One of the most prolific artists in the contemporary singer-songwriter arena, Tret Fure is extraordinarily talented. In addition to being a gifted songwriter, Fure possesses an uncanny mastery of musical technology. Over the past 30 years, Fure has engineered and produced countless recordings by a variety of artists, including her own work.
In the early seventies, at a time when the music industry was particularly inaccessible to women, Tret Fure was rewriting the rules. At nineteen, she toured and eventually recorded Mousetrap with Spencer Davis, penning the record's first single. At twenty-one, Little Feat's Lowell George produced Fure's self-titled debut on MCA Records. It featured a roster of some of the best musicians around at the time, including Bonnie Raitt, Van Dyke Parks, and several of the members of Little Feat. A short time later, she was working with the most successful commercial bands of the decade: Yes, Poco, and The J Geils Band.
Since that time, the writer, producer, engineer, vocalist, and gifted instrumentalist has navigated her career with integrity and determination. After becoming one of the first women sound engineers in the country, she left the mainstream music industry. Armed with a fierce desire to retain full artistic control, Fure began exploring the independent side of the industry and soon discovered the blossoming genre known as Women's Music.
In 1981, Fure engineered a children's record for singer-songwriter Cris Williamson. She subsequently produced and engineered Williamson's next five solo projects as well as the three releases they recorded as a duo: Postcards from Paradise, Between the Covers and Radio Quiet.
Fure's acclaimed solo releases include Terminal Hold, Edges of the Heart, Time Turns the Moon, and Back Home, which took both album of the year and single of the year awards for 2001 from Outvoice Top 40. Fure has just released her latest and best work to date, My Shoes, which stands to earn her further acclaim in 2003. Each collection spotlights Fure's gift for creating lyrical and musical vignettes. Whether it is her signature disarming piano ballad "That Side of the Moon, the moving and beautiful story of her Norwegian grandparents "Ancestors", or the gorgeous love song, "Dream Time", Fure's words transform inaccessible and complex emotions into that which listeners can viscerally touch.
This an exciting time for Tret. She has broadened her musical base by re-entering the folk arena and her business horizons by marketing of her own line of clothing named after the popular Fure song Tomboy girl. With the success of this venture, she has recently opened a retail store in Madison, WI with her partner, Jane Weldon. In addition, the two produce a series called Music & Comedy in Madison and hosted their first successful festival, Tomboy girl Fest 2003. An accomplished cook, Fure has also published a cookbook, Tret's Kitchen, featuring her own recipes. Along with bridging the marketing, production, and music worlds, Tret serves as Vice President on the executive board of the Local 1000 Traveling Musicians Association--a union geared toward helping traveling musicians find security and longevity. Always in great demand, Tret tours continuously and is currently celebrating the release of My Shoes.
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