Anne Harris (musician)

Anne Harris is a singer/songwriter, violinist, recording artist and actor based in Chicago, Illinois. [Downing 2007] [MacNeil, All Music Guide] She has independently produced and released three albums on her record label, Rugged Road Records: Anne Harris (2001), Open Your Doors (2003) and Wine and Poetry (2005). [Hughes 2007] Her music has been described by various writers as incorporating a variety of influences, including traditional Celtic music, American folk-rock [Chicago magazine] , Afrobeat [Downing 2007] , soul, and chamber music. For lack of a specific genre label, her work has been dubbed "conscious music" which refers to music and lyrics that have some basis in a spiritual, humanist philosophy. [Hughes 2007]

Harris grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio, home of an Antioch College campus, and the earthy, liberal and progressive environment of her hometown remains an influence in her songwriting to this day. [Downing 2007] She began studying classical violin at the age of eight and eventually attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where she earned a degree from the School of Music. After college, Harris moved to Chicago and worked as an actor in theater and commercials for a few years before returning to music around 1997. [Hughes 2007] She worked for a while with a number of local Chicago bands, notably Cathy Richardson Band [Richardson] and Poi Dog Pondering, building a strong reputation for her instrumental talent. Eventually she embarked on a career making her own music. [Miller 2003]

Harris has since performed at the North by Northeast music festival in Toronto, Canada, has sung the US National Anthem at a Chicago Cubs baseball game [MacNeil, All Music Guide] and was awarded "Album Artwork of the Year" honors at the 2006 DIY Music Festival in Los Angeles for her "Wine and Poetry" CD packaging. [Hughes 2007] She is currently serving an elected term on the Board of Governors of the Chicago Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. [Recording Academy]

In addition to her regular performing and recording work, Harris also appears as the character "Prudence" on three episodes of Jack's Big Music Show, a music oriented children's television program on Noggin. [Spiffy Pictures]

Discography

Anne Harris - 2001
Open Your Doors - 2003
Wine and Poetry - 2005 [Hughes 2007]

External links

* [http://www.anneharris.com official Anne Harris website]

Notes

References

*Citation
date=March 1, 2003
year=2003
title=FrontLines
periodical=Chicago magazine
volume=52
issue=3
page=18
*Citation
last=Downing
first=Andy
date=April 20, 2007
year=2006
title=Fresh off 'Wine and Poetry,' Harris gets into the spirit
periodical=Chicago Tribune (Section 7)
page=12
*Citation
last=Hughes
first=Andrew S.
date=June 15, 2007
year=2007
title=All kinds of music intoxicating to Harris
periodical=South Bend Tribune
page=D3
*cite web
last=MacNeil
first=Jason
title=All Music Guide: Anne Harris: Overview
publisher=AllMusicGuide
url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fzfpxqq0ldje~T0
accessdate=2008-03-02
*Citation
last=Miller
first=Bryan
date=May 30, 2003
year=2003
title=Bringing the fiddle back to rock
periodical=The DePaulia Magazine (special edition)
publication-place=Depaul University, Chicago
volume=2
page=4
*cite web
title=Recording Academy, Chicago Chapter
publisher=National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
url=http://www.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Chapters/Chicago/
accessdate=2008-03-02
*cite web
last=Richardson
first=Cathy
title=Cathy Richardson Band: Links
url=http://www.crband.com/links.html
accessdate=2008-03-02
*cite web
title=All about Jack's Big Music Show
publisher=Spiffy Pictures
url=http://spiffypictures.com/jack.htm
accessdate=2008-03-02