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.
Rich Morey
Rich Morey is a folk rock and Americana singer/songwriter in the Washington, DC area. His songs feature rhythmic fingerstyle acoustic guitar and lyrics from the heart, inspired by his love of poetry. His influences are many & varied and include Mark Knopfler, James Taylor, and Amos Lee. Rich won first place in the 2023 Mattawoman Forever Song Contest. He is working on a new EP, due out in early 2024.
Craig Cummings
Craig is a performing songwriter originally from Baltimore, Maryland. He has written hundreds of songs, recorded and released six albums, and performed in countless venues throughout the mid-Atlantic region. His 6 th album, Love In The Tie Of Chaos, was released in the fall of 2023. Craig uses his love of language, his strong voice, and rhythmic guitar style to craft songs that depict first-person accounts of life’s twists and turns, spot-on depictions of contemporary characters, and stories about love and loss.
In his early years, he listened to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, soul artists including Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, and Aretha Franklin, and singer-songwriters Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, and Gram Parsons. He taught himself to play guitar and began performing in his teens, serving as the lead singer for rock and soul bands and booking solo shows that featured his original songs. He studied education at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University, spending many years as an educator, while continuing to write songs and perform. In 2008, Craig began playing solo shows around the Baltimore/Washington area that featured a new collection of songs influenced by songwriters such as Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, and Rosanne Cash, and Lucinda Williams. He moved on from his career in education and now performs and writes full-time.
Craig is a member of the Azalea City Recordings label. He has hosted many songwriter showcases, and is active in numerous songwriting organizations including The Songwriters Association of Washington, The Baltimore Songwriters Association, and the Frederick Acoustic Music Enterprise. He studies the craft of songwriting with some of the most successful songwriters in popular and country music.
Brian Evans
Brian is a musician, songwriter and scientist from New England but lived in North Carolina long enough to develop a slight southern drawl. Whether he was born with an impeccable ear for nuanced and imagery, or whether he absorbed in down south, he can't say. But anyone who hears his songs are immediately drawn in and listen hard so as not to miss a word. Some say there's a touch of genius there. He has been a regular at Local Cream, is a member of Annette Wasilik & The Porchmen and was a part of The Acoustic Guitar Project in 2019.
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 and co-hosts a popular monthly songwriting circle. In the spring of 2022, her song "Almost" was a finalist in The Great American Song Contest and won "Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting" Award