8:00pm. - $10-$20 Suggested donation for the artists.
Local Cream rises again!
Every first Wednesday of the month, Annette Wasilik curates and hosts this showcase of the area's finest singer/songwriters at Hank Dietle's Tavern in Rockville, which has literally risen from the ashes and it looks, sounds and feels fabulous! $10-$20 Suggested donation for the artists.
Valeria is originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina and grew up in the DC area. She has been performing in the DMV area for many years, first with the Stewart Sisters, and later as half of the duo Luna. She now performs solo, or in her trio called Crooked Sparrow, with singer-songwriter Kevin Dudley and fiddler Jenny Smith. Valeria’s songs have a blend of latin, folk, jazz, and Americana roots sound. Her first EP ‘The Alchemist’s Journey’, as part of Luna, was released in 2020
Drew Gibson
Like romantic dust Drew Gibson's music draws on influence from the American days of country-blues and songwriters of the recent past. Since releasing his debut album “Letterbox” in 2007 the finger-style guitarist from Virginia has garnered attention from USA Today, The Washington Post, The Washington Area Music Association, The Greenville Journal, OnTap Magazine, RVA Magazine, and No Depression, for his intensely personal songs and stagecraft as a live performing story-teller.
In April 2019 Gibson released his fourth record entitled “Shipbuilder.” The latest offering followed his critically acclaimed concept album “1532” which was born from the healing journey on which Gibson embarked after the loss of his father on the Fourth of July 2012. While "Fifteen Thirty-Two" traced stories of Gibson’s family from its roots in Scotland to the branches across Canada and the United States, “Shipbuilder” carries a theme of water throughout, how it flows in our lives, from a rising tide and a receding flood, to how a ship disappears over the horizon. Gibson's imagery invokes nostalgia and a means to carry on through the ups and downs of life, building dreams to stay above it all.
Eli Lev
Award-winning singer-songwriter and global citizen Eli Lev’s empathic writing and infectious folk-based sensibility has been his universal passport into our collective hearts.
Over the last five years, the Maryland-based artist released his epic debut, Four Directions, which compiles four conceptual EPs (All Roads East 2017, Way Out West 2018, Deep South 2019, True North 2021) into one 20-song statement. The indigenous traditions he learned during his time as an eighth grade English teacher on the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona were his inspiration for the critically-acclaimed tune tome. Together, the series imaginatively and intrepidly connects spheres and generations within a body of work that is irresistibly uplifting, emotionally resonant, and down-to-earth authentic.
Eli grew up in the diverse suburb of Silver Spring, Maryland, where a blending of incongruous backgrounds made an indelible impact on his pan-culture perspective. Prior to music calling Eli, he studied in Bloomington, Indiana, taught in the US, and lived in Tel Aviv and Andorra, before returning to the US to get a Master’s Degree in English Education.
Now, Eli is setting out on new adventures. His latest 2022 release, Walk. Talk. Dance. Sing., is an inner travel monologue from the pandemic and beyond. It vibrantly blends Eli’s classic acoustic guitar and upfront vocal aesthetic with refreshingly diverse sounds, spanning pop, lo-fi rock, electronic, indie, folk, and Caribbean-kissed musicality. The refreshing five-song collection compiles his songwriting during the pandemic, capturing the highs, lows, and all the emotions in between during our global crisis. The new EP’s eclectic flair is also an homage to the life-changing power of classic mixtapes, and how a broad array of exposure to new sounds can send someone on a lifelong journey.
Annette Wasilik
"Love & Fire is a masterpiece." ~ Tom Prasada-Rao
Annette's performances are marked by her compelling alto and moving songs that "touch you to the bone". In the tradition of the poet songwriter, with rich tones reminiscent of Linda Thompson or Natalie Merchant, she weaves a spell both startling in its intimacy and expansive in its vision. Her songwriting influences include Jane Siberry, Lucinda Williams and John Prine to mention just a few. Both down to earth and deeply atmospheric, Annette’s songs are explorations into longing, love, loss, God, home, homesickness and hope.
"I found my first guitar in an old tin wardrobe in my basement. Its bridge was broken but it was love at first sight, as if I found a buried treasure in my backyard. The room spun and everything. I glued the bridge back on and never looked back." On songwriting Annette says, "It feels like diving for pearls. I sink down and don't know what's going to happen. Usually a combination of emotion, melody and phrasing opens the way for the lyrics."
In her late teens and twenties. Annette was performing in local cafes, small venues and eventually festivals. When her daughter was small, Annette took a break from performing to attend her family and grow her healing practice. Now she is out performing again and becoming known in the DC area and nationally as a powerful songwriter and performer. Annette's debut CD, Songs from the Talking House, was awarded Contemporary Folk Recording of the Year by the Washington Area Music Association in April 2016. She also won Honorable Mention for her song Don't Look Down in the 2016 MidAtlantic Song Contest.
Her January 2020 release, Love & Fire, is her first album on the Azalea City Cooperative label. On release, it landed at #6 on FAI Folk DJ chart and #1 on the NACC chart and ended up #40 for the year.
In 2019, Annette created a new concert series, Local Cream, to showcase the best local and regional songwriters.