Annual programs

Blutt Singer-Songwriter Symposium

February 2, 2012: Lou Reed

Lou Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades. The Velvet Underground has gained a considerable cult following in the years since its demise and has gone on to become one of the most widely cited and influential bands of the era. As the Velvet Underground's principal songwriter, Reed wrote about subjects of personal experience that rarely had been examined so openly in rock and roll, including sexuality and drug culture. After his departure from the group, Reed began a solo career in 1971. He had a hit the following year with "Walk on the Wild Side", although he subsequently lacked the mainstream commercial success its chart status seemed to indicate. Reed's work as a solo artist frustrated critics wishing for a return of the Velvet Underground. In 1975 Reed released a double album of feedback loops, Metal Machine Music, upon which he later commented: "No one is supposed to be able to do a thing like that and survive." In 2008, Reed married performance artist Laurie Anderson.

March 17, 2011: Rufus Wainwright

Rufus Wainwright is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter who began playing the piano at age six, and started touring with his family at age 13. Wainwright's dry wit and sometimes-haunting and world-weary singing style has set him apart from the mainstream of pop music. After his self-titled debut album received critical acclaim, he went on to produce five more albums by 2011.

December 9, 2010: Patti Smith

Patti Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses. Called the "Godmother of Punk," her work was a fusion of rock and poetry. Smith's most widely known song is "Because the Night," which was co-written with Bruce Springsteen and reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1978. In 2005, Patti Smith was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture, and in 2007, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On November 17, 2010, she won the National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids. She is also a recipient of the 2011 Polar Music Prize.

March 4, 2009: Steve Earle

Steve Earle is an American singer-songwriter, well known for his rock and country music, as well as his political views. He is also a fiction writer, a playwright, and a political activist. In his early career, he was seen as a savior of country music and hailed by some as the "new Bruce Springsteen." In the later part of his career, after troubles with the law, drug addiction and his uncompromising viewpoints, he has become known as "the hardcore troubadour."



April 3, 2008: Suzanne Vega

Suzanne Vega (born Suzanne Nadine Vega, 11 July 1959, Santa Monica, California) is an American singer-songwriter noted for her eclectic folk-inspired music. She lived most of her life in New York City, attending the New York City High School of the Performing Arts (the school seen in the feature film musical Fame), where she studied modern dance. While attending Columbia studying English, she penned many songs and performed in the Greenwich Village area. She was discovered in 1984, releasing her eponymous debut the following year. Her sophomore effort, Solitude Standing, garnered critical and commercial success including two hit singles: "Tom's Diner" and "Luka."

Beauty & Crime, her seventh album, was released in June 2007, which went on to win a Grammy for Best Engineered Album. Inspired by the city where Suzanne grew up and still currently resides, Beauty & Crime revolves around Suzanne's experiences in New York. Vega has a daughter, Ruby Froom, with her ex-husband Mitchell Froom. In early 2006, Vega married Paul Mills, a lawyer and a poet.



April 12, 2007: Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash is a Grammy-winning singer and songwriter. Her eleven record albums, released over the last twenty years, have charted eleven number-one singles. She has earned numerous accolades for songwriting and performance. Cash recorded her first US album, Right Or Wrong, in 1979. In the following 10 years, Cash released Seven Year Ache, which yielded both country and crossover hits, Rhythm and Romance, a widely-acclaimed fusion of country and pop and King's Record Shop, which generated four number one singles. She was named Billboard's Top Singles Artist in 1988. The early 1990s saw the release of the critically-acclaimed, highly personal albums Interiors and The Wheel. 10 Song Demo, a stark, minimally-produced "home" recording, was released in 1996. Her recent album Black Cadillac has been named one of Best Albums of 2006 by The New York Times, Billboard, NPR, etc.

Her first book, Bodies of Water (Hyperion, 1995), received widespread critical acclaim, as did her children's book, Penelope Jane: A Fairy's Tale (HarperCollins, 2000). Her essays and fiction have appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Oxford-American, New York Magazine, and various other periodicals and collections.

Rosanne Cash lives in New York City with her husband, John Leventhal, and her children.

The Pennsylvania Gazette wrote about the program in their July/August 2007 issue.