Kristen Short’s Bio
Throughout her childhood years, Kristen Short was an avid writer and published poet with a strong love of music, but when she co-wrote her first song with sister and acoustic guitarist Marlene Weindorf-Ek in 1991, she sensed her poetry had found its home in lyrics. "My sister was my creative spark," Short reflects. "Discovering the ability to sing my poetry became a moving, fulfilling and deeply personal outlet of expression for me."
In the years that followed Kristen Short delved wholeheartedly into songwriting, live performances, and studio production of her original music. She released her debut CD in January 1998, Blossom In The Dust. Although Kristen had intended the primary recordings of the songs of Blossom to be for demo purposes, the response to live performances of the songs of Blossom and the original recordings was extremely heartening, and Kristen was encouraged by listening audiences to make the collection available for purchase. Blossom is cited by listeners as a relaxing, mellow adult contemporary/easy listening CD with heartfelt lyrics, memorable melodies and stirring harmonies. Kristen comments, "The songs of Blossom were a personal odyssey for me. I wrote them to try to make sense of the difficulties in life I was going through. The prevailing message in the songs of Blossom is that hope, love, courage and faith will overcome difficulties. They have for me."
Kristen traveled to Nashville in March 1998 and met with several music producers, publishers, and up-and-coming artists, which was an informative and ultimately reassuring trip that Kristen feels was very fruitful to her musical progression. While sitting on a park bench in the plush indoor gardens of the Nashville Opryland Hotel, Kristen penned "The Woman You Need," a wistful song of longing with emotion-filled vocals on her second CD of adult contemporary/folk rock music, Dove In A Hurricane, released in 2000 on her own label, Sea Siren Records®. Dove evidences Kristen's seasoned vocals and maturing songwriting and has been touted by listeners as a sampler of great-to-listen-to music. Listening audiences have likened the style of Kristen's vocals and songwriting to artists like Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, Karen Carpenter and Stevie Nicks. In a radio interview in Pennsylvania, Kristen thanked her radio hosts for their famous singer/songwriter comparisons, but added with her characteristically unpretentious smile, "I think I just sound like Kristen Short..."
Kristen Short's third original music CD, The Loan (January 2007) is an adult contemporary/folk rock music collection which features seven original songs by Kristen and includes three songs by songwriters Jeff Moxcey and Lou Sweigman, and three songs written by Pittsburgh singer/songwriter Jay Hitt. The CD was produced by Kristen Short and was recorded in Maine, Nashville, and Pennsylvania. Alan Bean of www.bakedbeansrecording.com mixed the CD with Kristen, and the collection was mastered by Grammy-Award winning mastering engineer Adam Ayan of Gateway Mastering & DVD of Portland, Maine. As the featured artist on the cover of its December 2006 issue, Good Times Magazine wrote, "Fitting snugly in the singer-songwriter genre, Short crafts heartfelt music that's as lovely and thoughtful as the artist herself...this is an emerging artist with a lot to say...All in all, the future looks bright for one of Maine's most promising songwriters..."
In June 2007 Kristen Short, Kathy Gracenin and Rusty Wiltjer released Water Lily Waits - Music for Movement and Meditation. This is a two CD set of original music featuring Haiku lyrics (by Gracenin), ethereal vocals (arranged and performed by Short), and rich percussion (arranged and performed by percussionist/potter Wiltjer on handcrafted instruments). Volume #1 are full percussion versions of the songs for listening and for movement (i.e., to utilize with Kathy Gracenin's Energy Choreography, dance, yoga, Taijiquan, etc.). Volume #2 are meditative versions with interludes of silence (i.e., for meditation, contemplative prayer, etc.).
All four of the above Sea Siren Records® CDs are distributed via this web site, mail order, CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon.com, and additional store locations.
Kristen Short performs as a dynamic acoustic trio with Vessel Recordings Artist Heather Pierson on keyboard/guitar/supporting vocals (www.heatherpierson.com), and percussionist/potter Rusty Wiltjer (www.wiltjerpottery.com), as well as occasionally with additional guest artists and a full musician complement. Kristen's performances of heartfelt, well-crafted original music are adeptly delivered and well received.