Mixtape: Liz Barnez and Wendy Woo

This is an intimate live show in downtown Longmont, Colorado presented by The Soundpost Sessions at The Times Collaborative featuring songwriters and host Monica Marie LaBonte all on stage swapping songs and stories in-the-round. Music is from 7-9, doors at 6:30. Join us for this very special ongoing musical series once a month!

$18 Advance (reserved seating)

$20 Day of Show

This event is sponsored by:

Longmont Creates

https://www.downtownlongmont.com/creative-district/longmont-creates

Longmont Creates is the non-profit arm of the Longmont Creative District. They support activities in the Longmont Creative District and the creatives throughout Longmont. Mixtape was the first recipient of their new Pop-Up Grant and we are so thankful!

The Artists:

Liz Barnez (lizbarnezmusic.com)

Liz Barnez was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and grew up inspired by jazz, blues, folk, gospel, R&B, Dixieland, funk, and parade music. She embraced the diversity of her musical and creative upbringing and transformed those into her own eclectic style of music.

Liz Barnez started her musical career in the clubs and festivals in her hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. She moved to Colorado in the late 1980's and has been a mainstay in that music community since then.

Voted by her peers as the "Best Singer-Songwriter Female" in the FoCoMA (Fort Collins Musicians Association) Peer Awards 2020

Inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame as a member of the Mother Folkers (the most carefully pronounced name in show business)in 2019. The Mother Folkers is a group of women musicians who began in the 1970's with original members Mary Flower, Mary Stribling, Kathi DeFrancis, and Eileen Niehouse. Over the years the members have included Mollie O'Brien, Carla Skiaky, and Vicki Taylor to name a few. Liz joined the group in the early 1990's.

The Bohemian Foundation based in Fort Collins Colorado honored Liz in 2011 by including her in a mural at “Jazz Alley” in Fort Collins. The mural, by artist Terry McNerney, depicts eight musical artists chosen by Bohemian as the founders of the Fort Collins Music Scene

Awarded the prestigious "Lifetime Achievement Award" by FoCoMA in 2012.

Wendy Woo (wendywoo.com)

Wendy Woo has led anything but a “normal” life, which separates her from the average performer. As the daughter of bohemian parents who were founding faculty members at Naropa University in Boulder Colorado, her childhood home was a truly eclectic social center. Influential Beat writers such as Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Ken Kesey would be regulars in the living room!

This unusual setting helped develop Wendy into an emotive singer as a child. She started playing the guitar just so she could provide her own accompaniment. After mastering the guitar, she began writing songs and performing in songwriting circles. She attended both the University of New Mexico and the University of Colorado, where she studied a variety of musical genres, theory and composition. Her many musical influences include everyone from folk chanteuse Suzanne Vega to the legendary Paul Simon. The trademark blended rhythms in Simon’s music inspired her to add similar complexity to her own compositions.

With this in mind, Wendy developed a technique she calls “Slaptap,” a method of creating a captivating visual and percussive backdrop using the guitar body and fret board.

Her innovative spirit led her to the storied steps of Boulder’s Fox Theatre for her first job in the music industry. There she gained confidence as a performer, while learning the skills of self-promotion, booking and publishing. The venue acknowledged her talent by slotting Wendy to open for world renowned headliners, including Counting Crows, Michael Franti and others.

Wendy’s dedication and competence was rewarded when she won the Colorado Lilith Fair Talent Search in 1999, sharing the stage with an elite lineup including the Indigo Girls, Shawn Colvin and Sheryl Crow.

Her versatility is evident by the wide variety of artists whom Wendy has since shared the stage, including The Fray, Sarah McLachlan, Indigo Girls, James Taylor, Counting Crows, Brad Paisley, Karla Bonoff and Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Her tour stops have included performances at premier venues like Red Rocks (CO), the Living Room and Bitter End (NYC), Hotel Café (LA), Bluebird Café (Nashville) and Eddie’s Attic (Decatur, GA).

Having penned and recorded over 200 original songs and playing over 150 dates yearly, she has gained a reputation as one of the most versatile performers on the circuit. An example of that reputation is the legendary Carly Simon inviting Wendy to perform with her at “Festival of the Senses” on Martha’s Vineyard in 2014.

Wendy has also been named Westword Magazine’s Music Awards “Singer/Songwriter of the year” five separate times, resulting in her induction into Westword’s Hall of Fame.

The 2015 release of “Tipping Point”, which was produced by Grammy Award winner Jim Gaines (Stevie Ray Vaughn, Carlos Santana, Huey Lewis and the News) and mastered by Grammy winner Brad Blackburn (Maroon 5, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Black Eyed Peas and Sara Bareilles.), is a testament to her mastery as a tunesmith and a reaffirmation that Wendy Woo continues to live a life that defies the term “normal!”

Host or Publisher Soundpost Acoustics