Grammy Winner Barbara Bailey Hutchison Performs Tonight at CC Playhouse

She has appeared at the White House three times, performed in nearly all 50 states, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand and her smooth and powerful voice is known to millions from hundreds of commercials for McDonald's, Hallmark Cards, Heinz, and other national advertisers. And at 7:30 PM tonight, June 6, Barbara Bailey Hutchison will appear in concert at Cumberland County Playhouse.

Barbara grew up in Detroit, Michigan and launched her career in music while attending Michigan State University, where she gained a loyal following performing in the local listening rooms and music clubs. She began touring colleges & universities throughout the United States and was voted "Best Solo Performer," "Best Acoustic Performer," and "Best Female Performer" in a national magazine poll. Soon after, advertising production houses discovered her and chose her to sing hundreds of commercials.

In 1996 she was awarded the music industry's highest recognition, a Grammy Award. This came to her through a new avenue, when she agreed to sing an album of original lullabies for friend and producer, J. Aaron Brown. After she received the Grammy for "Best Musical Recording for Children," the calls started coming in for children and family concerts. It's an easy transition for her to make, from adult to youth concerts and back again. Her show is always fresh and powerful, offering finely crafted songs with a clever wit. And while her songs tend to defy categorization, singer songwriter friend Michael Johnson describes them as "art songs."

Her lyric-driven, melodic, often humorous, alternative folk music speaks to issues of tolerance and human rights, as well as personal relationships and funny circumstances. Inspired by experience, hers are songs in which everyone can find themselves. Hutchison is happy to be writing meaningful songs, and to be able to present them to intelligent and attentive listeners. She loves nothing better than sharing her songs, telling their stories, and joking with her audience whether they are adults, children, or a happy mix of both.

A one-woman theatre concert presented by this Grammy Award winning singer songwriter provides profound thoughts, deep feelings, and a wicked sense of humor. In addition to her career as a professional musician, every June for the past 20 years, Barbara has taught songwriting, papermaking, and portrait drawing at the Young Scholars Institute and Kids on Stage summer programs in middle Tennessee.

The Barbara Bailey Hutchison concert is sponsored by D&C Fencing.

Currently at the Playhouse: Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash, featuring Kellye Cash, rated PG, co-sponsored by Mariner's Pointe Resort and Senator Paul Bailey, through June 9; Singin' in the Rain, rated G, co-sponsored by Beltone Hearing Aid Center and Dr. Vianney Villaruz, MD, Cardiology CMM-CMG, through July 12; and Smoke on the Mountain, Rated G, sponsored by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, through October 10. Opening June 12: Mary Poppins, rated G, sponsored by Plateau Pediatrics.