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Brian Kalinec
Folk
Houston, TX -
Helene Cronin
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Kj Reimensnyder-Wagner
Date and Time
Friday, March 1st, 2019
8:00pm
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Age Limit
All Ages
Details
About Helene...
Helene Cronin is a 2018 winner of the esteemed Kerrville Folk Festival's "New Folk Competition". One reviewer calls her music "inexplicably fierce...while remaining remarkably tender and accessible." Others call her raw, honest, vulnerable, and often say, "your songs make me think". Audiences are drawn in by her intimate, personal performances.
Helene was 13 years old when she first borrowed her older brother's guitar and began teaching herself to play. Coming from a highly creative, artistic and musical family, that guitar sparked a journey that took her beyond piano lessons and music theory into a passion for words and song creation. Now she is a performing singer/songwriter who splits her time between Texas and Tennessee.
Helene's musical style draws from elements of both Americana/Folk and Country; she is perhaps best described as an acoustic storyteller. While she has been compared to Lori McKenna, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and many female artists who populate roots music, her sound is uniquely her own. Currently, Helene is signed to an exclusive publishing deal with Debbie Z Entertainment in Nashville and writes for the commercial Country market.
Her most well-known work is the song "Lucky Me", which she wrote after talking with a soldier in the Nashville airport. When it became apparent how the song impacted those who heard it, a video was created and posted to YouTube. The power of the video led to an appearance on the Mike Huckabee Show in front of a national audience. She has performed "Lucky Me" for military events, for American Airlines veterans Initiatives programs, the Veterans Housing Crisis Center of Dallas, the USO, the Denver Broncos and the Houston Texans. A highlight was the opportunity to perform the song for the 150th anniversary of the creation of the Medal Of Honor in front of an audience of 15,000 including 65 Medal of Honor recipients, receiving a standing ovation. Helene plays "Lucky Me" often, to say thank you to our veterans, current service members and their families.
Helene is beginning work on a full length record slated for release in early 2019. She has released 2 EPs, "Belong to the River" in 2015 and "Restless Heart" in 2014. Her music can be ordered from the STORE page above. It is also available on many digital sites including CDBaby: http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/HeleneCronin and iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/helene-cronin/id256861996.
Helene hosts shows at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe and performs in the Dallas area at Uncle Calvin's Coffeehouse, Poor David's Pub, Love and War in Plano, and Opening Bell Coffee. She has opened for Chris Hillman (Byrds), Kathy Mattea and Willis Alan Ramsey. Her latest interest has been booking house concerts around the country because of the built-in potential of a living room or backyard to promote a meaningful listening experience! Contact Helene for more information. See EVENTS page for info on her gigs.
Connecting with people through the emotion of music, expressing truth, finding grace in the chaos of life, these are the things that motivate Helene to continue writing and releasing new songs.
About Kalinec & Kj
Texan Brian Kalinec and Pennsylvanian Kj Reimensnyder-Wagner met by chance during one of Brian's shows in East Texas in 2013 when Kj happened to be in nearby Shreveport, Louisiana where she was conducting a seminar in educational songwriting. Later that year, when she came down to Texas on a trip, they had a chance to play a few songs together. Their impressive combined sound--songs, voices, and musicianship--convinced them that they should perform shows as a duo and began to do so the following year. As Kalinec & Kj, they have toured in the Northeast, in the west from New Mexico to Washington, and in Texas over the past few years. They are currently working on their first studio release.
Swedish reviewer Staffan Soldy of Rootsy calls Brian "a combination of Woody Guthrie, John Steinbeck, James Taylor, and Rodney Crowell in the stories he tells". He is considered "one of the most creative songwriters from the Texas music scene" by Robert Bartosh of Roots Music Report. In No Depression, Kathy Sands-Boehmer writes "Brian's heartfelt lyrics and impeccable playing and production are testament to the hard work that he has given to his craft...these are songs that stick to your soul and refuse to budge." Brian has been recognized in the US and Europe for both his songwriting and musicianship, winning the Songwriter Serenade in Texas, the Big Top Chautauqua in Wisconsin, placing second in the prestigious Woody Guthrie Songwriting Competition, and was named a finalist in the UK Songwriting Contest. He has performed at venerable festivals and venues including the Kerrville Folk Festival, the Bugle Boy, Gruene Hall, and Uncle Calvin's Coffeehouse in Texas, the Rose Garden Coffeehouse in Massachusetts, and tours regularly in the UK. He and his wife Pam own Berkalin Records, with a roster that features many well-respected singer-songwriters.
Kj is a full-time touring Singer-Songwriter. She has performed across the US and the UK as a solo artist and along with other artists including Steve Weisberg, Ted Vigil, and Dougie MacLean at noted venues and festivals including the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen Colorado, and in Scotland at the Killin Music Festival and the legendary Taybank's Real Music Bar in Dunkeld. Kj is also a recognized educator, trainer and multi-instrumentalist, providing keynotes, workshops, assemblies and residencies and has mentored hundreds of teachers and students through story, song, and songwriting. Her joy of teaching special-needs children has taken her across the Atlantic where she not only mentors and sings in traditional schools throughout Scotland but also for special-needs and gifted classes in the communities of Dalguise, Bannockburn, and Pitlochry, Scotland. Kj has been awarded several distinguished honors for educational songwriting from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, National Agriculture in the Classroom (NAITC) and The Visionary Award from Danville's Child Development Center.
