Album Notes

WILLOW HALE has been playing guitar and singing folksongs since she was 13 years old in Gulfport, Mississippi. She entered a talent contest at that time and won first place, singing BANKS OF THE OHIO. She wrote her first song REDBIRD when she was 19 and from then on played her own songs as well as old folk, blues, jazz and some country in the Bay Area near San Francisco, including THE BOARDING HOUSE and FREIGHT AND SALVAGE in Berkeley.

In New York, WILLOW opened for DAVE VAN RONK at THE OTHER END (THE BITTER END), for the ORIGINAL DRIFTING COWBOYS (HANK WILLIAMS' BAND) at THE LONE STAR, and JOHN FAHEY at FOLK CITY. Playing and singing with jazz groups she also played and has live recordings at THE WEST BANK CAFÉ, THE WEST END, RENO SWEENEY'S, JP'S, TRAX and GREAT GUILDERSLEEVES.

At 24 she was signed with WARNER/REPRISE RECORDS in London and in New York, she recorded with LITTLE SILVER RECORDS (Red Bank, New Jersey) covering EMMY LOU HARRIS' hit HICKORY WIND (GRAM PARSONS) and her own songs HAMMER IN MY HEART and MAKE LOVE TO ME. In 1982, her first song was published by DEVON PUBLISHING (THE RICHMOND ORGANIZATION) which was placed with EMMY LOU HARRIS and led to her long association with BMI and her own publishing company ALI MAC MUSIC. WILLOW was asked by WILFORD LEACH AND JOSEPH PAPP, participated in, and was paid for a 10 minute musical called HUNGRY STREET, a rock and roll runners' love story for the NEW YORK SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL/PUBLIC THEATRE.

In 1979 in New York City, ROBERT ARMIN, now a theatre director and playwright, recorded 13 of her songs which he is now making available for the first time in the CD, A SIMPLE STRING OF WONDER.

In the past year, Willow has performed at BB KING'S BLUES CLUB in Universal City, CA, BEAN TOWN ESPRESSO BAR in Sierra Madre, CA, and has made multiple appearances at THE COFFEE GALLERY BACKSTAGE in Altadena, CA. Visit WillowHale.com for a schedule of upcoming concert appearances.