Facilitators

Sarah Nutting and Karisha Longaker (Sonoma County) are MaMuse: Ma as in Mamma ~ Muse as in the One who inspires. With deep roots in the folk and gospel traditions, and their hearts in the present, MaMuse creates uplifting music for the next seven generations to thrive on. Interweaving brilliant and haunting harmony with lyrics born of honed emotional intelligence, MaMuse invokes a musical presence that inspires the opening of the heart. Website.

Brain Judd has been leading sing-alongs around the campfire and with groups for years. Four decades of music have given him a deep reservoir of songs that he can strum, feed the words, and bring people together through song. He sings folk, rock, Americana and pop songs of our present and past that stir memories and good feelings.

Rachel Garcia and Thu Tran create music as vibrant and diverse as their multiracial backgrounds. Rachel’s rich, nuanced vocal delivery and Thu’s dynamic guitar arrangements provide the backbone for the duo’s eclectic and heartfelt songs that tell emotionally honest and compelling stories. 

Their identities as queer mixed-race-Mexican-American and first-generation-Vietnamese-American (respectively) subtly inform the inclusionary, modernist perspective of their lyrics, which provide “smart commentary on social attitudes” (Pasadena Weekly), while their music and melodies cut across decades of classic American song forms, bending and blending genres to produce a unique sound with a fresh, clever and distinct approach to the classic traditions of American jazz, folk and blues. Website.