Music for Dessert: Annette Wasilik

Franklin Park Arts Center invites you to join us for this mid-week series of in-person and livestreamed concerts featuring regional musicians in all genres of music.

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.