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Music is why I'm here. Music and Peace. And Love. A near-death experience brought me to the path of music when I was 16. As soon as that wood and steel was in my hands, I began writing songs, and within three months, I had a number of regular gigs at coffeehouses all over Northeast Ohio. By the time my second CD came out in 2000, I was performing 100+ shows a year, and I had begun touring around the region.  When my 21st birthday rolled around, my 3rd CD was coming out, and I had jumped up to 200 shows a year.  I just released my 10th official CD and tour coast- to-coast.  In fact, my van (The Buffalo) and I are on the move someplace in the country more often than not. Nothing makes me happier than writing songs and singing them for people.

The last few years, I have been in the midst of a spiritual and personal quest that lead me to the works of Gandhi, Tolstoy, and Martin Luther King. A new door opened inside me as I read about the work for nonviolence within and without. With a friend, I created the Akron Peace Project to spread nonviolence in the self, and the community. Coupled with my Love Initiative movement, my music which is naturally very hopeful and optimistic has been able to lend its voice to the power we all have to change ourselves and the world.

“Akron-based alt-rock singer/songwriter Zach is a dedicated road dog, faithfully touring no less than 200 days a year.  Whilst in his teens, Zach collided with an almost fatal appendix rupture, turning aside his high-school basketball dreams.  The upside: He picked up the guitar and jump-started his career.  Zach's songs have been featured in a handful of indie flicks as well as MTV's Real World.”   
-Phil Ramone

Pittsburgh singer/songwriters Keith Hershberger and Heather Kropf are an indie folk-pop duo with a fondness for vocal harmonies and thoughtful lyrics and melody. Their music has been described as 'instantly appealing' and blends Hershberger's Americana-tinged folk rock roots with Kropf's piano-driven pop sensibility. Although performing together for years, the pair officially formed in 2008 with the release of a self-titled EP "Too Tall Americanos". Since then they have played shows and festivals throughout the region, from western Michigan to New York City.

Named a "true artist" by Pittsburgh Magazine, Heather is passionate about good music, good health, and healing our environment. After the release of Hestia, her third CD, Heather found herself burned out, battling chronic fatigue and health issues related to environmental toxins. Forced into taking the last few years off from steady performing to rest, she has renewed her interest in the craft of songwriting and has been composing new material.

"The silver lining to this illness is that I have been given time to consider what really matters," says Kropf. "When everything is stripped away, you first think you have nothing. And then in the void, you find you have everything, and it's been there all along."

Heather returns to venues a stronger, more focused and grounded presence, a passionate advocate for a moratorium on Marcellus Shale drilling in Western PA, and happily engaged in plans to record her 4th studio album.

Born in Nashville and raised in Pittsburgh, Ben Shannon is a phenomenal singer-songwriter. His smooth free-flowing music was most recently enjoyed at the Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Arts Festival. Ben has recently joined Tour de Frack in an effort to raise awareness about the Marcellus shale drilling companies' agenda-greed before citizen health.

“Judging by the likable and infectious arrangement of (lead-off track) ‘Break On Through’ which follows in the footsteps of the laid-back style of Jack Johnson, Shannon has a promising musical future ahead of him. The Nashville-born and Pittsburgh-raised singer-songwriter breaks on through in a big way with his full-length debut release “Move On.”
-Clint Rhodes, Music Editor – Herald Standard

You can preview his album here or on itunes

See Ben Shannon at these upcoming shows. 

• 7/13 Harmony PA 8pm @ Harmony House w/Carpenter Ants (gospel blues)
• 7/14 Ohiopyle PA 9pm @ Falls City Pub (full band)
• 7/15 Ohiopyle PA 12pm @ Falls City Pub (solo)
• 7/20 Pittsburgh PA 6pm @ Southside Works Outdoor Stage

Mike Stout is a socially conscious singer song-writer and community leader. He leads crusades against local and global economic injustice, rallying people with his music to take action. His sound and lyrics are influenced by his musical heroes Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Jackson Browne and Bruce Cockburn.

John Hayes of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette wrote of Mike "In the Woody Guthrie tradition, his songs reflect contemporary issues without resorting to journalism. They're more like partisan op-ed columns that grab political opponents by the throat and don't let go."  Mike tells his stories from the heart about people who are affected by unemployment, social injustice, environmental hazard, or war.  

Born in Kentucky, Mike Stout made his way to New York City and began his musical career in 1968 playing his original protest songs at Café Wa, the Bitter End, and the Gaslight. In search of a steady living he moved to Pittsburgh in 1977 to become a steelworker at the late great Homestead Works.   Elected the union’s head grievance man, he used his guitar, voice, music, and lyrics to rally his co-workers at union meetings. As Grievance Chairman, he fought to win more than $10 million in lost wages, severance pay, pensions, and unemployment benefits for 3,000 displaced workers. In the 1980’s the steel mills of the Mon Valley were closed. With thousands of families losing unemployment benefits and facing foreclosure, Mike helped to organize a benefit concert at the Stanley Theater to aid the unemployed. The concert drew attention from CBS, NBC, the AP, UPI and the international press. Foreclosures were slowed and benefits and job training were extended. The funds raised by the concert were donated to the newly formed Homestead Local 1397 Food-bank, which later morphed in to the Greater Pgh. Community Foodbank, which has been feeding the needy and unemployed for more than 25 years. Mike also became a board member of Just Harvest and founding board member of the Steel Valley Authority, organizations that aid displaced workers and the poor.