Karl Werne

Artist Website: http://karlwerne.com/

Genres: acoustic, folk, rock

Influences: Paul Simon, Led Zeppelin, Pat Metheny, Beethoven, this could go on all night ...

Band Members: Solo, and with a variety of different partners for different events

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Bio

Karl Werne started out entertaining the Hampton Roads area of Virginia when he was 16. Eight years w/ The Lewis McGehee Group and four years w/ his own Instant Karma made him a local favorite. A highlight of that time was performing in the opening act on Bruce Hornsby's "The Way It Is" tour.

In 1995, Karl teamed up with saxophonist, Eddie Williams, an over 20 year partnership of improvisation that would shape a unique sound later complimented by some of the area's finest musicians, including electric guitarist Curtis Eley, TR3 drummer Dan Martier, jazz professor John Toomey on piano and Scott Slay from Big Virginia Sky on mandolin, to name a few.

Also during these years, a three-part-harmony trio of singer/songwriters, armed with positive lyrics and diverse backgrounds came together as a traveling band known as "BiG WiDE GRiN". BWG continues touring as a duo w/ Elaine Dempsey, occasionally teaming up with singer/songwriter/producer and friend Tom Prasada-Rao.

Karl's songwriting won him first place for online voting ('Monkey Do') and first place in the finals ('Flow') of the Fishman National Songwriting Competition held in Atlanta, GA in 2011. He also has now won five VEER Awards for five different catagories

Karl had the unique honor of writing the anthem/theme song for NASA's Centennial Celebration, in 2017, and performed it at four separate NASA events, once with the Air Force Heritage Band.

Karl's 3rd solo release is an all original CD, "This Little Notebook", and has been a long time in the making. The project features performances by many of his friends and musical heroes, including Tim Reynolds (Dave Matthews Band), and Chris Gage (Jerry Jeff Walker).

During the pandemic, Karl produced weekly music videos with world-class musicians around the country as 'Featured Songs' for his online Open Mic, which still happens every Wednesday in the FaceBook group, "Karl's Community"

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