Carla Ulbrich

Infobox musical artist
Name = Carla Ulbrich

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Background = solo_singer
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Origin = Clemson, South Carolina
Instrument = Singing, guitar
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Occupation = Singer-songwriter
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Label = Romantic Devil Records, Official Seal Records
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URL = http://www.carlau.com
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Carla Ulbrich is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and smart aleck from Clemson, South Carolina.

Career

Humorous songwriter Carla Ulbrich started out at age 9 as a classical guitarist, inspired by her aunt, Pat Brothwell, who was pursuing a degree in classical guitar at the time. Carla discovered her songwriting bone in college (when she was supposed to be practicing "real" music), and has been writing songs since then.

Despite the distractions, Ulbrich received a BA in music from Brevard College. Having many parody or novelty songs in her repertoire, she is featured regularly on the Dr. Demento Radio Show and XM radio, and has also appeared on USA, WGN, WVIA and PAX TV, as well as Sirius radio, the BBC, and numerous NPR affiliates.

She has won numerous songwriting awards, including "Novelty Song of the Year" in 2006 from the Just Plain Folks awards for her piece "What If Your Butt was Gone?"

Many of her pieces are of a humorous nature, reflecting on human life. A self-proclaimed ambassador for forgotten song topics, she has written songs about unappreciated elements, such as "The Guy Who Changes the Lightbulbs (Changes Everything)", "Nothing to Say", "Prednisone" and "The Wedgie".

Her album "Sick Humor (2004)" deals with Carla's real-life recovery from multiple strokes and kidney failure she suffered in 2002. This collection of songs has led to appearances at The Alaska Palliative Care conference, Medicaid, the Association of Applied and Therapeutic Humor, the Society for Arts in Healthcare, and other medical gatherings.

Her song "If I Had the Copyright" was featured in the documentary "Fuck", released November 2006 (directed by Steve Anderson).

Touring since about 1997, Carla has performed in England, Alaska, Canada and many of the "lower 48" states, appearing at venues small and large. She has graced the stages of the Bluebird Cafe, Eddie's Attic, the Falcon Ridge, Florida, South Florida, Wildflower and Kerrville Folk Festivals, Avalon Nude Folk Festival, DragonCon, MarsCon, FenCon (and numerous other Science Fiction/ filk conventions), various colleges, a few comedy clubs, private and corporate parties, a few unusual weddings, and the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society Convention.

She also plays fingerstyle guitar instrumentals, usually including one or 2 solo arrangements per CD. She has taught guitar at 3 colleges, 2 music stores and her own private teaching studio, as well as Hummingbird Music camp and the National Guitar Summer Workshop. Her music instruction book "Notespeller" was published by Alfred Knopf in 2001.

Discography

*"Sick Humor", 2004
*"Professional Smart Aleck", 2003
*"Her Fabulous Debut", 1999
*"Carla Ulbrich", cassette, 1997
*"Something Real", cassette, 1994

References

* [http://www.carlau.com/ Carla U - official site for Carla Ulbrich]
* [http://www.myspace.com/carlaulbrichprofessionalsmartaleck Carla Ulbrich MySpace page]
* [http://www.thesingingpatient.com TheSingingPatient.com]
* [http://youtube.com/profile?user=carlaulbrich Carla Ulbrich YouTube channel]