Uncommon Ground ^ Thea Hopkins

Thea Hopkins

Critically acclaimed Boston singer-songwriter Thea Hopkins calls her music American Short Story Folk: concise, striking narratives, they tell of American romance and tragedy in modern terms. Folk icons Peter, Paul & Mary, (who in 2004 recorded one of her songs on their album “In These Times”) described Hopkins as “one of the most literate, poetic and emotionally moving of the new singer-songwriters to arrive on the scene in the last few years”. Thea's song, “Jesus is On The Wire,” is the only new song to be performed in its entirety in the trio's recent PBS-TV special, "Carry It On."

Her new album, “Chickasaw,” will be released in July 2007. It contains the instrumental work of pianist Tim Ray (Lyle Lovett, Jane Siberry), guitarist David Goodrich (Chris Smither, Peter Mulvey), cellist Natalie Haas (Mark O’Connor, Alasdair Fraser), and guitarists Bob Metzger (Leonard Cohen) and Steve Sadler (Kerri Powers, Shawn Mullins), among others. Among the 12 songs are two of a political nature, including the anti-war “River of Fire.”

In February of 2005, the nationally syndicated radio program "Acoustic Café" selected Thea's music for their monthly feature devoted to a new artist, "One To Watch." In 2004 in the Washington Post, Richard Harrington wrote that P, P & M’s album "In These Times" showcases "several promising new writers. The standout here is Thea Hopkins."

Thea Hopkins' debut album, "Birds of Mystery," was named one of the Top Ten local albums of the year by the Boston Herald. "A gorgeous dusky voice wraps itself like mist around country-folk songs of tenderness and substance," wrote Herald staff-writer Sarah Rodman.

In 2004, Thea's song "Western Town" was included in the CD "The Best of Boston Songwriters." In 2003, 2004,2005 and 2006 Thea received ASCAP Plus awards for song-writing. Thea was named as a finalist in the 2004 Boston Folk Festival songwriter contest. There were 350 entries. She won 2nd place in the contest. She was a semi-finalist in the 2005 International Songwriting Competition.

She has recently opened for Richie Havens, Maura O'Connell, John Hammond, Ellis Paul, Susan Werner, Connie Kaldor, Tracy Grammer, Brooks Williams, The Burns Sisters, Kris Delmhorst and Katy Moffatt. She has performed at Club Passim, Johnny D's, Natick Center for the Arts, Fall River's Narrows Center for the Arts, Cafe Fantastique, Vermont's Middle Earth Music Hall, Tupelo Music Hall, the Uncommon Ground in Chicago, the Sundance Film Festival, The Coffee Gallery in the L.A. area, and in New York City at CB's Gallery,Cornelia Street, the Postcrypt Coffeehouse and The Bitter End. She's received airplay on WUMB-FM and WERS-FM, among other non-commercial radio stations.

For more info: grownupgirlmusic@aol.com or theahopkins@aol.com or 617-868-4867