Artists:Don Haynie And Sheryl Samuel (And Lee Benoit And The Bayou Stompers)

Since the release of their first independent album, Life in the Circus, Don & Sheryl have been taking their music far & wide across America, playing concerts in an amazing range of venues: From auditoriums and theaters to sidewalks, college campuses, and coffeehouses; from legendary listening rooms including Passim in Cambridge, the Fast Folk Cafe in New York, and The Freight & Salvage Company in Berkeley, to honky-tonk roadhouses like The Silver Dollar Saloon in Butte, Montana. Their two subsequent indie releases, Stations, and The Mental Health Songbook (Vol. 1), and their near-perpetual touring, have continued to broaden their audience. In 2001 they released a powerful new recording, Playin’ in the Minors, which received wide airplay, and continues to be heard on radio stations around the U.S., and around the world on the Internet. They have also been featured on the nationally syndicated newsmagazine Monitoradio, and have appeared on River City Folk, a performance and interview radio show, also syndicated nationwide.

Their instrumentation-- Sheryl’s use of percussion interwoven with Don’s six- and twelve-string guitars-- gives their music a rhythmic drive rarely found in contemporary acoustic music: sometimes working as a compelling rhythm section supporting the vocal melodies and harmonies, sometimes lending a delicate accent, and often touching their music with a world beat flavor, through the use of percussion instruments from many cultures. Their early years performing in the bars and taverns of New York and New England helps to give their music a strength not often found in singer/songwriter acts-- you just can’t sing a lot of self-involved nonsense in clubs like that, not unless you can give it a great beat, and some energy and humor. Don and Sheryl have learned to combine upbeat, sometimes drivingly energetic songs with wistful, thoughtful ballads, for performances with grit as well as grace. read more.