Abbie Gardner

Combining solo acoustic guitar & soulful vocals with a funky blues edge, Abbie has been compared to Janis Joplin, Rickie Lee Jones, Natalie Merchant and more.

Abbie grew up in a creative family. Her mother a professional photographer, her father a music teacher and professional jazz musician, and three older siblings all artists and musicians as well. She picked up her first instrument, the flute, at the age of 7 and studied classically for 13 years. A blessing in disguise, Abbie was rejected from music schools and decided to pursue a career in Occupational Therapy. Her plan was to provide a steady income working only part-time and devoting the rest of her time to her musical career. A veteran and former conductor of the Award winning East Ramapo HS Marching Band, Abbie used her leadership skills at Boston University to conduct an a cappella group. She transcribed and arranged songs for the group and led them to cut their first CD "Treble in the Waters." She also joined the school's gospel choir, where she learned the real power of a voice! Soon after graduating from BU's Sargent College of Allied Health, Abbie picked up her father's guitar and made a deal with herself, "I will practice for 100 hours and then (if I like it and think I can be good at it) I will buy my own guitar." 100 hours later in August '97, Abbie bought her Taylor 510 acoustic guitar (later named Pops) and began to write her own songs almost immediately. The need to express herself through music was finally given a vehicle... this was a real turning point in her life. Pops and Abbie played their first gig together with Keith Hampton in a little Boston coffee shop called The Casual Cup. Throughout the summer of '97, she performed as often as possible in the coffee shops, open mics, and subways of Boston and Cambridge. In the Fall of '97, it was off to San Francisco and New Orleans for O. T. internships and a chance to experience the music of these to cities. In San Francisco, just 6 months after starting to play guitar, Abbie recorded her first solo tape, Tea and a Cookie. It was recorded in the front stairway of Laguna Honda Hospital where she was interning and spent many a late night hour practicing... recorded on a Walkman with a great friend and harp player, James Brown. New Orleans followed, where Abbie interned at Children's Hospital, lived near the Mississippi River and learned the value of homemade buttermilk biscuits. Another tape, Southern Rain was inspired by her time in N'Orleans and recorded just after she returned to NY in the spring of 1998. Back in NY, Abbie found a day job as an Occupational Therapist and started gigging in NYC at night. After a year and a half of burning the candle at both ends, she took a vacation to the National Guitar Workshop in Connecticut. A week of playing guitar 10 hours per day and Abbie found that she just couldn't go back! Music is imbedded in her mind and her soul... she couldn't put off her dreams any longer. Abbie quit her day job in August '99 to focus on music. Now she is learning slide guitar, working with a producer on getting a record deal, learning to use a multi-track minidisc recorder, practicing like a madwoman, frequenting NYC open mics weekly, gigging monthly, and learning to be her own manager, booking agent, webmaster :), publicity agent and publishing company!! With a new part-time O.T. job to support her music, this girl is FINALLY going after her dreams. It's all in the plan!

Bonnie Raitt, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Jake and Elwood (4 whole fried chickens and coke), Prince!!!, Tori Amos, Stevie Wonder, Sarah McLachlan, Sting, Peter Mulvey, Dad, Pink Floyd (Abbie's sister played in the floyd cover band "The Machine"), Led Zepplin.

Strange Facts: Abbie has played at Giants Stadium. She was a fire eater at the age of 16. She's been to bluegrass festivals every year since she was 3 years old. She likes dissecting things, and she loves to eat spinach and chocolate (not together) :). Her first gig was in a batting cage.