Hattie Wilcox is a composer (BMI), lyricist and vocalist born in Raleigh NC, raised on Chopin, Debussy, hill country blues, southern soul, and last but not least, Carolina beach & shag! Blue Ridge Mountain Night: Hattie Wilcox + Christopher Gannon Marion, released in 2019, features fiddle instrumentals of Hattie's mountain music arranged by Marion, plus a few new vocal tracks. HEX, Hattie's 2012 CD, features compositions for piano and strings, the opposite end of her creative spectrum showcased in the velvet vocals of her gospel-flavored blues on Red Bird Tattoo. Inspired by the eclectic music of Lyle Lovett, Hattie's song "Whiskey" took her to Finland to perform as a finalist in the international compo10.com blues contest. Tapping into her classical and southern roots, Hattie writes music for media and bares her southern soul in country and blues.
Latest News
March 2021--FINALISTS announced for 2020 International Songwriting Competition. Rush on the Savannah made it in instrumental category and Stand Up and Dance made it in blues. Yay!
November 2020--5th place in finals of this year's Broadjam 6-pack competition
April 2020--Blue Mountain Bride (from 2019 CD Blue Ridge Mountain Night) FINALIST in 2019 International Songwriting Competition.
Hattie Wilcox, composer/vocalist
hattiewilcoxmusic.com
Raised in the south, Hattie began piano study at age 7. When she wasn't in school or in the woods, she played the piano for her mother, her "Big Mama" Aunt Hattie, and her first music teacher, Annette Kahn of Raleigh, North Carolina. She will never forget always being the last student scheduled to perform in recitals.
The summer she was 10, her mother drove her to Greensboro every Saturday so she could study with Hungarian concert pianist, Lili Keleti. Before heading home, Hattie remembers her weekly prize after each lesson--a cheeseburger and fries--almost as exciting as Miss Keleti when she sang, stomped, and waved her arms in the air to lead Hattie into the eye of a greater understanding of dynamics. The next summer, Hattie was inspired by the high-energy of Betty Hanson of Chapel Hill.
At 13, Hattie was accepted for study by Loren Withers, head of the music department at Duke University. Not wanting to practice four hours a day like her idol Yoko Nazaki, she soon stopped private lessons. At 17, she returned to piano study at Mills College in Oakland, Californa. After college she lived for five years without a TV, and her love of music and modern poetry came together when she wrote her first song with words.
Hattie studied songwriting with Jack Segal (SGA Hollywood), notation with jazz pianist Paul Conrad (Honolulu) and voice with San Diego teachers Janet B. White and Bonnie Fink. Her favorite teacher of all is the inspiring pianist, and music personified, Rinna Livshin, from Odessa and Moscow, currently living and teaching in San Diego.
She wrote "Miss Hattie's Augusta Georgia Rag" in honor of her great-aunt, Hattie Dermott Moran (1891-1951) of Augusta, Georgia, who sang and served as pianist for the Lion's Club, The Exchange Club of Augusta, local theatre, and for St. John's Methodist Church for more than 30 years.
Blue Ridge Mountain Night: Hattie Wilcox + Christopher Gannon Marion, released in 2019, is fiddle arrangements (instrumentals) of Hattie's songs plus a few new vocals. Hattie released her debut CD, Red Bird Tattoo, in 2008. Her first CD of instrumentals for film, HEX, was released in 2012. Hattie's compositions on HEX were arranged for piano and strings by violinist Christopher Marion, whose recent work includes Concert Master for the film Don Jon's Addiction starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Scarlett Johansson. Currently, Hattie continues to bare her southern soul in gospel-flavored country and blues, and instrumental music for film.
Hattie has won prize money for lyrics (Pop/Soul/R&B category) and has lived to see her first royalty check. Music videos available on youtube and hattiewilcoxmusic.com. Words without music can be found lurking at Camroc Press Review, Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Haggard & Halloo, and writingwithoutahelmet.com.