8:00pm. - $10-$20 Suggested donation for the artists.
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.
• Erik Balkey is a singer-songwriter from New Jersey. He has written and recorded hundreds of songs and won awards including being named a Kerrville New Folk Winner. His song "Baseball in my Blood" has been featured on New England Sports Network TV during the Red Sox broadcast. It has also been heard on over 50 radio shows worldwide, and has been customized, re-written and recorded for Little League baseball players in New Jersey, Iowa and Alabama. Erik has had a No. 1 charting album on the FolkDJ charts as a solo artist as well as with his duo The Copper Ponies. He has co-written songs with Tom Prasada-Rao, Jonathan Byrd, Johnsmith and Amy Speace, among many others.
• Dirk Hamilton was born in Hobart, Indiana and raised in California. He was signed to ABC records in 1975 by Steely Dan producer Gary Katz. In '78 his 3rd major label offering, Meet Me at the Crux, was
released on Elektra:
"It is possible that Dirk Hamilton may be the most important singer/songwriter on the Elektra Asylum roster. To these ears; he's certainly the most interesting ...
[this at a time when Jackson Browne - The Pretenders, Warren Zevon, Steve Goodma n, Tom Waits, Booker T & the MGs, The Eagles, Linda
Ronstadt, The Cars, John Prine, Harry Chapin, Joe Cocker and Queen, were his label mates]
... On the other hand he sounds like a person who would die - or kill before he'd sell out. It's a great part of what's to recommend him."
Cashbox Magazine top ten albums of the year, 1978 (December issue).
• Charlie Bryant If country music is three chords and the truth, then folk music is four chords and the ambiguity. Charlie Bryant aims for the intersection of that Venn diagram, with songs about love, angst, God, bewilderment, wistful longing, modern technology, and (of course) alcohol.
• Annette Wasilik Annette has been writing songs ever since she found a Sears Silvertone abandoned in a tin wardrobe in the basement when she was 14. "Songwriting," Annette says, "is like diving for pearls. I sink down and let my emotions lead into melody which leads to phrasing and lyrics. Later the editing comes in." She began performing locally but when her daughter was small, Annette stopped, turning her focus to building a massage practice and caring for her family. Later when she was able to turn her full attention to her music, she dug in. Her debut album, Songs from the Talking House won Contemporary Folk Recording of the Year from The Washington Area Music Association in 2016. Her 2020 recording, Love & Fire released at #6 on the FolkDJ chart and #1 on the NACC chart and landed #40 on Folk DJ chart for the year.