Karyn moved to a town in 2009 called Boring, MD with a broken heart and a cheap guitar. It was from this place that she created her first solo album, Red Dress, that earned her Kerrville New Folk Finalist and Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist in 2011, as well as 2010 Mid-Atlantic Song Contest winner.
In 2011, Oliver moved to New York City, with a renewed heart and a better guitar. It is from this place that she created her latest solo album, Magdalene, and became a Kerrville New Folk Finalist for a second time in 2016.
2017 brought Oliver to North Carolina, where she steeped herself in the great writers of the South, and recorded a new album, “A List Of Names”, which charted on both Folk and Americana radio in 2019.
In 2020, Oliver moved to Texas in the middle of a pandemic, and waded into the great Texas songwriting tradition. The fruits of that move are “Cherchez La Femme” a new collection of songs released in October of 2023, featuring an all-female cast in an effort to bring more attention to the fantastic women creating music today. The first three singles have already gotten critical acclaim and song awards.
ABOUT DINA
Dina Hall came to the Valley from the Pocono Mountains in 2000, and expanded from covers to originals starting in 2010. Very soon after, she started racking up Lehigh Valley Music Awards, and has performed in all the juicy spots, from ArtsQuest to Mayfair to the legendary Godfrey Daniels coffee house. Though she’s opened for the likes of Willie Porter, Karla Bonoff and Joan Osborne at the Mauch Chunk Opera House, Sellersville Theater and Musikfest Cafe, respectively, it’s in the intimate listening room atmosphere that she vibes best. “The audience is there to listen to the artist, with no distractions,” she says. “That’s the best way to present original music.”
Her appreciation for the listening room has led her to serve behind the scenes and as board president for Godfrey Daniels, where she first learned to really commune with the audience. Along with other programmers, she hosts WDIY 88.1’s Unlimited Possibilities.
Hall’s blend of folk rock and Americana has found a place in the Valley’s most beloved musical institutions, appearing at every Musikfest since 2009, at Lyrikplatz as a solo artist and at Liederplatz with a full band (including Andy Killcoyne on guitar, Nick Franclik on bass and Josh Kanusky on drums). She’s also thrown her weight behind vital organizations like Turning Point, which benefited by a musical workshop for women’s empowerment hosted by Hall earlier this year.