Johnsmith
Wisconsin songwriter Johnsmith has won several awards including the Kerrville TX New Folk Competition and the Great Lakes Songwriting Contest. He teaches songwriting at festivals and song camps and at Big Sur CA’s Esalen Institute.
Johnsmith has been featured on the elite NPR program ‘New Dimensions.’ He had a Nashville publishing deal for five years, and is the founder of Inishfree Irish musical tours. See Johnsmith’s website
“Johnsmith’s songs always move me. They make me laugh, cry, dance, or just sing along. He is one of the most consistent writers of quality songs that I’ve ever met.” —Lydia Hutchinson, Editor, Performing Songwriter Magazine
Teresa Tudury
Unfortunately, Teresa has had to cancel for health reasons. We welcome Brad Colerick who will be teaching in her place.
Brad Colerick
Brad Colerick was born in Nebraska. Heavily influenced by James Taylor, he was a solo act in the clubs in Lincoln and Omaha in the ’80s. While attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he also teamed up with Gene Klosner, and the two recorded a duo album. In ’86, Brad moved to Los Angeles. There he released his debut solo album Token Dreams. He also landed a day job making music for commercials, working with Amy Grant, Livingston Taylor, Johnny Cash, Shawn Colvin, B.B. King, and Veruca Salt. He founded Back 9 Records in 1990, and in 2002, co-founded his own production company, DeepMix, winning a London International Advertising Award for a song he wrote and recorded with Buddy Guy. Johnny Cash would also go on to record a Colerick-penned song as well. Brad has been an even busier road dog solo act the last 20 years, releasing numerous critically acclaimed albums onto the Americana charts.
Brad fosters a vibrant songwriter scene in South Pasadena where he’s based. Known as the “Nightlife Mayor” of South Pass, he champions 100s of touring and local songwriters at his songwriter series and festivals when they travel through the 210 corridor. See Brad’s website
Michael McNevin
Michael grew up in the train town of Niles, California in the San Francisco East Bay hills. His songs read like short stories, full of heart, humor, and a keen eye for detail. Seasoned vocals and clean guitar work underscore the characters and places in his travels. He tours the US as a solo act, and occasionally gets a band together as McNevin & The Spokes. He is a winner of the Kerrville New Folk Award in Texas, a seven-time winner of the West Coast Songwriters “Song Of The Year” award, and a Performing Songwriter magazine “DIY Artist Of The Year.” He’s shared hall stages with Johnny Cash & The Carter Family, Donovan, Shawn Colvin, Laura Nyro, Richie Havens, and many others across the US and Europe. Festival appearances include Strawberry, High Sierra, Kerrville, Redwood Ramble, American River, Philly Folk Fest, and SummerFolk. He has five CDs and a couple of hard-to-find cassettes. Michael is also an Etch-A-Sketch artist of some renown.
In his spare time, Michael runs The Mudpuddle Shop, a converted barbershop. Now in it’s thirteenth year, it is a hive for concerts, jams, swaps and workshops. See Mike’s website
Caroline Testard
Our fearless, tireless, fiddle-playing, guitar-strumming co-director Caroline helps run our camp and also lends her elbow grease to Sierra Fiddle Camp. She participates, promotes, and books the halls for the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers’ annual three-show fundraiser series, and you might spot her on Bay Area Celtic Fair stages. Caroline’s experience and vision make our camp uniquely fun, well-run, and creatively dynamic. As the ultimate cat herder (she’s an elementary school teacher by day), Caroline is firmly planted in the Northern California music and folk dance scene, but also has deep roots in Germany, where she was born. Her daughter and granddaughter live there, so she travels back and forth. A Niles Mudpuddle regular, she now resides in Oakland with her partner Lewis, a guitar builder and multi-instrumentalist also steeped in the NoCal trad and folk scene.
Late for the Train
David Pascoe and Laura Benson are founding members of the band Late for the Train, a modern string band rooted in American folk and bluegrass. Infused with the honest depth of the coastal redwood forests, the group provides a playful and poignant musical experience that uplifts the spirit and rouses the soul. Their most recent record, The Flowers of Yesteryear, was praised for “demonstrating that even well-trodden musical paths can yield fresh insights when approached with sincerity and skill.”
Late for the Train has toured extensively in the western US and recently took their first international tour to Ireland, where they played at the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival and the Doolin Folk Festival. While there, they had a live performance of their original song “The Trouble With Love” featured on TG4—the national Gaelic language TV station. See Late for the Train’s website
Stan DeWitt
As a multi-faceted musician, Stan is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and conductor, in one amazingly musical power pack. He recently released the rock opera Silver Bullet in co-production with Derek O’Brien (Social Distortion). His album Long Day’s Journey was named a “DIY Top Ten” record by Performing Songwriter magazine in 2002. He has co-produced multiple records for Moonshine, Corrina Carter, Jellykka, Onward Etc., and Rick Schiller, among others. As an educator, he taught music at Coastline Community College for 26 years and authored an online music history course. He is the Minister of Music at Grace First Presbyterian Church in Long Beach, where he directs the choir for the traditional service and leads the band for the contemporary service, and he runs a band camp for kids every summer. Stan’s gifts are an invaluable part of camp year after year. See Stan’s website
Severin Browne
Severin was raised in a musical family where all the children were expected to play an instrument. He began with accordion, then moved to drums and saxophone before settling on guitar at the ripe old age of ten. His older brother Jackson, a talented singer/songwriter with many albums for the Asylum/Elektra labels, started out as first chair cornet in the elementary school band, where Severin soon joined him on the drums.
A former Motown recording artist and staff songwriter, Severin continues to enchant audiences with his clear voice, masterful guitar playing and finely crafted songs. After leaving Motown in the mid-seventies, Severin spent his time writing and performing in the Los Angeles area, where his songs were recorded by Thelma Houston, Patti Dahlstrom, Colin Blunstone, Twiggy, The Dillards, and Pamela Stanley, who had a Billboard #15 hit with Severin’s “I Don’t Want To Talk About It.”
His three post-Motown CDs, From the Edge of The World (1996), This Twisted Road (2001), and Lucky Man—A Songwriter’s Notebook (2012) have gotten great reviews. With roots in pop, jazz, country, rock and R&B, Severin surprises his acoustic audiences with his melodies. See Severine’s website
Sara Glaser
Sara has been writing songs for two decades and is an enthusiastic member of The Mudpuddle Shop gang. Raised in a musical family, she ran away from home to join The Hanes Family, and later the New Oak Pilgrims. She released her first album of original songs, Cinders in the Wind, in 2022 and is working on a second album.
A veteran graphic designer for the music industry, she has created CD packaging, websites, and other promotional materials for Holly Near, Laurie Lewis, Brittany Haas, Kitka, Ray Bierl, Wake the Dead and many others. She is happy to answer questions about copyrighting, publishing, streaming distribution, and CD packaging options. See Sara’s website
Rebecca Troon
Rebecca accompanies herself on guitar, banjo and percussion. She won first place in songwriting at the Gig Harbor Folk Festival in Washington in 2007. Her song “Animal Skin” was a finalist in the 2011 International Acoustic Music Awards, Best Folk/Americana/Roots category. She’s a member of the Honeysuckle Possums, a harmony-based old-time, originals and bluegrass band. CDs: Turning Around and Animal Skin. Past gigs: Bodie House, Auburn House Concert Series, Magic Juju Houseboat series, Trinity Backstage, Songtree Concert Series; also, Live Oak, Gig Harbor, Old-Time Fiddler’s Convention and Parkfield music festivals. See Rebecca’s website
Mark Dann
Mark is a staple of the East Coast scene, and a musical Diehard battery at song camp as teacher and coach here in the West. A top-notch bassist and professional recording engineer for more than 30 years, he has worked with hundreds of artists at his studios in New York City and Woodstock, including engineering and playing on the legendary Fast Folk Musical Magazine recordings. He’ll be everywhere at song camp—tap Mark for bass lessons, combo performance help, chart writing, and Mac Garageband 101. He’s also the camp Guitar Doctor… we think he has a blue Gui-Tardis. See Mark’s website
Jaynee Thorne
Jaynee has been coming to camp for well… 20 years now! She was at the first camp in 2004 at Camp Whittier. Now she attends camp to be of service—to run sound for the evening Coffee House and for the performance classes during the day. She looks forward to camp every year and hopes to write a new song every winter. She will be available for guitar and harmonies throughout camp. Don’t be shy to ask for backup for the Coffee House! We’re here to have some fun!
Jean-Jacques (JJ) Schoch
An accomplished music composer, producer, arranger, and mix master, JJ began studying cello and piano at age 10, later adding stand-up bass, electric bass and guitar to his instrument arsenal. While majoring in music composition and piano at Montgomery College in Maryland, he played throughout the D.C. area in traditional orchestras and string quartets, as well as in bands playing eclectic blends of jazz, funk, rock and bluegrass.
Relocating to Los Angeles to take his music career to the next level, JJ established his own recording studio, writing, producing and arranging music for various projects, from musical artists to film and TV. With two gold records to his credit for production and engineering, JJ has played stand-up bass on the Gap Band VI album and co-wrote the song “Live Your Dream” with David Nathan and Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire. JJ also creates and directs music videos and has a solo piano album, Images of a Morning Dream.
Feel free to tap JJ during camp for coaching in melody, chord progressions, and arranging, or to accompany you for your Coffeehouse performance.