Rodney Crowell with Maia Sharp April 10, 2007

Tuesday, April 10
8:00 PM

Advance discount tickets: $20.00
Day of Show: $25.00

Crowell was born in Houston, Texas to James Walter Crowell and Addie Cauzette Willoughby. He is considered to be part of both the alternative country and the mainstream country music camps. He is a contemporary of Steve Earle and, like Earle, was also influenced by the (songwriting) greats Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. Rodney played guitar and sang for three years in Emmylou Harris' "Hot Band."

He was married to Rosanne Cash (daughter of famous singer/guitarist Johnny Cash) from 1979 to 1992 and had a great influence on her career, producing most of her albums during that period. They collaborated on a number of duets, including 1988's "It's Such a Small World." Though Crowell and Cash are now divorced, they remain on friendly terms, performing together occasionally. Six years after the breakdown of his marriage to Rosanne he married Claudia Church.

Although best known as a songwriter and alternative country artist, Crowell enjoyed mainstream popularity during the late 1980s and early 1990s. His critically acclaimed album, 1988's Diamonds and Dirt, produced five No. 1 hits during a 17-month span in 1988 and 1989: "It's Such a Small World" (a duet with Cash), "I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried," "She's Crazy for Leaving," "After All This Time" and "Above and Beyond." His follow-up album, 1989's "Keys to the Highway," produced two top 5 hits in 1990, which were "Many a Long and Lonesome Highway" and "If Looks Could Kill."

As Crowell's popularity in mainstream country faded, he continued his prolific songwriting. In 2001 he released The Houston Kid on Sugar Hill Records. Many songs on the album were semi-autobiographical, and the album included a duet with Crowell's ex father-in-law Johnny Cash on "I Walk the Line (Revisited)". Initially, Cash was annoyed at Crowell changing the tune to his song, but he came to like the finished product. Crowell followed up this effort with Fate's Right Hand in 2003 and The Outsider in 2005. Crowell considers these three albums his finest work as a solo artist.

2004 saw the release of The Notorious Cherry Bombs, a reunion of The Cherry Bombs, a group that existed briefly in the 1970s with Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill, Tony Brown, and others. The future Keith Urban hit "Making Memories of Us" was included on this disc. In 2005, Crowell served as producer for established Irish singer/songwriter Kieran Goss on the album Blue Sky Sunrise.

Maia Sharp
Being the child of country songwriter Randy Sharp (he's written hits for Clay Walker, Patty Loveless, and others) and growing up in the San Fernando Valley in the '70s had to have given Maia Sharp a leg up on her way to a musical career. That was the era of Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, and Rickie Lee Jones and music was in the Southern California air. By age 12, Sharp was noodling around on the piano, saxophone, oboe, and guitar. Fast forward to her early twenties, and she could be found on-stage at one of L.A.'s many acoustic venues performing her own jazz/folk songs to an engaged throng of fans. When not on-stage, Sharp could surely be found collaborating with artists such as Carole King, Jules Shear, Lisa Loeb, and Jonatha Brooke. It was Sharp's songwriting that won the attention of manager Miles Copeland, who signed her to his new Ark 21 label and released her debut album, Hardly Glamour, in 1997. That year, Sharp was nominated for Triple-A radio's Artist of the Year. She also shared the stage with Bruce Cockburn, Vonda Shepard, and David Wilcox, among others. As a songwriter, Sharp has had tunes recorded by Cher, Kim Richey, Amanda Marshall, and Paul Carrack. Hardly Glamour's "Parting Request" was also included on the soundtrack for The Mighty. In 1998, Sharp recorded her follow-up album, Tinderbox, and released it independently after parting ways with her label. The new millennium saw her teaming with Art Garfunkel and Buddy Mondlock, and getting a track on the highly acclaimed debut from Shivaree. Spring 2002 brought her back to the forefront with a second album. She hit the road with Keb Mo and Jonny Lang and issued her self-titled debut for Concord. - Kelly McCartney, All Music Guide

Official Website: http://kentstage.org/april.html#crowell