Boston-based singer-songwriter Susan Cattaneo was named the winner of the 2018 Grassy Hill Songwriting Competition following a final round featuring five artists/acts during the 13th annual Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo at New Haven’s Edgerton Park on Sept. 8.
Susan Cattaneo (Photo: Dave Rackley)
Susan Cattaneo (Photo: Dave Rackley)[/caption]Her latest recording, The Hammer and The Heart, a double album with an electric side and an acoustic side, was among the top five albums on folk radio in August 2017, according to charts compiled from radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in all folk-based music on the radio. The album’s “manifesto” song, “Work Hard Love Harder,” tied for the most-played song on Folk Radio that month. The album also charted at #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Northeast Chart.
A two-time finalist in the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Competition (2018 and 2015), Cattaneo also was one of 24 artists/acts who participated in the Emerging Artist Showcase at the 2016 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. (Grassy Hill Entertainment also sponsors both of these.) She also was a finalist in the 2016 Wildflower Arts and Music Festival’s songwriting contest and was the Director’s Choice winner in the 2015 Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, presented by the Songwriters’ Association of Washington (SAW).
Cattaneo has been teaching songwriting at Boston’s Berklee College of Music for more than 15 years. She was formerly a part of the western Massachusetts-based trio The Boxcar Lilies.
As the songwriting competition winner, Cattaneo received a $150 cash prize and will have a performance slot in next year’s festival produced by the nonprofit organization CT Folk (www.ctfolk.org).
Editor’s Note: It was my honor and pleasure to again serve as one of the five judges in the competition. Choosing a winner from among the impressive finalists, culled from an initial pool of nearly 150 entrants, was not an easy task.
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