The Winner of the 2021 contest is Kemp Harris for his song “Stand Up, Rise Up.”
Kemp Harris defies categorization. He is a singer and songwriter, a master weaver of American musical styles. He’s an actor, activist, author, and storyteller, and an award-winning educator who has taught young public school students for more than 40 years.
“It’s all about communication,” Kemp says. “Everything I do.”
Kemp honed his powerful, intimate performance style in Cambridge’s coffeehouses, developing into a magnetic frontman who has shared stages with artists such as Koko Taylor, Gil Scott-Heron, and Taj Mahal. He has composed original music for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Complexions Contemporary Ballet, established a songwriting residency at Boston’s Wang Theater, and recently delivered a series of master classes at Berklee College of Music on the subject of Artists as Activists, alongside Chad Stokes of the band Dispatch and members of the dance troupe Urban Bush Women.
Harris has his finger on the pulse of the modern world with an intensity born of awareness, and he writes with an understanding of what our lives lack. He delivers this wisdom with a timeless voice.
– Art Tipaldi, Blues Revue
For more information about Kemp Harris visit his website photo credit: John Christou
The Finalists
Anita Aysola was chosen as a finalist for her song “America.”
Armed with lyrical wit, virtuosic piano runs, and a sultry-sweet voice that hearkens back to the golden age of jazz, Atlanta-based songwriter Anita Aysola is a deft musical mixologist who seamlessly infuses jazz and blues with classic rock and traditional Indian influences.
Anita’s latest original single and music video “Heartbeat,” marks her first venture into music inspired by her commitment to social justice. “Heartbeat” is the 2020 L.A. Music Video Award Award Winner for Best Social Commentary Video, Grand Jury Award Winner for the Awareness Film Festival, and Global Music Award Silver Medalist. Anita received Finalist Awards in the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest for both the Freedom and Video Categories, and was also a finalist in RAWA’s Songs for Social Change Competition. You can find out more on her website.
Taylor Abrahamse is a finalist with his song “I Won’t Put Up With It.”
If you’re singing along to a song you don’t know, and suddenly feeling 10 years younger – you’re probably at a Taylor Abrahamse concert. Like a maple leaf caught in a gust above the Ontario prairies, Taylor blissfully floats between the borders of songwriting with his hook-laden hammerclaw pop. With little more than a mahogany Martin, his playfulness, stunning songcraft & honesty leave audiences teary-eyed, electrified, and at ease with their inner-kid. Electri-eased? Easified? Whatever! His roots were born from a Paul Simon/Jim Carrey crossbreed, ready to break the rules with a glint in his eye, a tip of his Grandpa’s old cap.
Starting as a five-year-old Elvis impersonator at county fairs, at at age 6, Taylor vowed to never ‘grow up’ in the typical sense. Instead, he ‘grew in’ – listening to CDs in darkness by young-at-heart song sophisticates like Elton John and Queen, while his imagination painted transcendental light shows. Writing & playing guitar since he was 12 – at sixteen, he was a Top 30 finalist on Canadian Idol. Find out more on his website.
Stephanie Chou was chosen for her song “Millennial Woman.”
Stephanie Chou is a composer, saxophonist, and singer based in New York City. Her music combines classical and Chinese influences with jazz and pop harmonies and rhythms. She blends Eastern elements (Chinese folk songs, erhu) with Western jazz and pop to create an entirely original, unique, and arresting bi-lingual (English and Mandarin) musical world. Stephanie’s music is all about connecting with the audience, and sharing her experience as a Chinese-American growing up in NY through her music. Find out more at her website.
Mary Lou Fulton and Annette Adler have been chosen as finalists for their song “Come Along.”
Mary Lou Fulton’s debut album, “We’ll Tell Stories,” is a musical journey drawing from her life as a journalist at The Los Angeles Times and Washington Post, as a social justice advocate and daughter of a Mexican immigrant who grew up in the border town of Yuma, Arizona. Find out more about Mary Lou on her website.
Annette Adler writes “I have been involved with music my whole life. Most recently as a singer/songwriter, I released an album called Color My World in June, 2020. Other facets of the business in which I have worked include working for Capitol/EMI Records in Creative Services, teaching general music from Preschool to 5th grade at an elementary school and performing as a professional wedding singer.” Find out more on her website.
Fyutch was chosen for his song “Juneteenth”
Fyütch is a Grammy-nominated music and social justice artist, educator and content creator of choice for live events, corporate workshops, K-12 classrooms, assemblies, and virtual residencies. His work has been seen on the TODAY show, New York Times, PBS, and TEDx. He uses Hip-Hop, spoken word poetry, and visual storytelling to create unique all-ages experiences that promote racial equity and liberation.
Fyütch is a multi-discipline artist and educator with a vast creative resume spanning several decades. Born Harold Simmons II in Gary, IN, he began public speaking at age 7, winning the city-wide speech contest and speaking at the US Capital in Washington, D.C. Fyütch gained musical notoriety in Nashville, TN as the lead singer of Hip-Hop/Soul band Biscuits and Gravy, opening for acts like Kanye West and Pharrell. As an educator, Fyütch leads music, poetry, and performance workshops for students of all ages, and clients like Adidas, Under Armor, and Ecole de Militaire in France. Find out more on his website.
Suzi Kory was chosen for her song “Love Revolution.”
Born in Beirut, Kory’s parents moved the family to Toronto when she was eight months old. Her mother, a devoted fan of country music would continuously play classic country, and Kory found herself singing along. By her teens, she became exposed to hard rock, most notably Guns N’ Roses.
In 2017, Kory began writing and recording her first EP, Spellcasting, produced by John Angus MacDonald (The Trews). She released it in 2017, supporting it with a string of shows in Toronto and LA at the legendary Whisky a Go-Go. Her songs received radio airplay across Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, UK, the Middle East, Brazil, and New Zealand. In June 2020, Kory released the bluesy, gospel inspired anthem ‘Love Revolution’ which led to her organizing the first-ever drive-in country music festival. The ‘Love Revolution’ festival which took place in Ontario, CA featured 7 local country artists, including Kory herself. Find out more about Suzi here.
Erika Kulnys is being recognized for her song “Rise Up”
Erika Kulnys opens hearts with her passion and commitment to social change. A native of Nova Scotia, Erika connects deeply to audiences with her powerful voice, authenticity, innovative piano work and infectious joy. Erika’s performed internationally at events like Copenhagen Pride and the World Social Forum in Caracas. Her solo album, Angel on the Road, won Music Nova Scotia’s Inspirational Recording of the Year and her first professionally produced album, Rise Up, garnered awards from Ireland to Florida (First Place Cork Folk Festival’s Songwriting Contest 2016, First Place People’s Music Network Social Justice Songs, Honourable Mention, Posi Awards, Finalist Canada South Songwriting Competition) and charted Top Ten in North America. Find out more…
Eric Law submitted the song “I Need Your Light”
Folk Rock musician Eric H. F. Law’s new “Better Angels” album features inspired melodies and brooding and mystical lyrical reflections on both self and humanity with additional musicians featured on the album including the names of Dan Lutz, Dan Cole, Max Hart, and Steve Hass. Eric H. F. Law has been writing songs since the age of 14, as he was inspired by the albums of Peter, Paul, and Mary. He wrote and sang about his immigrant experience in New York City. Throughout his excursion from becoming an electrical engineer, to a priest of the Episcopal Church, to finding the Kaleidoscope Institute for Diverse and Sustainable Communities, authored 12 books, music had been a constant companion for him. Click here to find out about Eric.
Roos Meijer submitted the song “Why Don’t We Give it a Try?”
The sincerity of Roos Meijer’s alt-folk finds a way to the heart of even the most casual listener as she lends her voice to extraordinary but unheard people from around the world. Drawing inspiration from a diversity of genres, including folk, classical, indie-rock, and Arabic music, Roos bridges many rivers of the musical landscape and leads you to new pastures. With an understated but profound sense of detail, in both song and arrangement, her music finds and navigates emotional fine lines that are seldom expressed in popular music.
Visit her website for more information.
Michael and Nell are finalists with their song “Welcome Home”
Michael August has been a programmer on Nashville radio station WRFN for 10 years. He is a songwriter and has been the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of Shelby Bottom String Band for 7 years. He has also played as a solo artist.
Nell Levin has played with Americana artist Tom Roznowski, Buffalo Gals, Cadillac Cowgirls, Goldrush and bluegrass pioneer Earl Taylor. She was voted Most Promising Female Songwriter by Tennessee Songwriters Association. She was the primary songwriter, fiddler and back-up vocalist for Shelby Bottom String Band for 7 years.
The band has four popular YouTube videos: “East Nashville Rag , “Don’t Blow Up The Mountain” “Obama Back Again” and “Displacement Blues.” Nell Levin also has a YouTube video called “Where Are The Women: (The Tomato-gate Song.”) Find out more about Michael and Nell.
Brant Miller entered the song “No Interest in That”
Brant Miller’s 2020 release “Roots, Rhymes & Branches” brings to fruition a lifetime of musicality fused with commitment to environmental and social causes. It was the #14 album on the FAI Folk Chart, with his song, “Where Now America?” reaching #12.
Brant grew up in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, steeped in the folk traditions of Pete Seeger and Don McClean, both of whom he met and jammed with as a teenager while crewing on the sloop Clearwater.
After five years of practicing forestry in Honduras in the Peace Corps and in Alaska, Brant moved to Nashville to pursue his musical dreams, pitching his songs and getting songs cuts. His songs have been recorded by country, folk, and bluegrass artists in the U.S. and Europe, including the 2020 #2 bluegrass hit, “Fast as I Can Crawl” and “Somewhere Under the Rainbow,” which went Platinum in Denmark. Find out more here…
Len Seligman was chosen for his song “Our Turn Now”
Len is a thrilling improviser on guitar, mandolin, and other string instruments. Grammy-winning recording artist David Darling speaks of his “soulful, virtuoso playing.” After many years as a PhD computer researcher-geek, Len returned full-time in early 2018 to his first love of music.
Len is passionate about helping to create a world that works for everyone and is a member of the Face the Music Collective, a group of creative activists utilizing performances to inspire individual action, one event at a time. Find out more about Len at his website.