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Victoria Blythe

"Wonderful music, wonderfully performed" Peter Yarrow – Peter, Paul and Mary

About Me

Award winning singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Victoria Blythe (vocals) combines jazz, folk and pop music into original songs in a style that is uniquely her own. Her thrilling beautiful vocals have been compared to Alison Krauss, Paula Cole, Sandy Denny and Evanescence. She has studied both classical voice and jazz and has been performing professionally since she was a teenager. Her song “Dancing with You” won the West Coast Songwriters Song of the Year award and has appeared in a number of movies, including ”Anywhere But Here”, and on TV. She performs her own material, select covers, and songs written by, or co-written with, Greg Beattie, who has won numerous songwriting awards including Kerrville New Folk, Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist, Grand Prize in the West Coast Songwriters International Song Contest and the Napa Valley Music Festival Emerging Artist Prize. She has been perfoming for many years with her Americana band “Calaveras” which she founded with her partner Greg Beattie and together they have played at numerous venues including the Freight and Salvage (Berkeley), Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Kerrville Folk Festival, Fiddling Cricket, and the Florence Winter Folk festival. In addition to lead vocals, Victoria also plays guitar, piano, violin and viola, bass, mandolin, recorder and Native American Flute, with her greatest love being viola.

Sam Bevan (Bass) has established himself as one of the most versatile and creative bassists in the Bay Area music scene. Sam is able to canvas a large musical landscape where jazz, funk, R&B, folk, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Venezuelan and West African disciplines joyously intermingle. He has worked with Joe Craven, Monk's Music Trio, David Grisman, and VNote ensemble.

John R. Burr is that rare pianist who combines jazz technique with a genuine love for folk music. “Pianist extraordinaire John R. Burr has the most sparkling style since former Allman Brother-turned-Rolling Stone hired hand Chuck Leavell.” The Philadelphia Weekly

Guitarist Walter Stauss has translated the African kora (harp) music to guitar and the results are absolutely amazing. This California guitar maestro's songs are full of the groove and fire of an African dance party, the dynamics and textures of a string orchestra, and the back- porch soul of American roots music. In addition to touring solo in the US and abroad, Walter has collaborated with wide-ranging talents, including a duo with 2010 Grammy-winning kora player Mamadou Diabate, guitar virtuoso Alex de Grassi, and The Burns Sisters.

Guitarist Mark Holzlinger's style crosses many different genres including swing/jazz (Lost Weekend), Gypsy Jazz, and Americana (Pitchfork Trio). He's played with Bobby McFerrin, Joe Williams, Ricki Lee Jones and Marvin Gaye.