Cosy Sheridan Biography

With Saturn Return, her second album for Waterbug Records, Cosy Sheridan takes her place as one of the top names in the emerging new generation of singer/songwriters.

Strong melodies, meticulous arrangements, brilliant lyrics and a stance unique in the singer/songwriter realm, a stance described by the Boston Globe as one of "brassy vulnerability," characterize her work. It's no surprise that she became an early favorite on the folk-music lines of the Internet. So popular that T-shirts emblazoned with her picture and the legend "I heard about Cosy Sheridan on The Internet" have started springing up at folk festivals across the country.

She grew up in the Granite State, playing the smoky shipwreck bars of the Maine and New Hampshire coasts. She put out her first recordings herself, honing her craft by day, playing out at night, working on her writing, her playing, her singing. She was "the kid" to the stalwarts of the New England folk circuit; they offered her tips, suggestions, ways to make a song pack a punch, deliver the goods. She listened.

In 1993, Cosy released Quietly Led, her debut for the small, highly respected Chicago singer/songwriter label, Waterbug. The response was immediate, postive, and overwhelming. She got a rave in CMJ, the usual haunt of hard alternative rock. Folk Music Quarterly called Quietly Led "the female sleeper recording of the decade" while the Boston Globe, discovering the treasure in their own backyard, named her "one of the best new signer-songwriters in the United States." And Dirty Linen, the taste-making publication of the contemporary folk-rock world, called it "a fine, warm collection of songs," adding "the melodies are musically compelling, the harmonies well-developed, and the arrangements and production a perfect match for the material."

Cosy played the Kerrville Folk Festival, winning the coveted new Folk Award, joining the hallowed company of previous winners Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Michelle Shocked and John Gorka. She played the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and won the Troubadour Award. She started touring nationally, hitting the road in her pickup truck, selling her record out of cardboard boxes, stopping at every listening room between Boston and Berkeley, making new friends and fans in every city.

"With her pointed lyrics and engaging style, Sheridan recalls Cheryl Wheeler or Mary Chapin Carpenter; dead serious one moment, slyly grinning the next," wrote Jim Caligiuri in CMJ. "I was curious to see if (Cosy Sheridan) would live up to the publicity," opined Seattle's acoustic music monthly, the Victory Review. "My apologies for ever doubting. With an incredibly tight performance of strong songs, sophisticated open tunings and a charming stage presence, Sheridan kept the audience entranced the entire set. She left a substantial impression."

From the anthemic "Broken Place" to the stunning "Walk Into Heaven," Saturn Return announces the arrival of a fully matured voice. Cosy Sheridan may have been "the kid" a few years back, full of promise and potential. With Saturn Return, that potential has been realized and Cosy Sheridan stands ready to deliver on that promise.

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