Meredith Axelrod is an American
folk,
jazz, and
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
singer and multi-instrumentalist. She specializes in early-20th century American music.
Known for touring with
Jim Kweskin, she and he released the album, ''Come On In'', in 2016.
In the 2000s, she met her partner Craig Ventresco while
busking
Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...
in
San Francisco and it is with him that she performs most regularly.
''
Fretboard Journal
The ''Fretboard Journal'' is a keepsake magazine for guitar, mandolin, and stringed instrument players. In the same vein of other "coffee table magazines" such as ''The Surfer's Journal'', the Golfer's Journal and the ''Rodder's Journal'', it bo ...
'' co-founder and editor, Jason Verlinde, has described him as "one of the music world’s best-kept secrets".
And, regarding the pairing of Axelrod and Ventresco, he remarked, "Meredith’s playing is just revelatory. She has a voice that sounds like it was lifted straight off of a vaudeville stage; their chemistry is undeniable."
During the
COVID-19 pandemic, Axelrod and Ventresco created a nightly
livestream on Facebook,
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
, and
YouTube.
Each day they have performed a half-hour set in their
North Beach, San Francisco
North Beach is a neighborhood in the northeast of San Francisco adjacent to Chinatown, the Financial District, and Russian Hill. The neighborhood is San Francisco's "Little Italy" and has historically been home to a large Italian American pop ...
apartment's kitchen.
Starting the day after the city instituted a stay-at-home order, they have "broadcast" daily for more than two years, producing over 800 shows (as of September 19, 2022), with very few breaks.
They are two of many musicians who have turned to alternative means to support themselves once the pandemic caused gigs to be canceled. As Ventresco said about viewers' donations to their virtual "tip jar", "It’s definitely helping us not to panic. Meredith put it best. We’re not getting rich, but we’re making about as much as we would at a gig. That’s really a big deal."
References
External links
Official website*
American women singers
American folk singers
Living people
Singers from New York City
Year of birth missing (living people)
Singers from Chicago
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