Ann Arbor Songwriters in the Round II
Four talented Ann Arbor area musicians join together for a wonderful night of music. We had our first spotlight of the talented Ann Arbor scene last Fall and due to the great response we new we had to bring you round two. This year's line up features Jo Serrapere, Dave Boutette, Kevin Meisel and Keith Kiser.

Jo Serrapere's diverse style fuses elements of modern and traditional folk music, Delta blues, swing, and rock. She has released two CD's
including a live recording with her band, Jo Serrapere and the Willie Dunns (formerly the Hot Tail Section). She is also part of the all-female group Uncle Earle. Their CD She Went Upstairs explores music rooted in old-time Appalachian songs. Some highlights in her solo career include an official showcase performance at the 1998 North
American Folk Alliance Conference, songwriting winner at the 1999 South Florida Folk Festival and a recent performance on Garrison Keillor's radio program, A Prairie Home Companion.

Dave Boutette's Midwest is full of passion, humor and shaken grace.  Influenced by songwriters that span from Chuck Berry to Lyle Lovett, Dave Boutette documents the trips and triumphs of life between the coasts. Boutette calls up images of parking lots, college towns and Camaros to reveal a Midwest experience worthy of space in any collection of latter day American songwriting. Before stepping out on his own, Boutette spent ten years with the Detroit-based alterna-rock bar band, The Junk Monkeys. The band toured the nation relentlessly and recorded under the Warner Bros./Metal Blade label from 1990-93.  

Born the son of a big band musician, Kevin Meisel grew up with the sound and spirit of music around him. Raised in Detroit, and traveling abroad, he listened to the streets hearing the stories of those around him with an ear for empathy, translation and narrative. His first artistic love was painting which took him to live in New York City where in the dank summer and autumn nights he would slip into the subways to play his guitar and sing to the commuters. Moving back to Michigan, Kevin gravitated to the thriving music scene in Ann Arbor, forming acoustic and electric bands with his brother Keith. His first recordings, bare and acoustic, received airplay and earned him the encouragement needed to embark on his first full-length record, Coal and Diamonds, a rich record developed in the folk tradition.

Keith Kiser is a co-founder of Saline's folk/pop gemstone the Bridgeclub. His ability to craft a three minute song into a mood altering statement of
self healing without the heavy hand of self therapy is wonder to hear. Keith is one of those rare musicians that is perfectly at home with guitar, mandolin, or fiddle, on top of being able to consistently deliver beautifully penned songs in a voice that conveys heartache, hope and renewal. Keith Kiser's music is, above all, the truth in a too often shady world.