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Alabama Music Office.com goes to the 30A Songwriters Festival 2014 in South Walton County, Florida. This was their 5th year and is one of the very best Songwriters Festivals that I have covered. Garrison Starr was at Central Square Records in Seaside to entertain.

To say that Garrison Starr knows her way around the industry would be an understatement. Hailing from Hernando, MS, she released her major label debut, 18 Over Me, in 1997 for Geffen and the rest is history. Her career has taken her from rooms of 12 people (at which she received a standing ovation) to touring with her idols in amphitheaters and back again. But she's not just a road dog. Starr is a writer and performer with a knack for "marrying pop smarts and Americana grit with a voice of remarkable power and clarity"(gomemphis.com 2012).
For her seventh full length, Amateur, Garrison decided to do something different. She threw the idea of labels out the window and released this record on her own. Her follow up to 2010's live effort ReLive was completely fan funded via PledgeMusic.com and contains some of Starr's most intimate songs to date. Spanning 13 tracks and co-writers such as Kevin Devine and Mary Chapin Carpenter, Garrison delves into her personal life to take the listener on a journey of heartbreak, self discovery, and her own vision of perseverance. While Starr is anything but an Amateur, her 2012 effort puts everything in a new perspective for her, including getting her fans involved.
"I was really nervous doing this, putting my art directly in the hands of my fans. But they really came through and it was such an amazing experience. I'm so glad that I can share this experience with my fans and without anyone acting as a go-between. Its just me, and my fans. Connecting. The way music was intended. I've lost faith in the business, but not in the music. And not in my fans..... You know, there's a line in "a beautiful mind" that I always remember... the wife is at the end of her rope with her husband's disease, his disillusionment, and she says "I have to believe extraordinary things are possible". That's how I know I have to keep moving forward."
Garrison Starr is currently writing, touring and producing work for both herself as well as various artists.

Artist website: Link