bio

... a writer, a widely-published columnist (Michigan Girl - Dirty Knees - The Apologetic Chef), a songwriter and performer, AnnMarie Rowland is indeed a Michigan Girl with a mitten tattooed on her heart.

   She knew from the first time she picked up a fat, red, wooden pencil in Mrs. Donner's kindergarten and drew some letters that made a word, that magic happened when she strung a whole lot of those words together. Sitting on her mom's lap, watching her finger trace a line beneath the words as she read Little Golden books the magic came to life. Somebody put those words on the pages that broadened her world, and she wanted to be that person for someone else. 

...a singer-songwriter, she has been subject to the Muses for as long as she can remember. When her Dad handed her a yard-sale guitar, she was 11 years old. She loved to sing and was comfortable with her new friend within days. Singing somebody else's songs came first, and although a prolific songwriter, she is not confined by ego or inclination to exclude beautiful music from her performances simply because somebody else thought of it first.

   AnnMarie's music gravitates toward her values and experience: the simple life of community and friends, tradition and constancy, love and companionship, loss and reflection.
   She plays guitar, lap dulcimer, and claw hammer banjo. Whether it's an original song about a tattered quilt, the old family piano up on the auction block, or something borrowed from the great canon of musical Americana, her voice resonates with the strength and insight of someone who has lived both glory and sorrow, and has reflected, prevailed and gained.
 

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