In the early 80s, Jennifer Kimball began singing with fellow Amherst college English major, singer/songwriter Jonatha Brooke. The two became The Story and set the bar high with their complex harmonies, discerning lyrics, and endearing stage presence. They made videos for VH1, toured with Jackson Browne, shared the stage with Bonnie Raitt and Crosby, Stills and Nash, and headlined the Newport Folk Festival. But in 1994 at the height of their short but successful tenure on Elektra Records, Kimball decided to call it quits. “I had to take that step off the edge — into the nothingness — to get myself out of a creative black hole.” After peering into the abyss of separation and divorce — and facing the end of a long musical friendship with Brooke, Kimball began writing songs and toured solo for four or five years. She then settled into reconnecting with the vibrant Boston music scene and performs regularly with several Boston-based bands including Wayfaring Strangers, Family Affair, and Maybe Baby, a quartet she fronts with her husband Ry Cavanaugh; and is always in demand as a harmony singer both live and in the studio.

Alastair Moock started performing in 1995, moving from his home outside New York City to the folk haven of Boston, Massachusetts. After honing his skills on Boston’s innumerable open mike stages and working his way up through the local coffeehouse and club circuit, he began touring around the U.S. By 2002, he had already traveled extensively throughout the East and Midwest, performing at some of the top listening rooms and outdoor events in the country, including the Newport and Boston Folk Festivals, The Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, The Birchmere in Washington D.C., and The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. In 2003 he made his first trip to Europe, where he performed at the prestigious Bergen Music Fest in Norway. Since then he has made numerous trips across the pond with appearances in Scandinavia, the UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. In 2007, Alastair released Fortune Street, his fifth album. The BBC’s Bob Harris decrees it “a wonderful album,” and Rock ’n Reel Magazine gives it five stars.

Tim Gearan spent his childhood years in New York, traveling back and forth from NYC to the suburbs. Tim’s musical influences range from the Beatles and Stones to Muddy Waters and Bob Dylan. He devoted himself and became a serious student of the blues. While learning the ins and outs of traditional blues, he always had one iron in the songwriting fire and by the time Tim was in his twenties he was playing for audiences and creating a style of his own. Since then he has made a living playing music in New Orleans, Los Angeles, Martha’s Vineyard and has been in Boston since the 1980s.The release of his debut CD, Back Home allowed Tim to reveal his enormous creative range and delightfully understated songwriting, exposing the emergence of a talent to watch. Tim has enjoyed about a 10 year residency on Monday nights at Toad in Porter Sq. Cambridge. Tim’s Monday night gig has been called “one of the premier hangs of the Boston music scene.”

Rose Polenzani was first noticed for her 1998 unanimous win in the Chicago Lilith Fair competition, closely followed by her debut at the Newport Folk Festival. She spent several years touring and recording, moving from her native Chicago to California to Boston, where she was nominated for Best Female Vocalist in the 2007 Boston Music Awards. Rose has released records both privately and on labels such as Rykodisc and Daemon Records. When the River Meets the Sea is a sonic departure for Rose Polenzani: a collaboration with the Boston’s very own, Session Americana. The six members of Session Americana made their name playing music around a small table at the back of a tiny bar in Cambridge. The band, comprised of “the cream of the Somerville/Cambridge roots music community” (says No Depression magazine), would play just about any song that came into their heads, and they would also invite whoever might squeeze in through the front door (it was always packed) to sit down at the table and have a spin. One night it was Rose Polenzani. From the first moment, it clicked between Rose and Session. They weren’t just her backing band and she wasn’t just sitting in. Out of the spontaneity (and joy!) they shared was born this CD. Rose’s song “You Were Drunk” was just named “Best New Song” at Mountain Stage Newsong contest 2008!