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Melissa Ferrick is a Professor of the Practice at Northeastern University in the Music Department at the College of Arts Media and Design. Ferrick teaches courses on songwriting (focusing on lyric, melody, and intent), creative entrepreneurship, demo recording and production, live performance, the intersection of psychopathology and creativity, nonprofit arts management, and the music business. She's released seventeen albums over the last twenty-five years and has won numerous awards for songwriting, production, and performance. From 2013 – to 2019, Melissa was an Associate Professor of Songwriting at Berklee College of Music. She holds an Ed.M from Harvard University.  

Melissa is the named plaintiff of the class action lawsuit Ferrick v. Spotify for willful copyright infringement. Their publishing catalog is administered worldwide by the Raleigh Music Group. 

Signed to Atlantic Records in 1992 at the age of 21, Melissa released her debut and sophomore albums on Atlantic after opening for Morrissey in the U.S. and UK. Melissa released three albums on W.A.R. Records from 1996 to 1999 and two on MPress Records from 2011 to 2014. In 2000, Melissa launched the nationally distributed independent record label Right On Records. Ferrick is currently working with the venerable Kill Rock Stars Records. Most recently, Ferrick started Drive Music Agency (D.M.A.), which offers musicians personal management and consulting services. D.M.A. currently represents Brennan Wedl and Joh Chase. 

 Regarded in the industry and by their peers as one of the most prolific and hardworking artists in the business, Ferrick is an active songwriter and performs throughout North America. She has shared the stage with Morrissey, Joan Armatrading, Weezer, Tegan and Sara, Mark Cohen, Paul Westerberg, Bob Dylan, John Hiatt, Ani DiFranco, k.d. Lang, Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, and many others.

The Brooklyn-based piano-violin duo Gracie and Rachel has emerged as a formidable force in challenging the boundaries of pop music. Blending baroque elements, ethereal sonic-scapes, and penetrating vulnerability, the duo creates an emotionally haunting sound all their own. Their sophomore album, Hello Weakness, You Make Me Strong, released on Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records, explores the depths of their emotional states and the walls we build up inside ourselves. It’s music to excavate our inner fears and help us find empowerment from within.Seen on stages opening for Tori Amos, Ani DiFranco, Julien Baker, San Fermin and more, the collaborative duo of keyboardist, Gracie Coates, and violinist, Rachel Ruggles, have performed two NPR Tiny Desk Concerts and been praised by the outlet’s Bob Boilen to “mix pop and classical in stark, infectious ways and make unforgettable, surprising music.”Gracie and Rachel’s catalog is marked by hauntingly spare arrangements, bold, baroque flourishes, evanescent vocal stylings, and penetrative lyrical tact. The duo’s latest EP, Nowhere Now Here, out on Righteous Babe Records, honors these sonic elements and elevates them, a melodious new vigor coursing through the tracklist, ranging from pointedly delicate to tenderly anthemic.

Rachel Shortt is a passionate, self taught, indie singer/songwriter. Her music expresses a raw and emotional take on life, love and relationships. Each song articulating a full range of human emotion with a unique style and personal connection to her audience.  
 “Her provocative lyrics approach poetry in their elegant simplicity and ability to stand alone.” - Jim Ewinger CPD