Album Notes

With roots in blues, jazz, country, bluegrass and more, singer/songwriter Naomi Sommers is emerging as an exciting and important new voice on the music scene. Flying Through, her debut CD on American Melody, has received much critical praise and radio airplay. Hypnotized, her second album was released in September, 2004. Based in the Boston area, Naomi performs regularly at Club Passim, Paradise Lounge, and other popular venues, as well as hosting the monthly Boston Songwriter Showcase at the Zeitgeist Gallery. In addition, she tours frequently throughout New England and beyond to ever-growing and enthusiastic audiences. She was a 2004 Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk finalist.
Naomi began her professional music career at age six, playing onstage at Washington D.C.'s Birchmere with Jonathan Edwards and the Seldom Scene (her dad, Phil Rosenthal, was lead singer and guitarist in the legendary band at the time), and singing on an award-winning series of bluegrass children's albums for American Melody Records. Now 25, she has grown into a striking, lyrical songwriter, an exceptional guitarist, and rich, expressive singer, completely at home and enchanting in live performance.
Naomi performs with a number of groups: solo; with the Sommers-Rosenthal family (a bluegrass-folk band with her parents Phil Rosenthal and Beth Sommers); with multi-instrumentalist Dan Tressler (fiddle, mandolin, vocals); with songwriter/guitarist Noam Weinstein; and most recently as an "old-time" duo with Lisa Bastoni. In that group Naomi has been playing mostly banjo, and the performances feature both woman trading lead and harmony vocals and covering a range of traditional folk and cover tunes with sweet, simple arrangements.