The Songwriters Circle on June 3rd will feature musicians Keith Dion, Bob Hillman, James Hipps and Paul Griffiths with host Dore Coller. This Sunday Sessions series provides songwriters from some of the most popular local bands with an outlet for creative expression; musicians are able to focus on their songwriting in an intimate space and the community is invited to share in the creative process. Come by from 5-7pm for a musical treat that showcases some of the best tunesmiths around!

ABOUT THE MUSICIANS

Keith Dion

Keith Dion has had an astounding career as a musician, singer-songwriter, producer, and filmmaker. Most well known as being the producer, manager and bandleader for the late Noel Redding of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, this resulted in him next producing records for classic LA based Psychedelic legends Arthur Lee and Love. He was also a founding member of New Zealand’s classic cult band The Ponsonby DC’s, as well as San Francisco alternative groups The Ophelias, 3:05 AM, and Corsica. With over 50 commercial album releases to his credit, he also recorded or performed with members of The Kinks, Thin Lizzy, Santana, The Counting Crows, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, and The Mahavishnu Orchestra. His current group is his very critically acclaimed collaboration with Jefferson Starship lead vocalist Diana Mangano and Prairie Prince from The Tubes and Todd Rundgren. Their debut album Reno Nevada and Other Songs of Gambling, Vice and Betrayal as The Great American Robber Barons garnered much airplay and critical acclaim, being named “ Album of the Year ” by UK based music magazine “ Holding Together ” in 2014 and the title track promotional video for Reno Nevada winning 1st prize at the 2014 Hollywood and Vine Film Festival as best music video. A prolific songwriter, Dion has over 40 new additional compositions waiting for further development.

Bob Hillman

Bob Hillman had a good run in the late 90s/early 00s, releasing three albums and touring the United States and Europe, including 80 some-odd dates as the opening act on Suzanne Vega’s Songs in Red and Gray tour. Along the way, he earned positive notices like this one from Susan Stamberg on All Things Considered: A 2014 layoff – which opened up some time for writing and meditating on the possibilities, music-wise – roughly coincided with Peter Case’s relocating from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Peter, a songwriter’s songwriter, had encouraged Bob since the mid-90s, when a batch of early demos reached an address on the back of Peter’s Torn Again album. They re-connected and, eventually, decided to work together. The result is Lost Soul, produced by Peter Case with twelve new songs culled from the hundred or so new ones since 2005. The album was recorded by Sheldon Gomberg at The Carriage House in Silver Lake, CA with superb musicians. Bob is proud of this recording, which – thanks to Peter Case’s vision and Joseph Arthur’s loops, among many other things – relies on a less crafted, more visceral sound than the straightforward folk-rock in his catalog. His ambitions are also different from the old days, when conquering the world still held some appeal: he just wants a few more people to hear the songs. But, for Bob personally and perhaps for others, Lost Soul is about more than just the songs or the sound.

James Hipps

Coming, first, from a background in jazz piano—at the University of Michigan, and, later, in poetry—studying with Seamus Heaney, James Hipps started to adapt his skills to the guitar and songwriting about a dozen years ago. At some point in his transformation from poet to songwriter, he discovered that he loves to sing. During this time he’s been the second-in-command at the venerable Schoenberg Guitars in Tiburon, CA, where he has found a small number of old Gibson and Martin guitars to use in his songwriting. An unrepentant acoustic player, James mines the folk tradition to write contemporary folk songs. He has performed at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, The Sleeping Lady in Fairfax, and the Octopus Literary Salon in Oakland. In 2013, he won third prize in the Finger-Style Guitar competition at the Sebastopol Guitar Festival.

Paul Griffiths

Paul Griffiths is a San Francisco based songwriter/performer, “…known and widely admired for such timeless classics as ‘Headless Body in a Topless Bar’…” Originally from Manchester England, Paul regularly performs around the SF Bay Area and beyond in various configurations, solo duo, trio and full band.