Rita Hosking
| Rita Hosking | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Rita Hosking |
| Born | Davis, California |
| Genres | Americana, country, folk, bluegrass |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, guitarist |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | independent |
| Website | www |
Rita Hosking is an American composer and musician based in Davis, California. She plays Americana and bluegrass styles of music with both standards and original songs. Since the release of Are You Ready?, she has been performing around the country at concerts, festivals, and other venues.
"Hosking's music isn't like the polished, over-produced music found in pop culture. Hers is a minimalist sound that reflects a simpler time and place: a little country town, rather than a big city."
Leading up to her 2010 performance tour of Great Britain, she received increasing attention on the "East Side" of the pond. Reviewer Paul Kerr of Americana-UK remarked that she is ". . . a very talented artist with the ability to step up to that pantheon of great female country folk singers and writers." In the summer of 2010, Hosking played to packed venues in England, Wales, and Cornwall.
Hosking grew up in a rural area in Shasta County, California. Her father worked the night shift at a sawmill as part of the area's logging industry. Her great grandfather, from Cornwall, southwest of England, was an underground coal miner in the region. And her grandmother's family had headed there in a covered wagon on the Oregon Trail, from Virginia.
Hosking says old-time music was strong in her mountain area, as well as country. She grew up hearing neighbors play their simple instruments by ear, as a group called the Mountaineers. And the school cook took several girls from the school, taught them songs and they performed as the Farmerettes; with the Farmerettes, Hosking played washboard and sang her first solo.
"I'm no expert on the Appalachians at all, but I figure there are similarities -- the economy and some traditions, logging and mining. So, as a songwriter, you focus on that. You take the human struggle to survive, particularly in a beautiful place they love, and you've pinned down a lot of artistic inspiration."
By invitation, she has appeared at the White Crow Conservatory of Music in Saginaw, Michigan, the 17th Annual “Midsummer in the Northwoods” Bluegrass Festival in Wisconsin, high in the Colorado Rockies at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and many other locations.
On July 16, 2010, she performed at the Larmer Tree Festival in England, at the famed Victorian pleasure garden near Tollard Royal (about 16 miles west of Salisbury), on the Wiltshire/Dorset border. On July 22, 2010, she was the featured guest on the BBC radio show Bob Harris Country.
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Wikipedia