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8:00pm - $10-$20 Suggested donation for the artists.Every first Wednesday of the month, Annette Wasilik curates and hosts this showcase of the area's finest singer/songwriters at Hank Dietle's Tavern in Rockville, which has literally risen from the ashes and it looks, sounds and feels fabulous! $10-$20 Suggested donation for the artists.
Featuring: Heather Aubrey Lloyd, Jen Hawley, Ken Avis and host Annette Wasilik
Heather Aubrey Lloyd ~
For two decades, Heather Aubrey Lloyd’s performed anywhere that might make a good story; bait shops, biker weeks (and even clothing-optional resorts!) in all the lower 48 states; a recovering reporter whose love of the journey evolved into equally adventurous songwriting. Her “sing-me-the-phone-book” voice pairs with finger-picked guitar and hand percussion. Best known with Baltimore’s ilyAIMY, Lloyd’s gained national recognition as a Falcon Ridge Folk Fest Most-Wanted Artist and Top-4 Telluride Troubadour. Locally, she’s a Grand Prize Winner of the prestigious Bernard Ebb Award, the “Girlfunkel” in a wildly successful Simon & Garfunkel tribute, and even singing for Renaissance lute-rock rebels, Ayreheart. Lloyd just released the “ambitious and unflinching” Panic Room With A View, “an alt-folk symphony, layering acoustic beauty with humor and hope,” says Amplify The Noise and MusicnGear. http://www.heatheraubreylloyd.com
Jen Hawley ~
Jen Hawley from Germantown, Md., is a singer-songwriter whose music spans folk, jazz, pop, and bluegrass. Her songwriting explores love, loss, social justice, and hope. Her songs have earned multiple awards—including several placements in the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, a 2024 WAMMIE finalist for her album Fragile, and runner-up at the 2025 Strathmore Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Awards. http://www.jenhawley.com
Ken Avis ~
Ken is a published music journalist and co-produced the documentary films Bossa Nova – The Brazilian Music That Charmed the World and Anacostia Delta, currently screening on PBS television; a film which celebrates the legends and the legacy of Washington DC’s great guitarists such as Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan. Ken co-curated the National Endowment for the Arts award-winning Strathmore Jazz Samba Project Festival. Atlas Performing Arts commissioned and performed Ken’s play Bossa Fever! which featured music by Veronneau. As a music historian, Ken has developed a comprehensive series of entertaining talks under the heading Music City DC which he has presented at the Smithsonian, American University, George Mason University and for independent groups, linking the history of DC music from 1800 to the current day to social, technology and demographic change.
In 2024 Ken received a Mid Atlantic Songwriting Competition gold award for his composition Better World, and has been a finalist in the Florida Songwriting Competition, a participant in "The Acoustic Guitar Songwriting Project" and an Emergent Seed arts awardee.
https://veronneaumusic.com/ken-avis-acoustic-guitar-singer-songwriter
Annette Wasilik ~
"Love & Fire is a masterpiece." ~ Tom Prasada-Rao
Annette's performances are marked by her compelling alto and moving songs that "touch you to the bone". In the tradition of the poet songwriter, with rich tones reminiscent of Linda Thompson or Natalie Merchant, she weaves a spell both startling in its intimacy and expansive in its vision. Her songwriting influences include Jane Siberry, Lucinda Williams and John Prine to mention just a few. Both down to earth and deeply atmospheric, Annette’s songs are explorations into longing, love, loss, God, home, homesickness and hope.
"I found my first guitar in an old tin wardrobe in my basement. Its bridge was broken but it was love at first sight, as if I found a buried treasure in my backyard. The room spun and everything. I glued the bridge back on and never looked back." On songwriting Annette says, "It feels like diving for pearls. I sink down and don't know what's going to happen. Usually a combination of emotion, melody and phrasing opens the way for the lyrics."
In her late teens and twenties. Annette was performing in local cafes, small venues and eventually festivals. When her daughter was small, Annette took a break from performing to attend her family and grow her healing practice. Now she is out performing again and becoming known in the DC area and nationally as a powerful songwriter and performer. Annette's debut CD, Songs from the Talking House, was awarded Contemporary Folk Recording of the Year by the Washington Area Music Association in April 2016. She also won Honorable Mention for her song Don't Look Down in the 2016 MidAtlantic Song Contest. Her January 2020 release, Love & Fire, is her first album on the Azalea City Cooperative label. On release, it landed at #6 on FAI Folk DJ chart and #1 on the NACC chart and ended up #40 for the year.
In 2019, Annette created a new concert series, Local Cream, to showcase the best local and regional songwriters and co-hosts a popular monthly songwriting circle. In the spring of 2022, her song "Almost" was a finalist in The Great American Song Contest and won "Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting" Award. Her song "Horizon Line" received Finalist Award in the MidAtlantic Song Contest in 2025.
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Event Venue
Hank Dietle's Tavern, 11008 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852-3134, United States, Garrett Park
Tickets
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
