Bridget Ball

Singer/songwriter

"This heart won't ever give up
This heart is made of steel."

From "Heart of Steel" by Bridget Ball

Strong words. Strong melodies. Strong performances. These are what have put Bridget Ball in front of audiences from the Smithsonian to concert halls and festivals, to radios in living rooms and dashboards across the country.

Bridget was born and raised in central New York State, where the foothills of the Adirondacks melt into the rolling hills of New England and the Mid West begins to weave its love affair with the horizon. Her music was born and raised there too. In the tap rooms and taverns, hardware stores and kitchens of a people living and dying, laughing and loving in the crossroads of America.

Bridget has seven recordings to her credit, each of which has enjoyed heavy airplay on radio stations nationwide that feature folk/acoustic music. Artists who have contributed to her recordings include such acoustic innovators as John Sebastian, Cindy Cashdollar (Asleep at the Wheel), Garth Hudson (The Band), Jay Ungar, Tony Trischka, Steve Riley, and Bill Staines.

When she is not touring or recording, Bridget devotes a great deal of time to her work with pre-teen girls. Inspired by the volumes of research that point to the pre-teen years as the time when our girls suffer a plurnmeting loss of self esteem, Bridget conducts extensive song writing workshops, designed to give girls an opportunity to speak up and sing out. This program, "Sisters and Friends," has met with tremendous success and enthusiasm from girls, educators, and administrators. A Song for Sisters, a documentary based on Bridget and her program is slated for broadcast over public television stations in the Fall of 1997.

Bridget has been married since 1984 to singer/songwriter/storyteller Christopher Shaw. They currently live just south of the Adirondack Park in rural Rensselaer Country. Chris and Bridget have two children, Christopher Donald "Tinker" Shaw, born March 3, 1995 and Silas Henry Shaw, born March 6, 1998.

Discography:
Songs from the Big Front Porch (with Christopher Shaw) Twining Tree 9611-214 (1996)
Mountain Snow & MistleTWO (with Christopher Shaw) Hudson River Co/Twining Tree 9410-2/4 (1994)
Bricks and Windows Hudson River Co./Twining Tree 9307-214 (1993)
Mountain Snow & Mistletoe (with Christopher Shaw) Hudson River Co,JTwining Tree 9106-214 (1991) Almost Dancing Hudson River Co./Twining Tree 9004-2/4 (1990)
Mothers and Daughters Hudson River Co./Twining Tree 8903-4 (1989)
Duffy Rose Hudson River Co./Twining Tree 8601-4 (1986)

"Her keen insights into human nature that others could barely hope to perceive and express have resulted in enthralling portrayals ... Bridget Ball is undoubtedly poised for something big." - Dirty Linen

"Her songs say something meaningful to everyone - things that we can all relate to - and have that air of immediacy that great stuff possesses." - Times-Union, Albany, NY

"Nashville should perk up its ears to Bridget Ball's Bricks and Windows. A folkie at heart, Ball's sweet and clear vocals combined with songs of 'deep emotion recall Kathy Mattea or Mary Chapin Carpenter at their acoustic best." - CMJ New Music Report

"Bridget Ball grew up in central New York State where the mid West meets New England. Her music comes from her mother's kitchen, the high school ski bus, smoky bars, train stations and hardware stores. She shares her wide-eyed insights into the humor, hope and hardship of people's lives in her songs and stories. Her siffing-around-the-table-with-a-bunch-of-old-friends stage presence will win your heart." - Philadelphia Folk Festival

"This was no wimpy folk singer." - The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA

"Ball compels the listener to imagine and feel what it's like to be in someone else's shoes, because they feel so much like our own." - Icon, Iowa City, IA

"Bridget Ball is a major talent who brims with warmth and energy. Even when she's on stage, it feels like she's an old friend sitting across the room from you. Her music is full of slices of real life 'that every listener can identify with ... strong lyrics and excellent musicianship. She is a treat" - The Grand River Folk Arts Society, Grand Rapids Ml

"Go see Bridget in concert. She has a masterful and captivating stage presence. You'll fall in love with her. I did." - WNHU, West Haven, CT

"Ball takes on everything with a glistening voice that easibr attaches itself to your heart ... she can really reach the personal moments of life that grab aD of us at one time or another." - Observer-Dispatch, Utica, NY

"Totally captivating, and more importantly, real. Easily her best work to date, Almost Dancing .. . marks Ball's emergence as a power to be reckoned with as a contemporary folk songwriter." - Metroland, Albany, NY.

Bricks And Windows