Marci Geller at The Talking Stick

The “Fearless
Songwriter” challenge pushes the limits

Why
singer/songwriter Marci Geller risked taking the challenge

Marci Geller believes that “we should all
do things that terrify us as often as possible.” Luckily performing is not one
of them. She will be playing The Talking Stick in Venice, CA on Tuesday, October
8, 2013. The “Fearless Songwriter” challenge certainly however did test her
mettle.  So when invited, she
bungee jumped off a musical cliff and faced her fears head on.

“The Fearless Songwriter” challenge is to
write a song a day for seven consecutive days, do a rough draft recording
(usually on an iPhone or equivalent) and then post it publically for the world
to inspect.  The participants are
given a “prompt” to help expedite the creative process and come in the form of
a visual image or verbal concoction. As Geller is a touring artist and juggles
a day job, this was no small feat.

She chronicles the experience in her blog
“Marci Geller Musings” which can be read in its entirety at: http://marcigeller.com/fearless-songwriter   There she takes the reader in
detail through the process, revealing the good, the bad, and the self-deprecating.
All in all, she comes out with seven shiny new songs and a greater respect for
discipline and time management.

In recent years, Geller has been touring
as a piano based solo artist in the folk circuit.  In a relatively short time she has racked up some prestigious
credentials.  After catching the
ear of the well respected band “Buskin
and Batteau,” she was invited to sit in during their shows in order to
introduce her and her music to their audience. David Buskin is quoted as saying
Geller is “one of the finest
singer/songwriters we’ve come across.”  She was honored with an opening performance for them at the
famed Guthrie Center in June of 2013, which set off a sequence of events that
she never could have predicted.

She accepted a performance opportunity in
South Florida that was slated for the day after July 4th, and given
the holiday weekend, she was not anticipating stellar attendance.  Several audience members that had
recently seen her for the first time at the Guthrie Center took it upon
themselves to write to several listservs that are populated by the folk
community urging people to go to Geller’s Florida shows. The result was “record
breaking attendance” and a series of standing room only shows that included the
Broward Center for the Performing Arts. As her touring continued through
Maryland, she was once again astonished at the packed houses, especially when
one of the venues air-conditioning went out mid-show leaving a sweaty, but
ever-enthusiastic audience who stayed until the last note.

“With intelligent lyrics, captivating
melodies and inspired vocal pairings with James Maddock and Vance Gilbert,
Marci Geller’s latest release, Open Book,
is a great listen from the first song to the last,” says Alan Marzelli, curator
of the Words & Music concert series at the Ossining (NY) Public Library in
the Budarz Theater. Noted singer-songwriter Lori Lieberman calls Open Book “a lovely collection of songs
that reflect the artist’s inner strength and positivity.
Songs/music/arrangements/vocals – just beautiful.”

Named an “Editor’s Choice” in 2010 as one
of its favorite songwriters of the last decade by Independent Songwriter Magazine, Geller was selected earlier this
year to showcase at both the annual Singer Songwriter Cape May conference and
the NERFA 1-Day Capital Region Conference (NERFA stands for North East Regional
Folk Alliance). She’s performed on “Live with Regis,” “Good Day NY” and “Fox
Morning Show,” and her music can be heard in soundtracks on MTV, VH-1, PBS, ABC
Family, A&E, Discovery channel, USA Network and others. Geller also toured
for two years as the support act and back-up vocalist for Ritchie Blackmore’s
band, Blackmore’s Night.

Her latest release, Open Book, is currently garnering airplay on radio stations across
the country, having debuted at #33 on the Folk DJ Chart and toping at #10 on
the Roots Music Report Folk Chart, and has been selected twice as one of
“Rich’s Picks” by noted Chicago folk DJ Rich Warren.  It also made the Top 100 Albums of 2012 coming in at
#68.  She has been named one of the
finalists for the 2013 CT Folk Festival Songwriting Competition, and will be
touring California Fall 2013.

When asked how the challenge continues to
effect her, Geller’s says with a twinkle in her eye, “The stress was palpable…and
I heard they’re doing it again on August 25th. I can’t wait!”

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