California singer/songwriter Claudia Russell and her band perform Saturday, July 31, 7:30 at the Red Barn on Washington as part of a eight-day tour of Wisconsin and Illinois. The Red barn is located at 1474 S. Shore Drive on Washington Island. Russell will also conduct a songwriting workshop the following day at noon. Tickets are just $7 dollars adults and $3 dollars for children. Russell is a world-class vocalist, songwriter and guitarist and is well known to Door County audiences as a frequent cast member of American Folklore Theater fall shows such as Fish and Whistle, Goodnight Irene and Old Friends. Accompanied by her band, the Folk Unlimited Orchestra, Russell plays her own brand of Americana/Folk woven from traditional music, pop, blues, western swing, and county. Her performances are truly heartfelt and entertaining. Using humor, personal stories and her “Who me?” attitude, Claudia quickly bonds with audiences, winning them over with her powerful voice and signature guitar voicings. Russell has performed at festivals and concert series all around the USA. Though she is based in the San Francisco Bay area, she is proud to call the Door County her home away from home. “I’m a Midwestern wannabe. Every show I play, I talk about Door Country and all the good times I’ve had, and friends I’ve made here,” Russell says. Besides playing concerts from Washington Island to Goshen, Indiana, Russell has logged more than 300 performances in American Folklore Theater productions and has also as performed at Milwaukee’s Stackner Cabaret. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel said of her Old Friends performance: “Russell has a voice that was born to sing folk music. She breaks hearts…” Russell’s first CD, Song Food, gained airplay on more than 125 stations and earned her Best New Artist honors from WUMB in Boston. Her second CD, Ready To Receive, and her third, Live Band Tonight gained similar airplay as well as press acclaim including rave reviews in Sing Out magazine. Chicago DJ Rich Warren of WFMT wrote: “Russell is a great live performer. And her band! Let’s just say they’re hot. Plug them into a medium sized city and they’ll light it up.” Warren has been a big supporter of Russell and has featured Claudia and her band on Folk Stage on their last Midwest tour. Speaking of the band – the Folk Unlimited Orchestra is rounded out by bassist Mark Petrella and Russell’s husband, guitarist/mandolinist Bruce Kaplan. (Kaplan’s brother James, a Milwaukee resident, is known to many Midwest audiences as co-creator of American Folklore Theater musical comedies such as Guys on Ice and Lumberjacks in Love.) Russell is a third generation professional singer. Her father, Val Rosing, was the vocalist on the original million selling 1930s BBC recordings of Teddy Bears Picnic and Try A Little Tenderness. Her grandfather Vladmir Rosing was a famous Russian opera tenor who appeared at Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.
Don’t miss Claudia Russell and the Folk Unlimited – one of Door County’s favorite traveling troubadors. For more information, visit islandredbarn.com or www.claudiarussell.com.