth independent recording “Winds of the World”, was a totally soundscape!

"Winds of the World", soundtrack to the film "Gateway to Faerie" is an instrumental “magical multi-cultural musical journey”, featuring indigenous flutes from around the world! (AND now recommended by RN Magazine & being used by yoga, massage & wellness practitioners internationally!!!) The CD has done so well, Annie plans to record another instrumental recording... In Senegal Africa. That recording will include songs & influences from her journeys to Pakistan & India with African & American influences & grooves. Yes... music can be used to bring about peace!

Annie's road to wherever all started long ago…

Originally from New York, NY (Queens), from a family of 7 children, Annie’s musical career hit the scene full tilt in Northampton, MA 20 years ago at the Iron Horse Concert Hall when, after years of studying piano composition with Hartford Conservatory’s Ray Cassarino, percussion with conga/cuatro virtuoso Jose Gonzalez of Puerto Rico, guitar with Viva Quetzal’s Joe Belmont, and wading through notebooks full of songs, she finally celebrated the release of her long awaited first CD…

She’s been on the move ever since…

At first a regular in the New England acoustic scene as a soloist & in the world/multicultural scene with her band “Gypsy Moon”, her passion for “dancing with the muse” led her abroad, where she found herself collaborating & sharing her music with audiences as far away as Auckland New Zealand’s Millennium celebration, venues in Bali, Thailand, Sweden, Mexico, Australia & Costa Rica, and being invited by noted Swedish Director & Playwright Carl Johan Seth to record for the Swedish TV/theater production “Dream Woman”…

“Each song is a crafted jewel”… Annie’s songs are “remarkable both for the lyrical insights she presents as well as for the deliciously eclectic way in which she offers them… haunting & powerful”… like looking through a brilliant kaleidescope. Annie sings about our loves, passions & fears, about travel, spirit, & her own experiences… working as a registered psychiatric nurse, bungee jumping 150 feet off a bridge with her guitar on her back, climbing an erupting volcano in Costa Rica, as a rafting guide, a backhoe operator, delivering babies in Harlan County KY, running in a 100 mile relay with Penobscott Indian women to Mt. Katahdin, backpacking around the world through Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Bali, Central America, Australia, New Zealand, & India.

As a multi-instrumentalist with a love for American & world roots music, & good ol classic Rock, Annie is known for her unique way of blending textures & funky instrumentation. She accompanies herself (and others) on guitar, percussion instruments from all over the world, Native American & indigenous flutes, & piano. Her music has been compared to Joni Mitchell, Richard Thompson, N.Carlos Nakai & Led Zeppelin meets Melissa Etheridge!

Annie has taught percussion with legendary artists "Futureman" Roy Wooten of Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, & Joe Craven of "David Grisman Quintet". Her band & accompanists have included world renowned artists such as Senegalize talking drum wizard Massamba Djop (of Baba Mal’s band), percussionist/cuatro master Jose Gonzalez, balafon player Tony Vacca (“Rhythm Culture”), “Viva Quetzal’s” multi talented Eugenio Huanca, Guy DeVito (“Steppenwolf”), & most recently & frequently in Costa Rica, London’s Robert Dean known for his work with Sinead O’Connor as well as his own band “Japan”.

Annie’s recordings receive crossover airplay on folk, alternative, roots, rock, world, jazz & new age stations! Her CD’s “Gypsy Moon” & “Time is Magic” were recorded by Grammy/Emmy award winning engineer Norman Blain, known for his work with Yusef Lateef & Steven Schoenberg. “Time is Magic”, produced by Norman Blain also features artists Glen Velez, Duke Levine, Brooks Williams & Annie Burns (Burns Sisters). Her CD “Poets Dance” co-produced by Tom Prasada Rao, is also a brilliant work of musical art & poetry... with each instrument (over 20) played by either Annie or Tom.

Annie has had numerous appearances at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Florida’s Suwannee Springfest/Spring Reunion & Magnoliafest/Roots Revival, Kerrville Folk Festival, Earth Day (Dia Mundial de Ambiente)- Montezuma Costa Rica, as well as teaching regularly at the prestigious Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Song School. She was honored to be a participating artist in the international collaboration between German & American roots artists, the DAFT Tour, http://www.daft-tour.com/ in the US & Germany & she has performed at The Kennedy Center in honor of Veterans Day...

Annie was also invited to the earthquake zone in Pakistan as guest of M. Suumro (acting president at the time & now Premier) to perform & teach about therapeutic music & post traumatic stress for victims of Oct 2005 devastating earthquake. It was the experience of a lifetime & eventually led to Annie performing with Pakistani multi million record selling artist Salman Ahmad of "Junoon" & tabla master Jerry Leake!

Annie has been a radio guest & shared stages with award winning Civil War maritime historical novelist Robert N. Macomber for her song “Onward & Upward Bound” written about Robert’s character Peter Wake.

She's also co written with her dear friend & party sister Dr Jerri Nielsen of the book & movie "Ice Bound", about Jerri's saga & battle for survival in the south pole!

As an activist and a teacher, Annie has been awarded various grants from the National Endowment For The Arts & numerous Arts Councils for her diversity & educational programs, performance & percussion workshops which focus on bringing people together using multicultural music & rhythms as a medium.

Annie’s wellness workshops draw on her background as a Registered Nurse & alternative medicine practitioner, assisting artists in finding balance on & off the road.

Annie has also been a frequent featured artist in concerts "Remembering Phil Ochs" throughout the US, hosted by the late great activist/artist's DJ sister Sonny Ochs. http://www.sonnyochs.com/

She is a proud "family member"/ sponsored by:

Swan Percussion http://www.swanpercussion.com/

Elixir Guitar Strings by Gore, http://www.elixirstrings.com/

Island Flutes http://www.islandflutes.com/

Rocky Mountain Slides http://www.rockymountainslides.com/

When Annie's not on the road performing, she writes, bikes, hikes, creates art, & works for change in Western North Carolina…