Carol Denney is one of the Bay Area’s most respected songwriters, earning admiration from a community who knows her as musician, comedian, and activist. Her guitar style is unique; her use of the English concertina adds powerful depth to beautifully tailored songs. Her writing stretches the spectrum from ballads to political comedy in a spread Canadian folk artist Ian Robb calls “brilliant” and local editor Pat Delaney once called “Berkeley’s I. F. Stone.”
Her parodies are used on KPFA’s TwitWit Radio, her poetry is included in the anthologies of the Revolutionary Poets’ Brigade, her commentary is found on National Public Radio’s Perspectives series and newspapers from Street Spirit to the Chronicle, her cartoons are featured in the Berkeley Times, and her paintings are included in local galleries. Her songs have been included in textbooks and used as soundtracks in film.
But the performances of her music are a warm, funny, story-telling experience with sing-alongs that go right off the edge. Her unique, percussive guitar style arrests attention from serious students of finger-picking, but it’s her way with an audience that will melt your heart. This is songwriting and performing at its finest presented with humor, wit, and soul.