Called “a new Laura Nyro,” (Phil Leonard, WETS radio), Carolyn Dowd writes innovative, melodic, intelligent songs that elude general categories like pop-rock or alt-rock. Her music borrows from many genres but retains a core pop impulse; her sound is keyboard-based, lyrical, with flavors of the South simmering through. Currently appearing as a soloist in venues around the Bay Area, Carolyn keeps up her songwriting chops in a master class with hit songwriter Bonnie Hayes. Background: In her hometown of Johnson City, Tennessee, Carolyn appeared in several covers bands and a jazz quartet as lead singer and keyboardist while attending college. In 1988 she began began playing pop and jazz standards in local hotels, restaurants and clubs as a solo vocalist and pianist. After moving to Nashville in 1990 to work as a reporter, she appeared with yet another covers band, and continued to write her own compositions, appearing at open mics and other events as a soloist. During this time she earned a master’s degree in English literature down the road in Murfreesboro. In 1994, Carolyn moved to San Francisco and dove into the rich music scene there, appearing in the chorus of Lamplighters’ Opera Theatre (“Patience” and “Pirates of Penzannce”), in the San Francisco Bach Choir, as a member of the jazz octet Mirage, and in the a capella trio, The Treasure. After taking a songwriting course or two with Bill Spooner (mastermind and founder of “The Tubes”) and Bonnie Hayes (hit songwriter for Bette Midler, Cher, and Bonnie Raitt) at the Blue Bear School of American music, she began creating some really nice stuff.