Cybergrass Bluegrass Music News: Jessica Kilroy Wins New Band Competition at NW String Summit

Fay wrote: on Jul. 25, 2008:
Missoula, MT -- Missoula, Montana singer-songwriter Jessica Kilroy has won the 2008 New Band Competition at the Northwest String Summit in North Plains, Oregon, near Portland. In its seventh year, this acoustic music festival is one of the largest gatherings of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. Headliners at this year's festival--which ran last weekend, July 18th - 20th -- included The Yonder Mountain String Band, Strings for Industry, Keller Williams, the Pete Kartsounes Band, Bryn Davies and Sharon Gilchrist, Greensky Bluegrass, Great American Taxi, Drew Emmitt and Bill Nershi, Hickster featuring "Burle," Bill Frisell and Danny Barnes, and last year's band competition winner, Head for the Hills. As 2008 winner, Kilroy has been invited to play at the 2009 festival.

Coming from a modest upbringing in the rugged mountains of Montana, Jessica's passion for music, human culture, and adventure has taken around the world. She has assisted orphans in Mexico, sung Celtic folk music with local fishermen off the coast of Ireland, and scaled some of the most famous rock climbing walls in the world. Throughout her life, Jessica has had her guitar by her side, capturing each experience with heartfelt lyrics and a soulful, genuine sound.

After watching Jessica perform live, Grammy-nominated songwriter Skip Ewing expressed, "Jessica's voice is honest and pure, it's nothing like I've ever heard before. She's a 21st century Emmylou Harris." Skip invited Jessica to sing at the legendary Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee, where she performed in the round with Ewing, Viktor Krauss, Pat Flynn, Barry Walsh, and Tommy Harding.

Jessica has also performed at many other of the country's most prestigious folk festivals, where she has shared the stage with folk and bluegrass legends including Tony Trischka, Guy Davis, Darrell Scott, Tom Faulkner, Tom Chapin, Ben Winship, Walt Michaels, and Thomas Sneed. She has also traveled the country performing her music and co-billing with some of the nation's best bluegrass bands, including Doc Watson, The Wilders, Jean Ritchie, and Ruby Dee & the Snake Handlers.

In her competition-winning performance at the Northwest String Summit, Kilroy was accompanied on mandolin and tenor guitar by Nate Biehl of Missoula and on fiddle by Jack Ausick of Livingston. These are the first Montana musicians to win the festival's new band competition. Biehl plays with Missoula's Broken Valley Roadshow; Ausick was the fiddler for Bozeman old-time string band Jawbone Railroad for two years and now appears with various bluegrass bands in the Livingston/Bozeman area, including Poultry in Motion.

For a biography of Jessica Kilroy, photos, and comments about her work, see

www.jessicakilroymusic.com.

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